| Description | This is the western half of the large island called New Guinea. It has been called: Netherlands or Dutch New Guinea (1928-1962), Irian Barat or West Irian, and finally Irian Jaya. Politically it is part of the Republic of Indonesia. Its new religious movments resemble those of the eastern half of the island that lies within the nation of Papua New Guinea, and they go back to at least as far as the beginnings of Christian missions in the 1850s |