Natal is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Mandailing The Mandailing (also known as Mandailing Batak) people are an ethnic group in Sumatra, Indonesia that is commonly associated with the Batak people. They are found mainly in the northern section of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. They came und ...

region,

North Sumatra North Sumatra () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan on the east coast of the island. It borders Aceh to the northwest, Riau to the sou ...

province,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. Batang Gadis National Park is located here. There is also a

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...

industry in the town. The name derives from ''ranah datar'', "flat land" in Indonesian. Even though it is located in Mandailing region, culturally Natal people are part of

Minangkabau people Minangkabau people (; ; ) are an Austronesian people, Austronesian ethnic group native to the Minangkabau Highlands of West Sumatra, Western Sumatra region on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Minangkabau's West Sumatera homelands was th ...

.Mrazek, Rudolf; Sjahrir: politics and exile in Indonesia, 1994

References

Natal alun-alun 2.jpg, The '' alun-alun'' (central square) in Natal Natal rue.jpg, A street in Natal Natal maison 1.jpg, Traditional house near Natal Natal clinique 1.jpg, The hospital of Natal, formerly the office and residence of '' controleur'' Eduard Douwes Dekker a. k. a. Multatuli Populated places in North Sumatra {{NSumatra-geo-stub