Sungai Selan is a

district 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, municip ...

(''kecamatan'') of Central Bangka Regency, in the

Bangka-Belitung The Bangka Belitung Islands (; Jawi: ) is a province of Indonesia. Situated off the southeastern coast of Sumatra, the province comprises two main land masses — the islands of Bangka and Belitung — and numerous smaller islands. Bangka Bel ...

province of

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, ...

History

Sungai Selan was the initial point for the spread of

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

into Bangka, originating from Catholic Chinese physician Tsjen On Ngie (1795–1871) who moved from

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

into Sungai Selan in 1830, and his house gradually became a makeshift chapel with statues and prayer rooms. By 1853, a resident priest had been assigned to the area, and although the number of Catholics fluctuated (recorded at 379 in 1967, mainly Chinese migrant workers who often returned to China), a

Capuchin friar The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. OFMCap) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFMObs, now OFM), the ot ...

was assigned to Sungai Selan in 1912, until 1918 when shifts in the

tin mining Tin mining began early in the Bronze Age, as bronze is a copper-tin alloy. Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth's crust, with approximately 2 ppm (parts per million), compared to iron with 50,000 ppm. History Tin extraction and use ca ...

industry resulted in a relocation of the mission to

Pangkal Pinang Pangkalpinang, colloquially written as Pangkal Pinang, also known as Pin-kong in Hakka, is the capital and largest city of the Bangka Belitung Islands Province in Indonesia. It is located on Bangka Island's east coast, the city is divided into ...

. During this period, a

beriberi Thiamine deficiency is a medical condition of low levels of thiamine (vitamin B1). A severe and chronic form is known as beriberi. The name beriberi was possibly borrowed in the 18th century from the Sinhalese phrase (bæri bæri, “I canno ...

outbreak in 1883 amongst Chinese migrant workers killed half of the congregation. The Sungai Selan mission was the first Catholic mission in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

outside Java. During a Dutch administrative organization of

Bangka Island Bangka is an island lying east of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is administered under the province of the Bangka Belitung Islands, being one of its namesakes alongside the smaller island of Belitung across the Gaspar Strait. The 9th largest island in ...

in 1854, Sungai Selan was one of nine districts defined. Following Indonesian independence, a reorganization of administrative divisions of Bangka in 2003 placed Sungai Selan in the Central Bangka Regency.

Administration

Sungai Selan is subdivided into the urban village (''kelurahan'') of Sungai Selan which serves as the administrative center and twelve regular villages (''desa'').

Economy

Agriculture and

comprises the largest sources of employment in the district, with

oil palm ''Elaeis'' () is a genus of palms, called oil palms, containing two species, native to Africa and the Americas. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. Description Mature palms are single-stemmed, and can gro ...

and

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter ...

being major commodities. The district hosts a river port operated by the government-owned PT Pelindo II. The port serves

speedboat A motorboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine; faster examples may be called "speedboats". Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the intern ...

s crossing from

South Sumatra South Sumatra () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, located in the southeast of the island of Sumatra. The capital and largest city of the province is the city of Palembang. The province borders the provinces of Jambi to the north ...

, and handles around 200 tons of cargo daily.

References

{{reflist Districts of the Bangka Belitung Islands Populated places in the Bangka Belitung Islands