Palembang

Palembang (Indonesian pronunciation: [paˈlɛmbaŋ], Palembang: Pelémbang, Mandarin: 巨港 (Jùgǎng), Hokkien: 舊港 (Kū-káng), Jawi: ڤليمبڠ‎) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers 352.51 square kilometres (136.10 square miles) 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 2023 was 1,772,492 (comprising 887,101 males and 885,391 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 2023. It comprises the city and parts of regencies surrounding the city, including Banyuasin Regency (11 administrative districts), Ogan Ilir Regency (seven districts), and Ogan Komering Ilir Regency (four districts). 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. The city of Neiva in Colombia is the antipode of Palembang. Palembang and Neiva form the only pair of antipodal cities in the world where both cities have population above 300.000 people.