Kalimantan

(2000 pop. 10.4 million). Kalimantan occupies the southern three-quarters of the island of Borneo in Indonesia. It is divided into four provinces: West, Central, East, and South Kalimantan. The largest ethnic groups are the Malay-Indonesians, the Chinese, and the Dayaks.

The history of Kalimantan is a patchwork of Chinese, Malayan, Hindu, Muslim, and Dutch influences. Hinduism reached Kalimantan around 400 CE, and the islands were ruled by Hindu kingdoms until, withthe introduction of Islam, several sultanates emerged in the fourteenth century. The Dutch arrived on the island in the seventeenth century, and despite both Dutch and British interests in Kalimantan, the Dutch managed to strengthen their position as the main colonial power. The Japanese occupation of the island at the beginning of World War II ended Dutch rule. In 1945, Indonesia's independence ended the Japanese occupation and created Kalimantan as an official province of Indonesia.

Approximately 60 percent of the territory is forested. Kalimantan has one of the world's richest natural environments, including more plant species than in all of Africa. The fauna consists of species such as orangutans, crocodiles, giant butterflies, and freshwater dolphins. Kalimantan also contains great reserves of mineral resources: oil, natural gas, coal, gold, and uranium. Kalimantan is the second leading oil producer in Indonesia after Sumatra. Exports include oil, coal, and plywood. The oldest inscriptions in Indonesia have been discovered in Kalimantan. They are in Sanskrit and date from the beginning of the fifth century CE.

Cleary, M., and P. Eaton. (1992) Borneo: Change and Development. Singapore: Oxford University Press.

Guhardja, Edi, Mansur Fatawi, Maman Sutisna, Tokunori Mori, and Seiichi Ohta, eds. (2000) Rainforest Ecosystems of East Kalimantan: El Niño, Drought, Fire, and Human Impacts. New York: Springer.