Kalimantan


Kalimantan is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It comprises 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. In 2019, the Indonesian President Joko Widodo proposed that Indonesia's capital be moved to Kalimantan.

Etymology

The name Kalimantan, which is often spelled Klemantan, was derived from the Sanskrit word Kalamanthana, which means "burning weather island", or island with a very hot temperature, to describe its hot and humid tropical climate. It consists of the two words Kāla |kal and manthan. The indigenous people of the eastern region of Borneo referred to their island by the term Pulu K'lemantan or "Kalimantan" by the time Portuguese explorers made contact with them under George Menesez. Its association with the island and its peoples has also been attributed to British scientist and colonial administrator Charles Hose from the early 20th century. However, the use of this term to refer to a supposed Klemantan people has since been discontinued, as it has been deemed to be an invented term of convenience that does not properly represent the people it claims to describe.

Area

The Indonesian territory makes up 73% of the island by area, and 69.5% by population. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are of Brunei and East Malaysia, the latter comprising the states of Sabah, Sarawak and the federal territory of Labuan. The region within Indonesia is also known as Indonesian Borneo.
Kalimantan's total area is.

Administration

Kalimantan was administered as one province between 1945 and 1956. It is now divided into five provinces. There were four provinces until 25 October 2012, when North Kalimantan was split off from East Kalimantan.
ProvinceArea Population Pop. Pop. Pop. density/km2Provincial capitalLargest metro
West Kalimantan
147,307.004,042,8174,393,2394,783,20932.5PontianakPontianak
Central Kalimantan
153,564.501,913,0262,202,5992,490,17816.2PalangkarayaPalangkaraya
South Kalimantan
38,744.233,271,4133,626,1193,984,315102.8BanjarmasinBanjarmasin
East Kalimantan
129,0672,840,8743,550,5863,422,676*26.5SamarindaBalikpapan
North Kalimantan
71,176.72473,424524,526639,6398.5Tanjung SelorTarakan
Total544,150.0712,541,55414,297,06915,320,01728-Banjarmasin

* North Kalimantan split off East Kalimantan with resulting population and area loss for the 2015 census.