Papua New Guinea is a South Pacific island country. In 1884, Germany formally took possession of the northeast part of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands, and Britain took control of the southeast section known as Papua. Australia assumed administration of the British territory in 1902, and seized the German territory during World War I. In 1920 the League of Nations granted Australia a mandate to New Guinea. Being occupied by Japan in World War II, Papua and New Guinea were united as an Australian territory after the war. The country gained independence in 1975. Papua New Guinea had to deal with separatist forces on the island of Bougainville in the 1990s. Up to 20,000 people were killed in the nine-year conflict that ended in 1997. A peace deal signed in 2001 provided the framework for the election in 2005 of an autonomous government for Bougainville. Papua New Guinea is richly endowed with natural resources, particularly minerals, forests and fisheries. But rugged terrain and inadequate infrastructure have hampered the exploitation and development of these resources. About 75 percent of the population engages in agriculture, mostly at a traditional subsistence level.