Samarinda

From Freepedia

Samarinda is the capital of East Kalimantan Province. This city lies on the bank of Mahakam River. Samarinda is the most populous city in East Kalimantan with 562.463 (2000)people live in this city. Samarinda is the gate to the remote regencies such as Kutai Barat, Kutai Kartanegara and East Kutai. To reach those regencies, people usually travels by river because it is faster. As a capital of East Kalimantan, Samarinda has an airport, Temindung and a port. It is planned both the airport and port will be moved soon.

History

When the Gowa War began, The Dutch under Admiral Speelman command attacked Makassar from the sea. Meanwhile, The Dutch's ally Arupalaka led a ground attack. Finally, the Kingdom of Gowa surredered and Sultan Hassanudin were forced to sign a historic treaty known as Bongaya Treaty on November 19, 1667. After the treaty, the Buginese from Gowa, who did not want to surrender, continued their struggle by guerilla. Some of them moved to another island such as Kalimantan. A few thousand people led by Lamohang Daeng Mangkona or Pua Ado I moved to East Kalimantan or at that time known as Kutai. Those Buginese people were welcomed by the Sultan of Kutai. The Sultan of Kutai then gave them land in Kampung Melantai and the Buginese people opened their farms and fisheries there. But, as the payment Buginese had to help Sultan to defend Kutai whenever needed. The Buginese chose the land around Karang Mumus River, now known as Kampung Selili. The name Samarinda came from the construction of the house. At that time all houses were built on the raft and generally had the same height. With the same house, the people wanted to say that they were equal in everything. No citizen was higher or lower than anyone else. The location of the houses were on the water which was lower than the surrounding land. So, they called it Samarenda means equal in height. After hundreds of years the pronunciation changed and now this city known as Samarinda. The arrival of the first Buginese on 21 January 1668 was finally chosen as the city's anniversary.