Papua Province is the largest and easternmost
province of
Indonesia. It lies in
West Papua region, which comprises the Indonesian, western, half of the island of
New Guinea and nearby islands. Papua is bordered by the nation of
Papua New Guinea to the east, and by
West Papua province to the west. Its capital is
Jayapura. It was formerly called
Irian Jaya (before that
West Irian or
Irian Barat) and comprised all of Indonesian New Guinea. In 2002 the current name was adopted and in 2003 West Papua province was created within West Papua region from western parts of Papua province.