Mimika - Settlements

The largest population concentration is found in the central and eastern regions, where villages range from about 60 to 400 inhabitants. In the past people lived in tiny dispersed temporary dwellings scattered around semipermanent longhouse settlements, and everyday life still consists of moving up and down between sago groves upstream and fishing grounds downstream. The traditional longhouse pattern is still followed in the temporary settlements for sago production, fishing, and foraging, but in the villages people have adopted separate family dwellings introduced by missionaries and the Dutch administration.