Kalimantan () is the
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
n portion of the island of
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
.
It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are
Brunei
Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...
and
East Malaysia
East Malaysia (), or the Borneo States, also known as Malaysian Borneo, is the part of Malaysia on and near the island of Borneo, the world's third-largest island. Near the coast of Sabah is a small archipelago called Labuan. East Malaysia li ...
. In
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
.
In 2019, President of Indonesia
Joko Widodo
Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elite ...
proposed that
Indonesia's capital be moved to Kalimantan, and in January 2022 Indonesian legislature approved the proposal. The shift is expected to take up to 10 years.
Etymology
The name ''Kalimantan'' is derived from the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
word ''Kalamanthana'', which means "burning weather island", or island with a very hot temperature, referring to its hot and humid
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
climate. It consists of the two words ''
kal ">' ("time, season, period") and ''manthan
' ("boiling, churning, burning"). The indigenous people of the eastern region of Borneo referred to their island as ''Pulu K'lemantan'' or "Kalimantan" when the sixteenth century
Portuguese explorer
Portuguese maritime exploration resulted in the numerous territories and maritime routes recorded by the Portuguese as a result of their intensive maritime journeys during the 15th and 16th centuries. Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of Eu ...
Jorge de Menezes
Jorge de Menezes (c. 1498 – 1537) was a Portuguese explorer, who in 1526–27 landed on the islands of Biak (Cenderawasih Bay), whilst he awaited the passing of the monsoon season, and on the northern coasts of the Bird's Head Peninsula, calling ...
made contact with them. Its association with the island and its people has also been attributed to British scientist and colonial administrator
Charles Hose
Charles Hose FRGS. FLS (12 October 1863 – 14 November 1929) was a British colonial administrator, zoologist and ethnologist.
Life and career
He was born in Hertfordshire, England, and was educated at Felsted in Essex. Admitted to Clare Colleg ...
from the early 20th century.
Area
The Indonesian territory makes up 73% of the island by area, and 72.1% of its 2020 population of 23,053,723 (the population was 13,772,543 at the 2010 Census of Indonesia, and 16,625,796 at the 2020 Census).
[Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021.] The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are of
Brunei
Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...
(460,345 in 2020
) and
East Malaysia
East Malaysia (), or the Borneo States, also known as Malaysian Borneo, is the part of Malaysia on and near the island of Borneo, the world's third-largest island. Near the coast of Sabah is a small archipelago called Labuan. East Malaysia li ...
(5,967,582 in 2020), the latter comprising the states of
Sabah
Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...
(3,418,785) and
Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
(2,453,677), and the federal territory of
Labuan
Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan), is a Federal Territory of Malaysia. Its territory includes and six smaller islands, off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capit ...
(95,120). The region within Indonesia is also known as Indonesian Borneo.
Kalimantan's total area is .
Administrative divisions
Kalimantan is now divided into five
provinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
. It was administered as one province between 1945 and 1956, but in 1956 it was split into three provinces -
East Kalimantan
East Kalimantan (Indonesian: ) is a province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the current boundary), 3.42 million at the 2015 census, and 3. ...
,
South Kalimantan
South Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Selatan) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is the smallest province in Kalimantan, the Indonesian territory of Borneo. The provincial capital was Banjarmasin until 15 February 2022 when it wa ...
and
West Kalimantan
West Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city is Pontianak, Indonesia, Pontianak. The province has ...
; then in 1957, the province of
Central Kalimantan
Central Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Tengah) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five provinces in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo. Its provincial capital is Palangka Raya and in 2010 its population was over 2.2 million, while the 2 ...
was created when it was split away from the existing South Kalimantan. There remained four provinces until 25 October 2012, when
North Kalimantan
North Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. North Kalimantan borders the Malaysian states of Sabah to the north and Sarawak t ...
was split off from
East Kalimantan
East Kalimantan (Indonesian: ) is a province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the current boundary), 3.42 million at the 2015 census, and 3. ...
.
* excluding North Kalimantan, split off from East Kalimantan with resulting population and area loss for the 2015 census.
Demographics
Ethnic groups
Number of the largest population of ethnic groups according to the 2010 census:
Religion
Number of the largest population of religious groups according to the 2010 census:
See also
*
List of rivers of Kalimantan
List of rivers flowing in Kalimantan,''Map of Indonesia''. Peta Indonesia. Wawasan Nusantara. CV. Indo Prima Sarana. Accessed 29 Juli 2017. which is Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, comprising 73% of the island's area.
In alphabetical ...
*
Languages of Kalimantan There are 74 living languages in Kalimantan. They belong to Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of Austronesian family. Also Tringgus-Sembaan Bidayuh language is spoken as an immigrant language.
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Borneo
Islands of Indonesia
Greater Sunda Islands
Maritime Southeast Asia