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West Kalimantan (Kalimantan Barat, often abbreviated to Kalbar) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of four Indonesian provinces in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city Pontianak is located right on the Equator line.
The province has an area of 146,807 km˛ with a recorded 2000 census population of 3,750,795, an official intercensal estimate is 4,118,225 for 2006. Major ethnic groups include the Dayak, Malay, Chinese, which make up about 90% of the total population. The rest are Javanese, Bugis, Madurese, and other ethnicities.
The borders of West Kalimantan roughly trace the mountain ranges surrounding the watershed of the Kapuas River, which drains most of the province. West Kalimantan is subdivided into two urban cities (kota) and ten rural regencies (kabupaten). The cities are Pontianak and Singkawang; the regencies are Sambas, Bengkayang, Pontianak, Ketapang, Landak, Sanggau, Sekadau, Sintang, Melawi , Kapuas Hulu, and the youngest regencies Kayong Utara and Kubu Raya. About 29 percent of the population lives in the Pontianak area.
There was a serious outbreak of communal violence in the province between indigenous Dayak and Madurese settlers in late 1997 and early 2000, resulting in about 500 deaths.
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