Mataram (; ) is a city and the capital of the

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, ...

n province of

West Nusa Tenggara West Nusa Tenggara ( – NTB) is a provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It comprises the western portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the exception of Bali which is its own province. The area of this province is which consists of ...

. The city is surrounded on all the landward sides by (but is not administratively part of)

West Lombok Regency West Lombok Regency (; ) is a regency of the Indonesian Province of West Nusa Tenggara. It is located on the island of Lombok and the administrative capital is the town of Gerung. The regency covers a land area of 922.91 km2 and had a popula ...

and lies on the western side of the island of

Lombok Lombok, is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is rou ...

. It is also the largest city of the province, and had a population of 402,843 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 429,651 at the 2020 Census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 441,147 (comprising 219,625 males and 221,522 females).Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2024, ''Kota Mataram Dalam Angka 2024'' (Katalog-BPS 1102001.5271) The city is an economic, cultural, and education center of the province. It hosts all public universities in the province, the main airport as well as the only international airport in the province, and also main government offices. Greater Mataram Area (Indonesian: ''Mataram Raya'') or sometimes also called Gumi Rinjani Metropolitan Area is a metropolitan area surrounding the city with a total population of around 3 million people on 2015, making it one of the largest in the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands (, , ), now known as Nusa Tenggara Islands (, or "Southeast Islands"), are an archipelago in the Indonesian archipelago. Most of the Lesser Sunda Islands are located within the Wallacea region, except for the Bali pro ...

along with the

Denpasar Denpasar (; Balinese script, Balinese: ᬤᬾᬦ᭄ᬧᬲᬃ, ''Dénpasar'') is the capital city of the province of Bali, Indonesia. Denpasar is the largest city in the Lesser Sunda Islands and the second largest city in Eastern Indonesia after ...

metropolitan area in

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

History

There was a small city called Selaparang in East Lombok, which was a centre of Sasak power in Lombok from the 16th to the 17th century AD. West Lombok was under the control of Balinese rajas, based on their states of Mataram and Cakranegara, until the island was invaded and occupied by the Dutch in 1894.

Geography

The modern city is an

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

in the middle of West Lombok, composed of three contiguous towns which were formerly separate but now share a single administration. The old port town of Ampenan in the west merges into the administrative centre of Mataram and this in turn merges into the commercial town of Cakranegara. Further east still lies the district of Sweta, the location of Lombok's biggest market as well as Lombok's bus terminal. The towns are linked by a wide, 8km-long one-way street which begins as Jalan Langko in Apenan, becomes Jalan Pejanggik in Mataram and finishes as Jalan Selaparang in Cakranegara; it then continues east as the principal cross-island highway to Labuhan Lombok and then Kayangan, site of the Lombok-Sumbawa ferry.

Governance

Administrative division

The city consists of 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 ...

(''kecamatan''), 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 2023.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2024, ''Kota Mataram Dalam Angka 2024'' (Katalog-BPS 1102001.5271) The table also includes the number of

administrative village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

s (all classed as urban ''kelurahan'', also called "kampungs") in each district, and its postal codes. Notes: (a) Except the kampungs of Ampenan Tengah (postcode 83112), Pejeruk (postcode 83113), Ampenan Selatan (postcode 83114) and Ampenan Utara (postcode 83511). (b) Except the ''kampung'' of Pagutan (postcode 83117).

Demographics

Ethnicity

The

Sasak The Sasak (Balinese script: ᬲᬸᬓᬸᬲᬲᬓ᭄, ''Wång Sâsak'') people live mainly on the island of Lombok, Indonesia, numbering around 3.6 million (85% of Lombok's population). They are related to the Balinese in language and in ...

people are the indigenous people of Lombok and form the majority of Mataram's residents. Mataram is also home to people of

Balinese Balinese may refer to: *Bali, an Indonesian island *Balinese art *Balinese dance *Balinese people *Balinese language *Nusa Penida Balinese * Bali Aga Balinese **Balinese script **Balinese (Unicode block) *Balinese mythology *Balinese cat, a cat bre ...

, Javanese, Tionghoa-Peranakan people of mixed Indonesian and Chinese descent and a small number of

Arab Indonesian Arab Indonesians (), or colloquially known as Jama'ah, are Indonesian citizens of mixed Arab, mainly Hadharem from Yemen, and Indonesian descent. The ethnic group generally also includes those of Arab descent from other Middle Eastern Arabic sp ...

people, mainly of

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

i descent who arrived when the city was known as "Ampenan". Despite being urban dwellers, the Sasak people of Mataram still identify strongly with their origins and the Sasak culture.

Religion

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

is the religion of over 86% of the population of Mataram.

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

has the second largest following with 10% of the population. Other religions practised in Mataram are

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, and

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...

Language

Mataram society normally speaks the Sasak language, ''Bahasa Sasak'', which is the native language of the indigenous people of Lombok.

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

is the language most widely used in formal business, education and government contexts. When at home or a place of recreation, Mataram residents tend to use the Mataram Sasak language. There is also a large community of

speakers in the city, as in the past Mataram was a

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

and center of government for the Karangasem kingdom of

Sister City

Pengzhou Pengzhou (), formerly Peng County or Pengxian, is a county-level city of Sichuan Province, Southwest China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Chengdu. There is an expressway that connects Pengzhou to Chengdu. It is bo ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Climate

Mataram has a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

(

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 ...

''Am'') with heavy rainfall from November to March and moderate to little rainfall from April to October.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mataram (City) Cities in West Nusa Tenggara Populated places in Lombok States and territories established in 1993 Provincial capitals in Indonesia