Samarinda is the capital city of the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The city lies on the banks of the Mahakam River with a land area of. It is the most populous city on the entire Borneo island, with an estimated population of 842,691, up from 726,223 at the 2010 Census. Although it is the capital of East Kalimantan, some government institutions such as the Regional Police and 6th Military Regional Command of Mulawarman headquarters are located in Balikpapan instead. Samarinda is known for its traditional food amplang, as well as the cloth sarung samarinda. The city also has a bridge connecting its river banks, Mahakam Bridge. The city center is on one side and the other side is named Samarinda Seberang.
History
At the start of the Gowa War, the Dutch under Admiral Speelman's command attacked Makassarfrom the sea. Meanwhile, the Netherlands' local ally Arung Palaka led a ground attack. The Kingdom of Gowa was forced to surrender and Sultan Hasanuddin was made to sign the Treaty of Bongaja on 19 November 1667. The treaty did not quell all trouble for the Dutch however, since the Bugis from Gowa continued their struggle using guerilla tactics. Some Buginese moved to other islands close by such as Kalimantan. A few thousand people led by Lamohang Daeng Mangkona or Pua Ado I, moved to East Kalimantan, known then as Kutai, where they were welcomed by the local Sultan. Samarinda was a small, sleepy town in 1942 with several small oil fields in the vicinity. It was occupied by the Japanese after the Dutch East Indies had fallen. In 1955, the Apostolic Vicariate of Samarinda was established in the city. In 1961, it was promoted as the Diocese of Samarinda. In 2003, the diocese was promoted as the. Metropolitan Archdiocese of Samarinda. Recent developments such as malls and housing complex have made Samarinda a little more livable than it was before.
Administration
Samarinda City is divided into ten districts, tabulated below with their 2017 Census population:
The name Samarinda originates from the description of the way in which the Bugis houses were constructed. At that time houses were customarily built on a raft and generally had the same height. This provided important social symbolism of equality between residents; no person's house, and thus no person, was seen as higher or lower than another. They named the settlement 'Samarenda', meaning 'equally low'. After hundreds of years of use the pronunciation of the name changed slightly and the city became known as Samarinda.
Economy
The economy of Samarinda is driven by the large amount of logging and oil extraction companies based there. Similar to Balikpapan, many national logging companies are based in Samarinda. There are many abandoned coal mines in Samarinda. Coal mining used to be very popular in Samarinda. However, the Indonesian government revoked many mining licenses due to the use of illegal chemicals and machinery. Due to all these economical activities in Samarinda, it is one of the richest cities in East Kalimantan.
The territory's population in 2017 was 843,446, with an average annual growth rate of 0.018% in 2016–2017. The majority of the people of Samarinda are of Native Indonesian and Chinese descent. There are also Americans, Canadians, Japanese and Koreans working in Samarinda. Life expectancy in Samarinda is 73.6 years as of 2014.
Religion
Samarinda's main religions are Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. The Christian community of around 89,000 forms about 10.2% of the total population; Protestants form a larger number than Roman Catholics at a rate of 10:3. There are also Hindu communities.
