Host city – Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea goes ruby in 2015. And while this scenic and naturally rich nation prepares to celebrate its 40th year of political independence, its swanky capital buzzes with another gala in the offing –The 15th Pacific Games.

The capital city, the executive centre and part of the National Capital District (the main business centre of PNG), Port Moresby, was named in 1873, by Captain John Moresby, in tribute to his father, Admiral Sir Fairfax Moresby. A decade or so later, the colony of British New Guinea was established and Port Moresby was made the capital of Papua New Guinea.

Through periods of transmigration, and despite others of war and strife over time, the Motu and Koitabu people, the first human inhabitants of the region for around 2000 years, have sustained their existence and continue to influence the exuberant culture of the region.

Prominent here is the practice of tattooing − a statement of strong beliefs in ‘magic’, especially among the ethnic Polynesians. In becoming a fashion of modern day, the significance of such staunch traditions upon migrant urban values, makes compelling study. PNG therefore, and Port Moresby in particular, become pertinent representatives of this connect that remains effervescent in the continuous, symbiotic assimilation between the earthiness of an aboriginal core and the dynamism of new world ideology.

Port Moresby is the largest harbor in the country and is the most populated too. Modern and progressive, Port Moresby can now also distinguish itself as the sporting capital of the Pacific, as it dons new sparkle with the Pacific region’s most prestigious games returning to its shores, for the third time since 1969.

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