Tarakan (city)
Coordinates: 3 ° 18 ' N , 117 ° 37' E
Tarakan is a town on a small island of the same name, Tarakan , off the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo ( called Kalimantan since Indonesia's independence ). Located on the northeast side of Kalimantan, the city belongs to Kalimantan Utara (Northern Borneo). The city is located on the coast of the Celebes Sea , just under 50 km south of the border with the Malaysian state of Sabah .
Kalimantan, which lives mainly from its oil reserves and the timber industry, finds an industrial city in Tarakan that is particularly oriented towards the oil industry. It follows the examples of the cities and regions around Balikpapan , Bontang or Tanjung . The city and the landscape are shaped by this requirement and are therefore also an important trade hub in the country. Furthermore, natural gas is produced to a much lesser extent . The removal of the products is still a problem as numerous logging roads (aisles for transporting wood) can hardly serve the oil industry, but plans for a usable infrastructure are rare. The Trans-Kalimantan Highway could be planned, but under the given circumstances difficult to realize.
The area is sparsely populated. There are mainly several Malay ethnic groups, Chinese and Dayak .
Part of the city rests on stilts that extend into the sea or are built into the river. The city had 75,500 inhabitants in 2007.
history
Battle of Tarakan (1942)
In mid-January 1942, the Japanese Empire opened war against the region occupied by the Dutch (January 11, 1942). The area held by the Dutch and defended by the KNIL ( Dutch East Indies ), however, had to be handed over to the Japanese troops on January 12 of the same year. At the turn of the year in 1941, the Netherlands had declared war on the Japanese Empire. The ambition of the Japanese was as follows: There is an island, this is mainly characterized by swamp, jungle and impenetrability, but it is precisely in this area that there are multiple oil wells, refining options for the oil and paths for the inward and outward transport of the products by one Airport. Tarakan remained occupied by the Japanese until the end of the war in May 1945. For the population, this meant a time that was characterized by food shortages and malnutrition due to the high Japanese contingent.
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Battle of Tarakan (1945)
In May 1945 the city was liberated from Japanese domination in a second battle by the Australian 26th Brigade Group. On May 1, the invasion, code-named Operation Oboe One, began . This battle lasted barely a month and ended on the 25th of the same month. The aim of the operation was to restore the region's oil fields and create a strategic starting position for potential air support in the direction of Flores , Brunei or cities on the east coast of Borneo. The city of Tarakan had to be secured quickly, including securing the airport in particular. With this campaign, the Allies put the end of the conflict in the Far Eastern Pacific region in the context of World War II . The fights that were successful for the Australians claimed deaths in a ratio of 1: 6.
In a second invasion, Operation Oboe Two followed for a similarly long period to save the city of Balikpapan.
tourism
Travelers between the Malay and Indonesian regions of Kalimantan require a visa. The city has one airport, Juwata Airport .
See also
literature
- Renate Loose, Stefan Loose, Werner Mlyneck, Indonesia, Travel Handbooks , DuMont Reiseverlag, ISBN 3-7701-6106-8 .
Web links
- Detailed Description battle (English)