Painan is a coastal town that serves as the capital of the South Pesisir

regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

West Sumatra West Sumatra () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is on the west coast of the island of Sumatra and includes the Mentawai Islands off that coast. West Sumatra borders the Indian Ocean to the west, as well as the provinces of ...

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, ...

. It is an urban centre (''kelurahan'') in IV Jurai District.

History

There is no certain historical document or archive that holds the origin of the town's name. According to the local folklore, the name 'Painan' originated from ''paik nian'', which means "very bitter" in Bahasa Minangkabau, the language of the Minangkabau people who live in the area. The phrase ''paik nian'' itself might refer to how difficult the life of the town's local people was in the past. It might also reflect the fact that the town's topography (surrounded by hills and rivers) caused this place to be difficult to traverse by travelers. This coastal town became an important place during Indonesia's colonial period in 1663 when the Dutch, via the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

, set a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...

in ''Pulau Cingkuak'' (Cingkuak Island), one of many islands that are located offshore the town, as documented in the "Perjanjian Painan" or 'Painan Treaty'. Through the treaty, the local chiefs of the West Coast of Sumatra were also bound to supply pepper and gold to the Dutch.

Economy

Nowadays, as the capital of the South Pesisir regency, this town is the center of economic activities in the regency. According to the regency's website, this town's main economic activities lie in

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish far ...

, and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

.http://www.pesisirselatan.go.id

Education

Painan has 4 Kindergartens and 2 Play Groups. It also has 9 Primary schools, 2 Junior High schools, 1 Senior High school, 1 Public High school and 1 University.

Administration

Painan is divided into 3 administrative villages or ''

kelurahan In Indonesia, village or subdistrict is the fourth-level subdivision and the smallest administrative division of Indonesia below a district, regency/city, and province. Similar administrative divisions outside of Indonesia include barangays in t ...

'' : # East Painan # Painan # South Painan

Climate

Painan has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...

(Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round.

Tourism

Paragliding at Langkisau Hill - Painan 2009

These are several tourist attractions in Painan : #

Paragliding Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or in a cocoon-like 'pod' suspended be ...

from the town's Langkisau Hill # Panorama of the Kabung Bay Hills . # Taratak River in Lundang # Mandeh Tourism Area # Batu Kalang Beach and the Gulf Coast Sikulo # Jembatan akar or "Tree-Root Bridge", a bridge that forms from the fabric of the root from two trees that grow across and extends over a stream # Bayang Sani Waterfalls (also known as Welkum, a former Dutch era bathhouse) # Lumpo Waterfall # Langkisau Hill (sights and paragliding) # Carocok Beach # Timbulun Waterfall # Salido Kecil (a famous gold mine during the era of

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

) # Nipah River shore # Cingkuk Island (Site of the ruin of a Portuguese-Dutch fort) # Kerabak Island # Turtle Island # Teluk Kasai Beach

Notes

External links

* http://int-mark.blogspot.com/2009/03/kota-painan-kota-rang-pasisia.html * http://kotapainan.blogspot.com/2008/12/kota-painan.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20101223161630/http://www.pesisirselatan.go.id/ * http://wawasanislam.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/salido-sejak-kerjaan-lumbung-ameh/ {{Coord, 1, 21, 4, S, 100, 34, 32, E, type:city, display=title Populated places in West Sumatra Regency seats of West Sumatra