Market scene of a big market on the outskirts of Wamena, West Papua, Indonesia. Men sitting against the wall waiting for a job.
Wikipedia: Wamena is the capital town of the Jayawijaya Regency of Indonesia. It is the largest town in Indonesian Papua's highlands, in the Baliem Valley and had a population of 31,724 at the 2010 census. Wamena is the urban centre of a rural area housing highland West Papua's highest concentration of population, with over 300,000 people inhabiting the Baliem Valley and surrounding areas. These people belong to a number of related ethnic groups, the most prominent of which are Dani, Lani and Yali. As far as the outside world was concerned, the discovery of the Baliem Valley, where Wamena is located, and the unexpected presence of its large agricultural population was made by Richard Archbold’s third zoological expedition to New Guinea in 1938. On 21 June an aerial reconnaissance flight southwards from Hollandia (now Jayapura) found what the expedition called the ‘Grand Valley’. Since it was almost completely cut off from the outside world, the area was spared by the fightings for the control of New Guinea during World War II. The town itself was founded by the dutch in 1956, as one of the last town founded during their presence in Western New Guinea. Since then the valley has gradually been opened up to a limited amount of tourism. In 2003, during what would be called afterward the Wamena incident, an unidentified mob led by the Free Papua Movement raided the Indonesian Army's armoury of the town, killing two Indonesians soldiers and stealing several assault rifles.[3][4] Reprisals were harsh, affecting 25 villagers, displacing around 7,000 villagers and killing 50 in the process, torture and destruction of properties by the Indonesian army was also During the 2019 Papua protests, several government buildings were destroyed by angry mob, the police and the military retaliated, leaving 16 civilians killed and 65 injured. According to local authorities, the particular set of protests was triggered by a separate racism incident within the city.
Size: 5836px × 3891px
Location: Wamena, Papua, Indonesia
Photo credit: © Bert de Ruiter / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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