Sulawesi Selatan

▪ province, Indonesia

English  South Celebes 

      provinsi (province), central and southwestern Celebes, Indonesia. It is bounded by the Flores Sea to the south, Makassar Strait to the west, Bone Gulf to the east, and the provinces of Sulawesi Tengah (Central Celebes) to the north and Sulawesi Tenggara (Southeast Celebes) to the northeast. The province includes the islands of Selayar, Tambolongang, Kalao, Tanahjampea (Batu), Bonerate, and Kalaotoa in the Flores Sea. The provincial capital is Ujungpandang (Makassar) (Makassar; formerly Makasar).

      Prior to the arrival of Islam in the 16th century, the area was governed by a number of small states divided between two related ethnic groups, the Makasarese and the Buginese. About 1530 the Makasarese state of Gowa emerged as the most powerful state, and the king of Gowa adopted Islam in 1605. The Dutch established a trading post at Makasar (Makassar) in 1609. This led to warfare with Gowa and to an alliance between the Dutch and the Buginese prince Arung Palakka, king of Bone (now Watampone). The Gowa king was defeated in 1667, and the Dutch position was consolidated. In the 18th century (c. 1700–65), Arung Singkang, a descendant of the Buginese royal family of Wojo, rose to power and continued the warfare with Makasar. The Makasarese attacked the Mataram kingdom of eastern Java in 1675, and the Dutch promised help to Amangkurat I, the ruler of Mataram. The Makasarese were finally expelled from eastern Java in 1779. The British occupied southwestern Celebes (1810–16) during the Napoleonic Wars. The Makasarese attacked the British in 1814 and 1816. Some of the southern Celebes states refused to recognize Dutch suzerainty in 1817, when Celebes reverted to the Dutch. The state of Bone was defeated by the combined forces of the Dutch and the Makasarese in 1825. The Java War began in 1825, and subsequent rebellions broke out at various locations in the East Indies (present-day Indonesia), including in the southern Celebes state of Makasar. The Dutch eventually emerged victorious during 1858–60 and extended their rule over the whole of the region. The Japanese occupied Celebes during World War II. The states of southern Celebes supported the newly proclaimed Republic of Indonesia in 1945. The Dutch, meanwhile, included Celebes in the new state of East Indonesia that they had created. Clashes occurred between Dutch and Republican troops in Makasar in 1950, and, with the defeat of the Dutch, Celebes became part of the Republic of Indonesia.

      A north-south chain of mountains surmounted by volcanic cones and broken midway by the Tempe Lake valley runs the length of the province. The Tineba Mountains and the Takolekaju Mountains from the northern part of the chain run parallel to each other, cover most of the northern half of the province, and have steep-sided rift valleys between them. The highest peak in the Celebes archipelago is Mount Rantekombola, rising to 11,335 feet (3,455 metres) in the north-central part of the province. The northern mountain chain decreases in width toward its southern extremity, south of Danau Tempe. Streams including the Walanae, Sadang, Karama, Kobo, Kalaena, Koladu, and Kongkong flow down the western and eastern slopes of the mountains and across narrow coastal lowlands. The mountains are covered by dense equatorial forests of teak, oak, banyan, ironwood, and pine; the forests thin out at higher elevations. The streams are bordered by gallery forests. The principal means of livelihood are agriculture and deep-sea fishing. The products include rice, corn (maize), copra, coffee, spices, vegetable oil, teak, rattan, sugarcane, soybeans, and sweet potatoes. Industries mill rice and produce cement, beverages, chemicals, rubber goods, processed coffee, palm oil, woven cloth, paper, metalware, carved wood, and mats and baskets. Silver, tin, nickel, and iron ore are mined. Roads run almost parallel to the western and eastern coasts. In addition to Ujungpandang, the main urban centres include Palopo, Parepare, Singkang, and Watampone (Bone). The inhabitants are mostly Buginese and Makasarese. Area 14,726 square miles (38,140 square km). Pop. (2000) 8,059,627.

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