Aitape

Aitape
Aitape (lower right) and Tumleo Island (left)
Aitape (lower right) and Tumleo Island (left)
Aitape is located in Sandaun Province
Aitape
Aitape
Location within Sandaun Province
Aitape is located in Papua New Guinea
Aitape
Aitape
Aitape (Papua New Guinea)
Coordinates: 3°8′S 142°21′E / 3.133°S 142.350°E / -3.133; 142.350
CountryPapua New Guinea
ProvinceSandaun Province (West Sepik)
LLGEast Aitape Rural LLG
Established1905
Elevation
4 m (12 ft)
Population
 • Total18,000
 • Rank10th
Time zoneUTC+10 (AEST)
Location
  • 126 km (78 mi) ESE of Vanimo
  • 148 km (92 mi) WNW of Wewak
ClimateAf
Aitape Beach
Sergeant Siffleet's execution at Aitape, 1943

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.[1]

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.