Simalungun Regency is a regency in

North Sumatra North Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Utara) is a province of Indonesia located on the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan. North Sumatra is Indonesia's fourth most populous province after West Java, East Java ...

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 ...

. Its seat was formerly at

Pematangsiantar Pematangsiantar (sometimes written as Pematang Siantar, acronym PS or ''P. Siantar'', colloquially just Siantar), is an independent city in North Sumatra, Indonesia, surrounded by, but not part of, the Simalungun Regency, making Pematangsiantar an ...

, but this city was in recent years separated from the Regency and made into an independent city (''kota''), although it remains geographically surrounded by the regency, whose new administrative seat is at Raya. The regency now covers an area of 4,372.5 square kilometres, and at the 2010 census it had a population of 817,720; at the 2020 Census this had risen to 990,246, of whom 497,314 were male and 492,932 were female.

Demography

The principal group of inhabitants of the Regency (and of

city, an enclave within the regency) are the

Simalungun people The Simalungun people are an ethnic group in North Sumatra, considered one of the Batak peoples. Simalungun people live mostly in Simalungun Regency and the surrounding areas, including the city of Pematang Siantar, an autonomous city, but pre ...

, a sub-group of the

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

. Their language ( Simalungun language) is an

Austronesian Austronesian may refer to: *The Austronesian languages *The historical Austronesian peoples The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, M ...

language.

Regent

The regent of Simalungun is Radiapoh Hasiholan Sinaga, SH, who was elected as Regent of Simalungun on ''Pilkada'' (election of regional head) 2020.

Administrative districts

The regency in 2010 was divided administratively into thirty-one

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

(''kecamatan''), but in 2017 a 32nd district - Dolog Masagal - was created. These are tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census Biro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 2020 Census. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages (rural ''desa'' and urban ''kelurahan'') in each district, and its post code. Note: (a) The 2010 population of the new Dolog Masagal District is included in the figure for Raya District, from which it was cut out in 2017.

Culture

Dayang Bandir and Sandean Raja is a folk story from Simalungun.

Tourism

White Crater

Local people mention it as Bukit Kapur Tinggi Raja, but some people also called it as Kawah Putih (White Crater) same name as Kawah Putih in

West Java West Java ( id, Jawa Barat, su, ᮏᮝ ᮊᮥᮜᮧᮔ᮪, romanized ''Jawa Kulon'') is a province of Indonesia on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Bante ...

. The crater is located in Dolok Tinggi Raja Village, 90 kilometers from

Medan Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four ma ...

or 3 to 4 hours drive by motorcycles with route Medan-Lubuk Pakam-Galang-Bangun Purba-Dolok Tinggi Raja.

Parapat

Parapat is a small town located on the shore of

Lake Toba Lake Toba ( id, Danau Toba) ( Toba Batak: ᯖᯀᯬ ᯖᯬᯅ; romanized: ''Tao Toba'') is a large natural lake in North Sumatra, Indonesia, occupying the caldera of a supervolcano. The lake is located in the middle of the northern part of the ...

. This place is known for tourism, and ferry services to Samosir Island are also available.

References

Regencies of North Sumatra {{NSumatra-geo-stub