Ketapang, or ''Tau-pang'' in Teochew, is the administrative capital of Ketapang Regency (''Kabupaten Ketapang''), one of the regencies of

West Kalimantan West Kalimantan () is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital and largest city is Pontianak. It is bordered by East Kalimantan and Central ...

province on the island of

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

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, ...

. Ketapang town is located at and is a town on the

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

of the Pawan River. Ketapang is served by the Rahadi Oesman Airport.

History

Ketapang is named from the local Malay name for ketapang tree (''

Terminalia catappa ''Terminalia catappa'' is a large Tropics, tropical tree in the leadwood tree family, Combretaceae, native to Asia, Australia, the Pacific, Madagascar and Seychelles. Common names in English include country almond, Indian almond, Malabar almond, ...

''). In 1936, Ketapang Regency became one of the Afdeling (district in Dutch) in Keresidenan Kalimantan Barat (Residentis Western Afdeling van Borneo). In 1956, Ketapang Regency became an autonomous regency in

province, and led by a regent (bupati).

Administration

In formal Indonesian administrative subdivision, Ketapang is a town district, not a city. The name of Ketapang is only officially applied to Ketapang Regency. Although there is no exact border of the built-up area, most of the government offices and the central of business of Ketapang Regency are located in Delta Pawan

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 Delta Pawan) and because of that the district is considered as the capital of the regency. The district itself is located on the delta of the Pawan River. Delta Pawan District is sub-divided into five urban communities (''kelurahan'') and four rural villages (''desa'') - the ''desa'' being listed last in the table below - all listed below with their areas and populations as at mid 2023,Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, ''Kecamatan Delta Pawan Dalam Angka 2024'' (Katalog-BPS 1102001.6106071) together with their postcodes.

Economy

The main industries consists in the production of

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from o ...

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...

and wood. And also there are some mining like

alumina Aluminium oxide (or aluminium(III) oxide) is a chemical compound of aluminium and oxygen with the chemical formula . It is the most commonly occurring of several aluminium oxides, and specifically identified as aluminium oxide. It is commonly ...

bauxite Bauxite () is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH) ...

zircon Zircon () is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates and is a source of the metal zirconium. Its chemical name is zirconium(IV) silicate, and its corresponding chemical formula is Zr SiO4. An empirical formula showing some of th ...

sand and

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

(Batu Galena)

Education

There are 37 high schools operated by state, private and religious institutions. The town has a polytechnic (Politeknik Ketapang, opened in 2008) and an Open University (Universitas Terbuka).

Health

The three hospitals located in the town are RSUD Dr. Agoesdjam (public hospital), RS Fatima (private hospital), and RS Permata Bunda (private hospital).

Demographics

Ketapang is a multicultural town. It has a large population of Chinese. Madurese and Javanese are significant minorities, in terms of size. Most Chinese residents in Ketapang are of either Teochew or

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

descent with Teochew being the majority. Because of this, Teochew is the main dialect used among Chinese residents in Ketapang. The native Indonesians living there are mainly of Malay and Dayak descent. In regards to speech, most citizens of Ketapang incorporate a type of Malay accent in their Indonesian, which is somewhat similar to that used in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Transportation

Ketapang is served by the Rahadi Oesman Airport. The airport has some connecting flights to Pontianak and

Semarang Semarang (Javanese script, Javanese: , ''Kutha Semarang'') is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Netherlands, Dutch Dutch East Indies, colonial era, and is still an important regio ...

via Pangkalan Bun. Since February 2011, Ketapang also has direct flight to

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

, by Aviastar.Aviastar Airlines
/ref> Aviastar stopped the service in 2018. Ketapang can also be reached via ship from Pontianak (a six-hour speedboat ride, departing Pontianak daily at 6 am). The ship also stopped the service in 2018. But there are some ship from Teluk Melano, 2 hours drive from Ketapang and home pick-up included, to Pontianak every day. Pontianak's airport serves flights to

. By 2024, it is possible to drive to Pontianak by car in about 9 hours and 30 minutes passing Trans-Kalimantan road.

Main sights

* Gunung Palung National Park, a rainforest park that can be reached from Ketapang. It was once wholly part of Ketapang regency, but now only a small part is, the rest in the regency that is named Kayong Utara or North Kayong (created 2007). Kayong is the nickname of Ketapang. * Pematang Gadung, The Peat Forest, the home of wild

Orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

. * Kelenteng Tua Pek Kong (大伯公), a Chinese

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

. * Tugu Ale-ale. Ale-ale is a kind of

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

. *Beaches in Ketapang include Sungai Jawi beach (10 km from the town), Tanjung Batu beach (35 km), and Pulau Datok beach (80 km). * Makam Raja-Raja Tanjungpura ( Tanjungpura Royal Cemetery), 3 hour from Ketapang town, by motorcycle and small boat that carries motorcycle through a section of road that is flooded. The flooded section is being repaired in 2019.

Notable people

* Daud Yordan, boxer. *

Hamzah Haz Hamzah Haz (15 February 1940 – 24 July 2024) was the ninth vice president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004 under President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Prior to serving as vice president, Hamzah served as a cabinet minister and a member of the People' ...

, a former Indonesian vice President, born in Ketapang.

Villages

* Pematang Gadung

Climate

References

External links

*
Official website

Local news

http://www.savegporangutans.org (Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program)
Aviastar Airlines - Direct from Jakarta to Ketapang

Sights and Sounds of Ketapang Blog
* http://biodiversityofpematanggadung.blogspot.com/ * http://ketapangcityku.blogspot.com/2012/07/makam-raja-tanjungpura-ketapang.html * http://visit-ketapang.weebly.com/tanjungpura-kingdom.html * Go West Kalimantan http://www.goarchi.com/archo/provinces/w-kalim/w-kalimtour.html * Kalimantan as a Tourism Destination http://www.extremeborneo.com/Kalimantan_Destinations.html * http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+kingdom+of+Ulu+are+in+Borneo's+history%3A+a+comment.+(Research...-a093792581 {{Authority control Ketapang, Populated places in West Kalimantan Port cities and towns in Indonesia Regency seats of West Kalimantan