Sintang Regency is a regency of West Kalimantan province of Indonesia. It covers an area of 21,638.2 km2, and had a population of 364,759 at the 2010 Census and 421,306 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 426,416. It is one of the few Indonesian regencies having a land border with other countries. It is also the second largest regency in the province by land area after Landak Regency. The regency was formerly the site of the Sintang Kingdom, a Hindu kingdom that later converted to Islam and which was a regional power in the interior of Borneo Island. The regency seat is located at the large town of Sintang, which is among the biggest settlements in Borneo's interior alongside Putussibau and Puruk Cahu.
History
Somewhere between 45,000 and 39,000 B.C. the Sintang area was first inhabited by humans. The area changed hands several times from the Majapahit to the Bruneian Sultanate, but when the Dutch arrived at Borneo in 1776 the area was quickly occupied by the Dutch
The area was occupied by the Empire of Japan in 1941 as a result of WW2, and then was liberated in 1945. This was followed by Indonesian Independence.
Geography
Climate
Sintang, the seat of the regency has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round.
Administrative Districts
Following the separation of the former southern part (eleven districts) to form the separate Melawi Regency on 18 December 2003, the residual Sintang Regency consists of fourteen districts (kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and 2020 Census, together with their official estimates as at mid 2022. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district (totalling 390 rural desa and 16 urban kelurahan - the latter all in Sintang District), and its post code.
Note: (a) including 16 urban kelurahan.
Economy
Demographics
Infrastructure
Education
There are 193 kindergartens, 456 elementary schools, 142 junior high schools, and 44 senior high schools. In addition, there are 18 vocational high schools. The regency has a total of 10 universities and higher education institutions as of 2020, most of which are located in the town of Sintang. One of the most notable in the regency is Kapuas Sintang University, located in Sintang district. The university is private and located close to the Kapuas River. It was previously known as Panca Bhakti Teaching and Education College before becoming a university. Muhammadiyah University in Pontianak also has a campus branch in Sintang, which is also private. Other colleges in the regency include Christian theological schools such as Sintang Khatulistiwa Theological College, Injili Setia Sintang Theological College, Kapuas Raya Christian College, and Immanuel Sintang Kalbar Theological College. In addition, there is a public academy owned by the West Kalimantan provincial government and one private Islamic college, Ma'arif Sintang Islamic College.
The regency government also runs a regional library, located in the town of Sintang.