Map of Indonesia showing East Kalimantan province

Kalimantan Timur, or East Kalimantan, is one of the provinces of Indonesia. It is one of four Indonesian provinces in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. The capital of this province is Samarinda

This province known as the location of the oldest Hindu kingdom in Indonesia. The Kingdom of Kutai with its king Mulawarman. The existence of this kingdom is proved by a stone manuscript (Indonesian : Prasasti) which is now kept ini the National Museum, Jakarta. The manuscript is written in Pallawa alphabet and Sanskrit language.

This province is the second largest province in Indonesia after Papua. Its area is equal with one and a half Java and Madura island area altogether. But only 2.7 million people live in this province.

Regencies

East Kalimantan is divided into 13 regencies they are Pasir , Penajam Paser Utara , Balikpapan, Samarinda , Kutai Kartanegara , Kutai Barat (West Kutai), Kutai Timur (East Kutai), Bontang , Bulungan , Berau , Malinau , Nunukan and Tarakan.

Rain forest

The main problem in this province is the illegal logging which destroyed almost all the rainforest. Less than a half rainforest still remain, such as in the Kayan Mentarang National Park at the northern part of the province. Local government still tries to stop or at least minimize this destructive practice.

Economy

This province main product is from mining activity such as oil, natural gas, coal and oil refinery in Balikpapan. The other sector is still developing such as agriculture, oil farm plantation and tourism industry. East Kalimantan has several tourist destination such as Derawan Islands in Berau Regency, Kayan Mentarang National Park ini Nunukan, Crocodile Husbandry in Balikpapan, deer husbandry in Penajam, Dayak's (native Kalimantan people) Pampang Village in Samarinda and many others.

But the main problem ini reaching the destination is transportation. Many parts of this province don't have any paved road, so the most of the people do their journey by boats or planes.