ABSTRACT
New Britain is a large, sparsely populated island. It has one of the longest colonial histories in New Guinea, most notably at its eastern end, the Gazelle Peninsula. Structures of administration show considerable continuity with the German regime in type and culture, and after the First World War there was continued growth of plantation economy; this is the time at which the colonial process comes into greater focus through a larger number of documents and books. Linguistic divisions and histories provide a means of understanding some of the diversity and unity of the society in western New Britain prior to colonialism. Linguistic history is only one element of complex historical change within the area. A more rapidly changing aspect of history is that of ritual and ceremony, some of which is regularly exchanged from one area to another. The missions had a complex set of effects, which, like their history, is hard to sum up succinctly.
