Samarinda is the

capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

of the Indonesian province of

East Kalimantan East Kalimantan (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo/Kalimantan. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the cu ...

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 ...

. The city lies on the banks of the Mahakam River with a land area of . Samarinda was one of Indonesia's top ten Most Liveable Cities in 2022, ranks first on

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...

and it is the most populous city on the entire Borneo island, with a population of 727,500 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 827,994 at the 2020 Census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as at mid 2024 was 868,499.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2025, ''Kota Samarinda Dalam Angka 2025'' (Katalog-BPS 1102001.6472) Samarinda is East Kalimantan's largest exporter and fifth-largest importer. The city has the highest number of bank headquarters in East Kalimantan. In 2021, Samarinda Harbour became the busiest passenger port in

. The container port in Samarinda is also the busiest in East Kalimantan, handled more than in 2019. Samarinda is known for its traditional food '' amplang'', as well as the cloth ''sarung samarinda''. As of 2021, the city has 3 bridges connecting its riverbanks: Mahakam Bridge, , and . The city center is on one side and the other side is named Samarinda Seberang.

Etymology

The name Samarinda originates from the description of the way in which the

Bugis The Bugis people, also known as Buginese, are an Austronesian ethnic groupthe most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassarese and Torajan), in the south-western province of Sula ...

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.

History

At the start of the Gowa War, the Dutch under Admiral Speelman's command attacked

Makassar Makassar ( ), formerly Ujung Pandang ( ), is the capital of the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, ...

from the sea. Meanwhile, the Netherlands'

ally Arung Palakka 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

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 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 ...

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. During its early days after formation in 1960, Samarinda originally only consisted of 2 districts, namely Samarinda Kota (not to be confused with the current district) and Samarinda Seberang (with a total area of 167 km²). Then, Samarinda Kota was later split into Samarinda Ilir and Samarinda Ulu (date unknown). On 24 April 1969, districts Palaran, Sanga-Sanga, Muara Jawa and Samboja were transferred from Kutai Regency to Samarinda, therefore, its total area increased to around 2,727 km².

Administrative districts

At the time of the 2010 Census, Samarinda City was divided into six

districts 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 counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

(Indonesian: ''kecamatan''), but four additional districts were subsequently created by splitting of existing ones. The ten districts are tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and the 2020 Census,Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. together with the official estimates as at mid 2024.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2025, ''Kota Samarinda Dalam Angka 2025'' (Katalog-BPS 1102001.6472) The table also includes the number of urban villages in each district (all classed as urban ''kelurahan'') and their post codes. Notes: (a) the 2010 populations of Samarinda Kota and Sambutan Districts are included in the 2010 figure for Samarinda Ilir District, from which they were later split off. (b) the 2010 population of Loa Janan Ilir District is included in the figure for Samarinda Seberang District, from which it was later split off. (c) the 2010 population of Sungai Pinang District is included in the figure for Samarinda Utara District, from which it was later split off.

Climate

Samarinda 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 ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Af'') with heavy rainfall and hot, oppressively humid temperatures year-round. Hail is extremely rare, it was recorded on 21 November 2019. The lowest recorded temperature in Samarinda is in October 1982, while the highest recorded is on 8 February 2008.

Demographics

The territory's population in mid 2024 was 868,499, with an annual growth rate of 0.77% in 2023–2024.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2025, ''Kota Samarinda Dalam Angka 2025'' (Katalog-BPS 1102001.6472) The majority of the people of Samarinda are of Native Indonesian and Chinese descent with a small minority of Arabs. There are also Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Japanese, Filipinos and Koreans working in Samarinda. Life expectancy in Samarinda was 73.6 years as of 2014.

Religion

Samarinda's main religions are Islam and Christianity. The Muslim community forms the majority of the population numbering around 91%. The Christian community numbers at nearly 66,000 individuals or slightly over 7% of the total population; Protestants form a larger number than

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

at a rate of 10:3. There are also small Buddhist,

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and other religious communities.

Samarinda Metropolitan Area

The urban area surrounding the city contains many suburban communities, particularly in the neighbouring districts (''kecamatan'') of Loa Kulu, Loa Janan, Muara Jawa, Sanga Sanga, Anggana and Muara Badak (all part of

Kutai Kartanegara Regency Kutai Kartanegara Regency (abbreviated as ''Kukar'') is a regency of East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. It has a land area of 27,891.13 km2 and a water area of 4,097 km2, geographically located between 1°18′40″S and 116°31′3 ...

). Together with the city's own residents, they constitute an urban area of over 1,050,000 inhabitants.

Economy

Since 2004, trade has been the engine of Samarinda's economic growth. It is also 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. Tourism sector also plays an important role in Samarinda's economy; it attracted over 2,000 international tourists and 1.2 million domestic tourists in 2019, making Samarinda the 2nd most popular tourists destination in

. In 2020, agriculture constituted only 2 per cent of

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

, and consists of growing flower varieties (rose, jasmine, orchid) and fruits (pomelo citrus fruit).

Commerce

Samarinda is home to several malls and traditional markets. Among them include Samarinda Morning Market, Segiri Market, Samarinda Central Plaza, Mal Lembuswana, and Big Mall Samarinda.

Transport

The main transport infrastructure of Samarinda is different than every other cities in Kalimantan, characterised by less national government involvement: Samarinda International Airport (East Kalimantan government), SkyTrain rapid transit project (public-private partnership), Samarinda Tunnel project (Samarinda Government) and Port of Palaran (private). There are about 850,000 vehicles registered in Samarinda, the highest number of vehicles of any city in East Kalimantan. Samarinda has 3 bus terminals: Sungai Kunjang Bus Terminus, Lempake Bus Terminus and Seberang Bus Terminus. Samarinda is connected by Trans-Kalimantan Highway Southern Route from

Balikpapan Balikpapan is a seaport city in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Located on the east coast of the island of Borneo, the city is the financial center of Kalimantan. Balikpapan is the city with the largest economy in Kalimantan with an estimated 20 ...

to Samarinda; the highway runs in parallel with the first controlled-access expressway in Borneo, the Samarinda-Balikpapan Expressway, which is now under construction, and expected to be operational by the end of 2018.North Kalimantan Province Road Map
- by the Road Preservation Directorate, Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing, Indonesia. APT Pranoto (Samarinda Sungai Siring, AAP) International Airport is the primary airport for the city and has been at Sungai Siring since 2018. With over 1 million passengers annually, it is one of East Kalimantan's busiest airports in terms of passenger and cargo movements. AAP is an important Australian passenger gateway for East Kalimantan's wildlife. AAP was built to replace Temindung Airport in Bandara, Sungai Pinang. The prominent coal loading port of Tanjung Bara (TBCT) lies about 160 kilometres to the north of Samarinda.

Notable people

References

Citations

Sources

External links

GovSamarinda
Samarinda Government portal {{Authority control Provincial capitals in Indonesia Cities in East Kalimantan Mahakam basin