New Guinea: Perbezaan antara semakan

|accessdate=30 November 2009}}; {{Cite book | last = Wallace | first = Alfred Russel | authorlink = Alfred Russel Wallace | title = The Malay Archipelago | publisher = Macmillan and Co | year = 1869 | location = London | page = 2 }}</ref>

 

Secara geologi pulau ini bersama-sama dengan Australia adalah sebahagian dari [[Pentas Sahul]],<ref name=ballard>{{cite conference |first=Chris |last=Ballard |authorlink= |title=Stimulating minds to fantasy? A critical etymology for Sahul |booktitle=Sahul in review: Pleistocene archaeology in Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia |pages=19–20 |publisher=Australian National University | location= Canberra |year=1993 |id=ISBN 0-7315-1540-4 }}</ref><ref name="Allen 1977">{{cite book |last=Allen |first=J. |authorlink= |coauthors=J. Golson and R. Jones (eds) |editor= |others= |title=Sunda and Sahul: Prehistorical studies in Southeast Asia, Melanesia and Australia |year=1977 |publisher=Academic Press |location=London |isbn=0-12-051250-5 |pages= |chapter= |quote = }}</ref> yang juga dikenali sebagai [[Benua Australia|Greater Australia]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allen |first=Jim |last2=Gosden |first2=Chris |last3=Jones |first3=Rhys |last4=White |first4=J. Peter |year=1988 |title=Pleistocene dates for the human occupation of New Ireland, northern Melanesia |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=331 |issue=6158 |pages=707–709 |doi=10.1038/331707a0 }}</ref> Kedua-dua daratan menjadi berasingan ketika kawasan yang kini dikenali sebagai [[Selat Torres]] dilanda banjir selepas [[Zaman Glasier Akhir]].