Tyranny of the Terrain: Transport in Papua New Guinea

184 pp., illustrations, bibliography. Papua New Guinea, the biggest country in the South Pacific region, presents a formidable challenge to any efficient system of transportation. The country's difficult terrain has not permitted railways as a viable mode of transport. Even with the Western techniques of road construction, still it has not been possible to link all the population centres by roads. The outcome had been the emergence of several discrete road networks in the country. Exploration of the interior of the country has, therefore, been mainly through aviation. As a result, the country has the largest number of airstrips in the whole of the developing world. In this arduously and methodically researched study, the author has chronologically unfolded the evolution of various modes of transport as they have developed into individual communication entities over time. Each mode is highlighted as it has influenced the maturing of the nation. The facts are substantiated with maps and some photographs. The author provides a detailed view of the physical and economic factors, which have been responsible for the evolution of various modes of transport. For example, the unique dominance of air, as a mode of transport during the World Wars and the development of gold prospecting throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, has been well documented. 0.0.…