Papuan ethnicity - top countries
Papuan ethnicity is common in the following countries, according to MyHeritage DNA users' data.
Select another ethnicityPapuan ethnicity
Papuans are the indigenous peoples of New Guinea. Papua New Guinea is home to over a thousand different tribal groups (and just as many languages) who share some ancestral roots dating back to the earliest inhabitants of the island in addition to the Austronesian people who migrated to the area several millennia later. Some Papuan tribes were not contacted until the 1970s, and several remain isolated from the wider world even today. One distinct element of Papuan culture is the sing sing festivity, wherein different tribes gather to perform dances and songs in elaborate costumes and body paint, depicting the distinct cultures of each group. The sing sing has long served as an opportunity for cultural exchange, forging alliances, and resolving disputes between different groups.