Enarotali is a town in Paniai Regency,

Central Papua Central Papua, officially the Central Papua Province ( id, Provinsi Papua Tengah) is an Indonesian province located in the central region of Western New Guinea. It was formally established on 11 November 2022 from the former eight western regencie ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It is located on the shore of Lake Paniai, in

Western New Guinea Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, or Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the Melanesian island of New Guinea which is administered by Indonesia. Since the island is alternatively named as Papua, the region ...

highlands.

History

Enarotali is considered to be the only colonial city founded by the Dutch in the interior of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

before

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 opposing ...

. The Wissel Lakes area was not known outside New Guinea until 1937. In order to assert Dutch control over the area, a Christian mission and a radio-equipped government post were established there in May 1938. In April 1942, Dutch New Guinea was invaded by the Japanese, thus isolating the post from the coast, although it was resupplied by seaplanes from time to time. The Dutch maintained a small force there under code-named

Operation Oaktree Operation Oaktree was a Dutch military operation in Dutch New Guinea during World War II. Under the command of Captain Jean Victor de Bruijn, some 40 soldiers operated in the highland region of Western New Guinea for more than two years between De ...

, made up of Papuan natives led by Jean Victor de Bruijn, harassing Japanese troops based on the coast at Timoeka near Kaukenau, where the Japanese had established an airfield in December 1942. With the objective of stopping those raids and preventing eventual allied reinforcements in the highland lake regions, the Japanese occupied the village in May 1943, although it had been preventively burnt to the ground by de Bruijn and his men. De Bruijn then withdrew to the surrounding valleys, harassing the Japanese forces occupying the lakes and gathering precious intelligence on Japanese troops in

, until his evacuation from the region in July 1944. At the end of the war in late 1945, Dutch colonial administration control was restored over the area, until it was transferred to Indonesia in May 1963 along with the rest of

Geography

It is located in the

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...

, on the shore of Lake Paniai. Its altitude is about 1750 m, located near a fertile mountain plain surrounding the lake and it is surrounded by hills and mountains. It is served by the Enarotali Airport. It is the capital of Paniai Regency,

province. The city is at present developing towards Mahdi, located 12 km to the east.

Climate

Enarotali has a

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

(Cfb) with heavy rainfall year-round.

Population

The population of the Paniai Regency was 170.193 in 2017, however most of them didn't live in the provincial capital, but in the countryside. The main tribes are Mee,

Moni Moni or Mone ( Kamkata-vari: ''Mone''/''Mune''), also known as Mandi (from Prasun) was, after Imra, the second-most important god in the pre-Islamic pantheon of the Nuristani people. With his breath, Imra created Moni and Gish. Moni was believe ...

, Wolani and Dani. The former three tribes speak the Paniai Lakes languages, which is a language family named after the lakes. They depend on agriculture, including the cultivation of sweet potato and breeding livestock.

References

{{coord, 3, 55, 47, S, 136, 22, 40, E, display=title Populated places in Central Papua Regency seats of Central Papua