Central Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Tengah) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five provinces in

Kalimantan Kalimantan () is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. In 2019, ...

, the Indonesian part of Borneo. Its provincial capital is

Palangka Raya Palangka Raya is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan. The city is situated between the Kahayan and the Sabangau rivers on the island of Borneo. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 293 ...

and in 2010 its population was over 2.2 million, while the 2015 Intermediate Census showed a rise to 2.49 million and the 2020 Census showed a total of 2.67 million. The population growth rate was almost 3.0% per annum between 1990 and 2000, one of the highest provincial growth rates in Indonesia during that time; in the subsequent decade to 2010 the average annual growth rate slowed markedly to around 1.8%, but it rose again in the decade beginning 2010. More than is the case in other province in the region, Central Kalimantan is populated by the Dayaks, the indigenous inhabitants of Borneo.

History

Since the eighteenth century the central region of Kalimantan and its Dayak inhabitants were ruled by the Muslim Sultanate of Banjar. Following Indonesian independence after World War II, Dayak tribes demanded a province separate from South Kalimantan province. In 1957

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 ...

was divided to provide the Dayak population with greater autonomy from the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

population in the province. The change was approved by the Indonesian Government on 23 May 1957 under Presidential Law No. 10 Year 1957, which declared Central Kalimantan the seventeenth province of Indonesia. President Sukarno appointed the Dayak-born national hero Tjilik Riwut as the first Governor and Palangkaraya the provincial capital.

Geography

Central Kalimantan is the largest Indonesian province by area with a size of , about 1.5 times the size of the island of Java. It is bordered by West Kalimantan and East Kalimantan provinces to the north, by the

Java Sea The Java Sea ( id, Laut Jawa, jv, Segara Jawa) is an extensive shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south, Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east. Karimata Strait to its nort ...

to the south, by

and East Kalimantan provinces to the east, and by West Kalimantan province to west. The Schwaner Mountains stretch from the north-east of the province to the south-west, 80% of which is covered in dense forest, peatland swamps, mangroves, rivers and traditional agriculture land. Highland areas in the north-east are remote and not easily accessible. Non-volcanic mounts are scattered in this area including Kengkabang, Samiajang,

Liang Pahang Liang may refer to: Chinese history * Liang (state) (梁) (8th century BC – 641 BC), a Spring and Autumn period state * Wei (state) (403–225 BC), a Warring States period state, also known as Liang (梁) after moving its capital to Daliang * ...

and

Ulu Gedang An ulu ( iu, ᐅᓗ, plural: ''uluit'', 'woman's knife') is an all-purpose knife traditionally used by Inuit, Iñupiat, Yupik, and Aleut women. It is utilized in applications as diverse as skinning and cleaning animals, cutting a child's hair, ...

. The centre of the province is covered with tropical forest, which produces rattan, resin and valuable timber such as Ulin and Meranti. The southern lowlands are dominated by peatland swamps that intersect with many rivers. Sabangau National Park is a protected peatland area internationally acknowledged as sanctuary for the endangered Orangutan. Recently the peat swamp forests have been damaged by the Mega Rice Project, which unsuccessfully sought to turn large areas into rice paddies. The province's climate is

wet weather Wet may refer to: * Moisture, the condition of containing liquid or being covered or saturated in liquid * Wetting (or wetness), a measure of how well a liquid sticks to a solid rather than forming a sphere on the surface Wet or WET may also refe ...

equatorial zone with an eight-month rainy season, and 4 months of dry season. Rainfall or precipitation is 2,776—3,393 mm per year with an average of 145 rainy days annually.

Rivers

Central Kalimantan has numerous rivers from the catchment areas to the north in the Schwaner Mountains, flowing to the

. The major rivers include: * Barito River (900 km) * Kapuas River (600 km) * Kahayan River (600 km) *

Katingan River Mendawai River or Katingan River is a river of Borneo, it is located in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. With a total length of . The longhouses of the Pendahara are located along the river in its upper course. The river has its source in the Schw ...

(600 km) * Mentaya (Sampit) River (400 km) * Seruyan River (350 km) * Lamandau River (300 km) * Arut River (250 km) *

Sabangau River Sabangau National Park (sometimes spelled Sebangau) is a national park in Central Kalimantan, a province of Indonesia in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo established in 2004. Between 1980 and 1995 the site was a massive l ...

(200 km) *

Kumai River The Kumai River is a river of Central Kalimantan province, Borneo island, Indonesia.Sungai Kumai
- Geonames.org.

(179 km) * Jelai River (100 km) Rivers are an important mode of transportation and a primary location for settlement. With relatively undeveloped infrastructure, the province's economy relies heavily on the rivers.

Administrative divisions

Central Kalimantan is administratively divided into thirteen

regencies A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state ''pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, ...

(''kabupaten'') - each headed by a regent - and one city (''kotamadya''), the latter being

(the provincial capital). These are as follows: In addition to the civil service, Central Kalimantan also recognises a traditional governing system led by traditional leaders known as ''Demang''. The province is divided into 67 traditional law areas known as ''Kademangan'', headed by ''Demang''. The system is intended to culturally recognise and preserve the customs and heritage of the Dayak tribes.

Railroads

A Russian company had been contracted to build railroads from Central Kalimantan to East Kalimantan for coal transportation, with an estimated cost of US$2.4 billion, that was expected to start in 2013 and be completed by 2017.

Demographics

Religion

Ethnic groups

The three major Dayak tribes in Central Kalimantan are the Ngaju, Ot Danum and Dusun Ma'anyan Ot Siang. The three major tribes extended into several branches of prominent Dayak tribes in Central Kalimantan such as Lawangan, Taboyan, Dusun Siang, Boyan, Bantian, Dohoi and Kadori. In addition to the indigenous Dayak tribes, there are also ethnic groups from other areas of Indonesia, including

Malays Malays may refer to: * Malay race, a racial category encompassing peoples of Southeast Asia and sometimes the Pacific Islands ** Overseas Malays, people of Malay race ancestry living outside Malay archipelago home areas ** Cape Malays, a communit ...

, Javanese, Madurese,

Batak Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, ...

, Toraja,

Ambonese The Ambonese, also known as South Moluccans, are an Indonesian ethnic group of mixed Austronesian and Melanesian origin. They are majority Christians followed by Muslims. The Ambonese are from Ambon Island in Maluku, an island group east of Sula ...

Bugis The Bugis people (pronounced ), also known as Buginese, are an ethnicity—the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassar and Toraja), in the south-western province of Sulawe ...

, Palembang, Minang, Banjarese, Makassar, Papuan, Balinese, Acehnese and also Chinese.

References

External links

* * Official statistics for the province provided by

Statistics Indonesia Statistics Indonesia ( id, Badan Pusat Statistik, BPS, ), is a non-departmental government institute of Indonesia that is responsible for conducting statistical surveys. Its main customer is the government, but statistical data is also availabl ...

may be accessed (in Indonesian) a
BPS-Statistics of Kalimantan Tengah Province
{{Authority control . Provinces of Indonesia States and territories established in 1957 1957 establishments in Indonesia