Berau Regency


Berau Regency is one of the six regencies in North Kalimantan province in Indonesia. The capital is Tanjung Redeb. It has an area of 21,240 km² and a population of 179,079 at the 2010 Census.
Berau was formerly the name of a local sultanate that existed during the Dutch colonial period. In the early 19th century, it was divided into two separate sultanates: Gunung Tabur and Sambaliung.

Administration

Berau Regency is divided into thirteen districts, tabulated below with their areas and 2010 Census populations:
NameArea in
sq.km		Population
Census 2010
Kelay6,586.04,493
Talisayan1,030.310,061
Tabalar1,585.95,151
Biduk Biduk613.35,342
Pulau Derawan
921.08,372
Maratua 35.53,076
Sambaliung2,199.624,174
Tanjung Redeb31.662,725
Gunung Tabur1,955.714,938
Segah5,144.68,396
Teluk Bayur402.420,596
Batu Putih858.96,691
Biatan660.25,064

Berau Marine Conservation Area

Konservasi Kawasan Laut Berau or Berau Marine Conservation Area is formed in 2005 has 1,321 million hectares area which lies among Pulau Panjang, Karangtigau Cape, and Baliktaba Reef. The area has the second highest coral reef biodiversity in Indonesia after Raja Ampat Islands and third highest in the world. The ecosystem covers coral reef, mangrove forest and sea grass.

Literary significance

The novelist Joseph Conrad made four visits to Berau, stopping at Tanjung Redeb, while employed as the first mate of the merchant vessel S.S. Vidar in 1887–1888. The geographical setting and the lives of the small number of European traders based in Berau made a profound impression on him, and the setting for three of his novels is loosely based on Berau. Conrad sometimes refers to the Berau river as Pantai and uses the fictional name Sambir to refer to Tanjung Redeb.