West Papua Officially a Province of Indonesia

VIVAnews – 46 years ago today, in 1962, the former Dutch colony of West Papua became a province of Indonesia.

Since 1962, after a dispute between the Dutch and the Indonesian governments, West Papua was put under United Nations protection.
In 1969, a UN-sponsored referendum of village elders led to West Papua becoming a province of Indonesia. Therefore, UN decided to transfer the sovereignty of West Papua to Indonesia on 19th November 1969.

West Papua province was later renamed Irian Jaya by the Indonesian Government. However, on 31st December 1999, Irian Jaya province was officially renamed Papua.