Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik 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: ''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 Torres ...

. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city (seat) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak.

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, 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 n ...

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: Angoram, Timbunke, and Pagwi, 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, which is the capital of Sandaun 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 equator ...

(''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