Palembang (, Palembang: Pelémbang, Jawi: ڤليمبڠ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River in the eastern lowlands of southern Sumatra. It had a population of 1,668,848 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 1,729,546 (comprising 865,942 males and 863,604 females). Palembang is the second most populous city in Sumatra, after Medan, and the twelfth most populous city in Indonesia.
The Palembang metropolitan area has an estimated population of more than 2.7 million in 2022. It comprises parts of regencies surrounding the city, including Banyuasin, Ogan Ilir, and Ogan Komering Ilir.
Palembang was the capital of Srivijaya, a Buddhist kingdom that ruled much of the western Indonesian Archipelago and controlled many maritime trade routes, including the Strait of Malacca.
Palembang was incorporated into the Dutch East Indies in 1825 after the abolition of the Palembang Sultanate. It was chartered as a city on 1 April 1906.
Palembang was the host city of the 2011 Southeast Asian Games and the 2018 Asian Games along with Jakarta. The first light rail system in Indonesia was operated in Palembang in July 2018.
The city attracted 2,011,417 tourists in 2017, including 9,850 foreign tourists. Traffic jams, floods, slums, pollution, and peatland fire are problems in Palembang.
Etymology
Some believe that the name "Palembang" is derived from the word limbang in Malay. By adding the prefix pe- which indicates a place or situation, the city's name means "a place to pan gold and diamond ores". It is said that during antiquity, the ruler ordered gold and diamond miners to pan their ores in the city for security and surveillance reasons.
Others say that the name comes from the word lembang in Malay. By adding the same prefix, the city's name means "a place where the water leaks". It also means "a place which was constantly inundated by water". It refers to the geographical features of Palembang, which is a wetland.
Some say that the name was given by four brothers who survived a shipwreck near Musi River during the Majapahit reign. It is said that on their way to a new colony in eastern Sumatra when their ship was wrecked, all belongings in the ship sunk into the sea except a broken wooden box which the survivor used as rafts. The rafts were wobbled (limbang-limbang) by the waves until they drifted ashore to a land which was later named Palimbang by them.
Palembang also has a special Chinese character rendition like several cities in Indonesia. In modern Chinese, Palembang is written as Jùgǎng (). here is a sound-borrowing at Hokkien. Palembang is called Kū-káng () in Hokkien, meaning "Old Port"; is read as kū in certain dominant dialects of Hokkien and was thus borrowed to use in place of .
History
Srivijaya period
The Kedukan Bukit Inscription, which is dated 682 AD, is the oldest inscription found in Palembang. The inscription tells of a king who acquires magical powers and leads a large military force over water and land, setting out from Tamvan delta, arriving at a place called "Matajap," and (in the interpretation of some scholars) founding the polity of Srivijaya. The "Matajap" of the inscription is believed to be Mukha Upang, a district of Palembang.
According to George Coedes, "in the second half of the 9th century Java and Sumatra were united under the rule of a Sailendra reigning in Java...its centre at Palembang."