The history and geography of Enga, population, people and culture, modernism and diffusion of Western Culture, the structure of tribe and clan base groups, the traditional social context of tribal warfare, community and state intervention methods Essay

Enga Province is made up of five districts Kompiam Ambum, Wapenanmanda, LagaipPogera, Kandep and Wabag Districts. Wabag Township is the capital of the province. The people of Enga are called Engans (people to the west in Melpa language of Western Highlands) and they speak only one common vernacular known as Enga. It is spoken throughout entire province.
What follows below is a brief discussion on the history and geography of Enga, population, people and culture, modernism and diffusion of Western Culture, the structure of tribe and clan base groups, the traditional social context of tribal warfare, community and state intervention methods and the concluding remarks. The above mentioned aspects that make up the social setting of the communities in the province contribute towards social problems like tribal warfare. To understand these areas clearly means one understands well why, how and what causes this destructive mad made activity that affects all, human lives and the environment.
2.2 History and Geography of Enga
Enga Province is one of the 23 provinces of Papua New Guinea. It lies inland in the Highlands regions of Papua New Guinea. Enga is one of the highest and most rugged provinces that lies south to the two Sepik Provinces (West and East) (Michael, 1936 Carrad, Lea and Talyaga, 1982). It also shares boarder with the Western Highlands, Southern Highlands and the Madang Provinces.
The figure (Fig.1) below shows where the province lies within the country and the inserted map shows the breakup of the districts with its five districts.
(Figure. 1) Map of Enga Province
Enga Province
Archeologists presumed that the Enga people would have settled the Enga valley some 12, 000 years ago (Michael, 1936 Carrad, Lea and Talyaga, 1982). One finding a predicted upon findings evidence from a site in Yuku Cave on the border between Enga Province and Lumis census division of Western Highlands that dates back 12, 000 (Bulmer, 1975). So the people settled in the Enga valley way back before the civilized men discovered them.
Also the name Enga, as it is come to known, now originated from the Melpa people of Western Highland. As mentioned by Carrad, Lea and Talyaga, 1982, The strangers (colonial administration) even brought the name Enga a Melpa word for the people living to the west of the Hagen Range (Enga) and gave it to the people and the region. So this is how the people of Enga got their name now associated with.
The early explorers came into the inland (Highlands) in the 1930s (Lacey, 1979 Michael, 1936). According to Boyd (2013), the Enga Pronice was discovered following gold prospectors explorations in 1934. Prior to the countrys independence in 1975 Enga Province was administered as one of Western Highlands districts. Later it developed into its own province with its administrative headquarters at Wabag Township (Gerrittsen 1975 Howlett 1973 Michael 1936). So Enga during the early colonial administrations was part of Western Highlands until few years before independence and gradually after independence developed as a province of its own.