Polewali Mandar is one of the five regencies in

West Sulawesi West Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the western side of Sulawesi island. It covers an area of 16,787.18 km2, and its capital is Mamuju. The 2010 Census recorded a population of 1,158,651, while t ...

province of

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 ...

. It borders on the regencies of Mamasa in the North,

Majene Majene is the administrative capital of Majene Regency and it is located in the Indonesian province of West Sulawesi. People The population at the 2020 Census was 73,883 people, 52% of which are female and 48% of which are male. The town i ...

in the West and Pinrang regency of

South Sulawesi South Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Selatan) is a province in the southern peninsula of Sulawesi. The Selayar Islands archipelago to the south of Sulawesi is also part of the province. The capital is Makassar. The province is bordered by Central Sula ...

in the East. It covers an area of 2,074.76 km² and had a population of 396,120 at the 2010 Census and 478,534 at the 2020 Census. The official estimate as at mid 2021 was 483,920. The regency is inhabited by several ethnic groups such as Mandar, Buginese, Javanese and

Toraja The Torajans are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Chri ...

. Mandar is an indigenous ethnic group forming the majority of the population. There are several national public figures originated from this region. The most famous one is the legendary Attorney General

Baharuddin Lopa Baharuddin Lopa (27 August 1935 – 3 July 2001) was an Indonesian Minister of Justice and Human Rights and later Attorney General of Indonesia. He was the student of Dr. Ernst Utrecht. Life and career Baharuddin Lopa was born in Polewali Mand ...

. The current provincial governor,

Ali Baal Masdar Ali Baal Masdar is an Indonesian politician. He is the formerly governor of West Sulawesi province from 2017 to 2022, and the regent of Polewali Mandar Regency Polewali Mandar is one of the five regencies in West Sulawesi province of Indonesia. ...

, is the former regent of the region. The capital town is

Polewali Polewali is the capital of the Polewali Mandar Regency of West Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is a seaside town on the coast of Mandar gulf. Polewali is the largest town in the province of West Sulawesi with 54,843 inhabitants at the 2010 Census and 65 ...

, located near the sea-side area, in the bank of

Mandar Gulf Mandar may refer to: * Mandar (given name), a masculine Indian given name * Mandar (Vidhan Sabha constituency), a constituency of the Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha, Ranchi district, Jharkhand, India * Mandar block, an administrative blocks of Ranchi distr ...

and about away from the capital city of

, Mamuju or away from Makassar, the capital city of South Sulawesi. This regency is considered quite fertile with large enough paddy farm as well as plantation for chocolate and coconut plants. The regency covers both coast-line and mountain areas. Polewali Mandar is also known as the origin of prau

sandeq A Sandeq is a type of outrigger sailboat or trimaran used by the Mandarese people for fishing and as a means of transportation between islands. The size of Sandeq varies, with hulls ranging from long and wide. Its carrying capacity ranges f ...

, a boat propelled especially by sails or paddles.

History

Polewali Mandar Regency used to be part of Polewali Mamasa Regency, a former Indonesian

Regency 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 ...

that used to be part of

but later became part of

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

. In 2002, the regency was split into two smaller regencies: Polewali Mandar Regency which is located on the sea-side region, and

Mamasa Regency Mamasa Regency ( id, Kabupaten Mamasa) is one of the six regencies that make up the West Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, on the island of Sulawesi. It covers a land area of 3,005.88 km2. The population was 140,082 at the 2010 Census and 163,3 ...

on the mountain area.

Polewali Mandar Polewali Mandar is one of the five regencies in West Sulawesi province of Indonesia. It borders on the regencies of Mamasa in the North, Majene in the West and Pinrang regency of South Sulawesi in the East. It covers an area of 2,074.76 km2 an ...

is mainly inhabited by the Mandar

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

, while Mamasa is home to the Mamasa people, who are related to the ethnic group Mamasa.

Administration

The regency is divided into sixteen

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 counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

(''kecamatan''), tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2021.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2022. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the numbers of villages (rural ''desa'' and urban ''kelurahan'') in each district, and its post code. Notes: (a) including 8 offshore islands. (b) except the village of Mammi (with a post code of 91311) and the villages of Kuajang and Paku (with a post code of 91351).

References

Regencies of West Sulawesi {{WSulawesi-geo-stub

History

Administration

See also

References