Wewak is the capital of the

East Sepik East Sepik is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Wewak. East Sepik has an estimated population of 433,481 people (2010 census) and is 43,426 km square in size. History Cherubim Dambui was appointed as East Sepik's first premier ...

province of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. It is on the northern coast of the island of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

. It is the largest town between

Madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century. Histor ...

and

Jayapura Jayapura (formerly Dutch: ''Hollandia'') is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of Papua. It is situated on the northern coast of New Guinea island and covers an area of . The city borders the Pacific Ocean and Yos Sudarso ...

. It is the see city (seat) of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak is a suffragan diocese of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madang. It was elevated to a diocese in 1966. Bishops Bishops of Wewak * Camisio Teodoro Gellings, SS.CC. (1913−1918) * Adalberto Ottone Rielander, ...

History

Between 1943 and 1945, in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Wewak was the site of the largest

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese airbase in mainland New Guinea. The base was subjected to repeated bombing by Australian and American forces, most notably in one massive attack on 17 August 1943. Directly to the west of the town centre is a peninsula known as

Cape Wom Cape Wom is a cape (or small peninsula) near Wewak, Papua New Guinea, pointing into the Dogreto Bay of the Bismarck Sea. It was the location of the unconditional surrender by Lieutenant General (Lt Gen) Hatazo Adachi, Commander of the Japanese 1 ...

, which was the site of the surrender of Japanese forces in New Guinea on 13 September 1945. The site now houses a small memorial. The former Japanese airfield is still in use as the

Wewak International Airport Wewak Airport , also known as Boram Airport, is an airport in Wewak, Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independe ...

. In August 1945 two war crimes trials were held near Wewak for mutilation and cannibalism. First Lieutenant Takehiro Tazaki was convicted and sentenced to death (later commuted to 5 years imprisonment with hard labour) and another accused was acquitted.

Geography

The old centre of the town is on a small peninsula, with the rest of the urban area occupying a narrow band of flat land between the ocean and the coastal range of mountains that emerges a short distance inland. To the east of the town center is a small peninsula on which is located Boram Hospital, and

, which is also known as Boram. Wewak is linked by road to three villages on the

Sepik River The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Se ...

Angoram Angoram is a town and seat of Angoram District in East Sepik Province in north-western Papua New Guinea. The area is noted for its rubber and Theobroma cacao, cocoa plantations and the town is situated on the Sepik River. The town is served by Ango ...

, Timbunke, and

Pagwi Pagwi is a village and township on the Sepik River in Gawi Rural LLG of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, north-east of Ambunti. Linked by road to Wewak, about 4 or 5 hours away on the coast, the Chambri Lakes The Chambri Lakes are a series ...

, though the roads are not always in good condition. Also, a coastal highway extends to the west, linking Wewak with the coastal towns of

Aitape Aitape is a small town of about 18,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun Province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of the ...

and

Vanimo Vanimo is the capital of Sandaun Province (West Sepik) in north-westernmost Papua New Guinea and of Vanimo-Green River District. It is located on a peninsula close to the border with Indonesia. Religion Its Holy Cross Pro-Cathedral is the epi ...

, which is the capital of

Sandaun Sandaun Province (formerly West Sepik Province) is the northwesternmost mainland province of Papua New Guinea. It covers an area of 35,920 km2 (13868 m2) and has a population of 248,411 (2011 census). The capital is Vanimo. In July 1998 the a ...

province.

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

(''Af'').

References

External links

Tourist Information
{{Authority control Provincial capitals in Papua New Guinea Port cities in Oceania Populated places in East Sepik Province

History

Geography

Climate

See also

References

External links