Baubau is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Southeast Sulawesi Southeast Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Tenggara) is a province on the island of Sulawesi, forming the southeastern peninsula of that island, together with a number of substantial offshore islands such as Buton, Muna, Kabaena and Wawonii (formerly ...

province,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. The city is located on the southwest coast of

Buton Buton (also Butung, Boeton or Button) is an island in Indonesia located off the southeast peninsula of Sulawesi. It covers roughly 4,727 square kilometers in area, or about the size of Madura; it is the 129th largest island in the world and ...

island. Baubau attained city status on 21 June 2001, based on Indonesian Law Number 13, for the year 2001. It covers an area of 294.98 km², including about 30 km² of water area, and had a population of 136,991 at the 2010 Census and 159,248 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 161,354. The port of Murhum serves the city's sea transportation, with a ferry terminal operated by the Indonesian state-owned sealiner,

Pelni Pelni (abbreviation of , ) is the national cargo and passenger shipping company of Indonesia. Its services network spans across the Indonesian archipelago. Mainly serving as connector between bigger cities and to remote islands, Pelni plays an ...

History

During the fifteenth century (1401–1499), Baubau was the center of the Buton (or Wolio) kingdom. There were no historical records known from this kingdom, except from a description in the

Nagarakretagama The ''Nagarakretagama'' or ''Nagarakṛtāgama'', also known as ''Desawarnana'' or ''Deśavarṇana'', is an Old Javanese eulogy to Hayam Wuruk, a Javanese king of the Majapahit Empire. It was written on lontar as a '' kakawin'' by Mpu Pr ...

text, an

Old Javanese Old Javanese or Kawi is the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was spoken in the eastern part of what is now Central Java and the whole of East Java, Indonesia. As a literary language, Kawi was used across Java and on the island ...

eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as ...

written by

Mpu Prapanca Mpu Prapanca wrote the ''Nagarakretagama'', written in Old Javanese, which tells the story of the Majapahit Kingdom and other stories of ancient Hindu- Javanese kingdoms. The Buddhist monk Prapanca wrote the chronicle in 1365 (or 1287 Saka ye ...

during the

Majapahit Kingdom Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was based on the island of Java (in modern-day Indonesia) ...

. Mpu Prapanca described a village called Buton, or Butuni, with its garden and irrigation system, and noted that there was a king who ruled in the area. The kingdom of Buton was originally established by Mia Patamiana, a musketeer from a group of four, acting as a

chieftain A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categorized a ...

; the four musketeers were known as Sipanjonga, Simalui, Sitamanajo, and Sijawangkati, based on a historical record ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'' (or the Malay peninsula record) written in the thirteenth century. They arrived on the island and founded the village of Wolio, appointing small district leaders known as ''Limbo''. Later, they united into the Kingdom of Buton and appointed Wa Kaa Kaa as the first queen in 1332; she was the wife of one of the descendants of a Majapahit ruler. In 1542, the Kingdom of Buton transformed itself into

sultanate This article includes a list of successive Islamic states and Muslim dynasties beginning with the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE) and the early Muslim conquests that spread Islam outside of the Arabian Peninsula, and continuin ...

when Islam entered the area. The first sultan of Buton was Lakilaponto, titled as Sultan Murhum Kaimuddin Khalifatul Khamis. The last sultan, the 38th, was Muhammad Falihi Kaimuddin in 1960.

Geography

Geographically, Baubau lies between lattitute 5.21°S–5.33°S and longitude 122.30°E–122.47°E, and is located in the southern part of Southeast Sulawesi region. Baubau is bordered to the north by the

Buton Strait Buton (also Butung, Boeton or Button) is an island in Indonesia located off the southeast peninsula of Sulawesi. It covers roughly 4,727 square kilometers in area, or about the size of Madura; it is the 129th List of islands by area, largest is ...

(between Buton Island and

Muna Island Muna (Pulau Muna) is an island in the Southeast Sulawesi province of Indonesia with an area of and had a population of 316,293 at the 2010 Census and 368,654 at the 2020 Census.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. It is just southeast of the i ...

), to the east by the Kapontori District, to the south by the Pasarwajo District and to the west by the Kadatua District. The topographical condition of Baubau mainly consists of mountains and hills. Long coasts and long hills stretch above the surrounding terrain with the variation of altitude between 0–100 meters

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...

. Baubau has a land slope between 8–30%. Similar to other Indonesian cities, Baubau has tropical weather. The day and night temperatures vary from around 29°–33 °C during the daytime and 20°–29 °C during the nighttime. The

ecosystems An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

consist of rain forests, spiny forests, and desert.

Administration

The city is divided into eight districts (''kecamatan''), tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2021. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the numbers of administrative villages (urban ''kelurahan'') in each district, and its post codes. Notes: (a) including offshore islet of Pulau Makassar. (b) including offshore islets of Pulau Batukapal and Pulau Batusori. The city was previously divided into just 4 districts; Betoambari (then including Murhum) had an area of 34.34 km²; Wolio (then including Kokalukuna) had an area of 26.77 km²; Sorawolio had an area of 82.25 km²; and Bungi (then including Lea-Lea) had an area of 76.64 km². The most recent addition is Batupoaro, cut out of Murhum.

Demographics

The population of the city was 136,991 as of the decennial census 2010 which at the 2020 Census has risen to 159,248, consisting mainly of the Butonese, Buginese,

Moluccans Moluccans are the Austronesian-speaking and Papuan-speaking ethnic groups indigenous to the Maluku Islands (also called the Moluccas), Indonesia. The region was historically known as the Spice Islands, and today consists of two Indonesian provi ...

, Javanese, and Sundanese people. It is the second largest city in the province after the capital,

Kendari Kendari is the capital city of the Indonesian province of Southeast Sulawesi. With a population of 345,107 according to the 2020 census, it is the most populous city in the province, and the fourth most on Sulawesi. The city covers an area of , ...

. The city's economy is mainly in the

service industry The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

, such as the hotel industry (30%) and trade (20%), principally sea trade, agriculture (20%), and coconut production, while the remainder is in the

public transportation Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

business. Baubau is also a major fishing center in Sulawesi for producing sea cucumber.

Transportation

Port Murhum serves the city, and is also the island's main access for transportation. Direct sea connections include Jakarta and

. The following passenger ships of the Indonesian state-owned sealiner company PT Pelni serve Baubau: KM Bukit Siguntang, KM Ciremai, KM Dorolonda, KM Kelimutu, KM Sinabung, and KM Lambelu.2008 sailing schedule
/ref> The city is served by Betoambari Airport, where connections are available to

Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport ( id, Bandar Udara Internasional Sultan Hasanuddin) is an international airport in Makassar, South Sulawesi. It is located northeast of Makassar's city centre and is operated by PT. Angkasa Pura I. The ...

near Makassar, South Sulawesi.

References

External links

* Populated places in Sulawesi Cities in Indonesia 1541 establishments in Asia {{short description, City in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia