 In 1545, the Spaniard Iñigo Ortiz de Retes gave the island the name "New Guinea" because of what he saw as a resemblance between the islands' inhabitants and those found on the African Guinea coast.Knowledge of the interior of the island remained scant for several centuries after these initial European encounters.In 1884, Germany formally took possession of the northeast quarter of the island and it became known as German New Guinea.