BANJARMASIN

also spelled Bandjarmasin, or Banjermasin, kotamadya (city), capital of Kalimantan Selatan propinsi (South Borneo province), Indonesia, on Tapas island between the Barito and Martapura rivers on the southern coast of Borneo. The rivers drain the largest plain on Kalimantan. To the east the Pegunungan (mountains) Meratus range, lacking roads, is largely inaccessible. Houses are raised on piles, gardens are walled and drained, and rivers and streams are used in place of roads, though there is an airfield. There is a good harbour, from which rubber, pepper, timber, rattan, cordage fibres, oil, gold, diamonds, coal, and iron are exported. The coal comes from the nearby town of Pengaron, lumber from Alalak and Cerucuk, and bricks and earthenware from Sungri Tabok. A sultanate was originally centred there, and, despite treaties signed with the Dutch East India Company in the 18th century, this sultanate was a centre of resistance against the Dutch government for most of the 19th century. Pop. (1980) 380,884.