Not even the most optimistic of the 20 men of UNTEA, the Temporary Executive Authority at W.N. Guinea, expected that they could accomplish much during their seven caretaker months.

The first Europeans to sight New Guinea were two 16th century Portuguese sea captains who were so unimpressed that they did not even bother to claim it for their King. Second largest island in the world (after Greenland), it was a tangle of tropical jungle inhabited by mosquitoes, crocodiles, and…