South Kalimantan

South Kalimantan (Indonesian: Kalimantan Selatan, Jawi: کليمنتن سلاتن) is a province of Indonesia. The provincial capital was Banjarmasin until 15 February 2022, where the capital was moved 35 km southeast to Banjarbaru. With an area of 37,125.43 km², it is the smallest province on the island of Kalimantan by land area but the second most populous, after West Kalimantan. The population of South Kalimantan was recorded at just over 3.625 million people at the 2010 Census, and at 4.07 million at the 2020 Census. The official estimate as at mid 2025 was 4,323,330.

One of the five Indonesian provinces in Kalimantan, it is bordered by the Makassar Strait in the east, Central Kalimantan in the west and north, the Java Sea in the south, and East Kalimantan in the northeast. The province also includes the island of Pulau Laut ("Sea Island"), located off the eastern coast of Kalimantan, as well as other smaller offshore islands. The province is divided into 11 regencies and 2 cities. South Kalimantan is the traditional homeland of the Banjar people, although some parts of East Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan are also included in this criterion. Nevertheless, South Kalimantan, especially the former capital city Banjarmasin has always been the cultural capital of Banjarese culture. Many Banjarese have migrated to other parts of Indonesia, as well as neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. In addition, other ethnic groups also inhabit the province, such as several groups of the Dayaks, who mostly live in the interior part of the province, as well as the Javanese, who mostly migrated from Java due to the Transmigration program which dated from the Dutch colonial era. It is one of the provinces in Indonesia that has a larger population than Mongolia.

The territory of what is now South Kalimantan alternated between local Kingdoms, because of its strategic location for trade, before becoming tributary to the Sultanate of Mataram in the 17th century. With increasing Dutch encroachment, the territory was colonized as part of the Dutch East Indies and then the Japanese Empire until Indonesian Independence in 1945.