Aitape
Aitape | |
|---|---|
Aitape (lower right) and Tumleo Island (left) | |
| Coordinates: 3°8′S 142°21′E / 3.133°S 142.350°E | |
| Country | Papua New Guinea |
| Province | Sandaun Province (West Sepik) |
| LLG | East Aitape Rural LLG |
| Established | 1905 |
| Elevation | 4 m (12 ft) |
| Population | |
• Total | 18,000 |
| • Rank | 10th |
| Time zone | UTC+10 (AEST) |
| Location | |
| Climate | Af |
Aitape is a small town of about 18,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun Province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of the highway between these two capitals. Aitape has 240 V power (in general 24 hours), telephone, a bank, a post-office, a courthouse and a police station, a supermarket and many tradestores, a petrol station, two airstrips, two secondary schools, a mission office and a hospital.
Aitape was established as a train station by German colonists in 1905 as part of German New Guinea. During the Second World War the town was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army.