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Founding
Founding of Bau Bau
city in Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia
- 1541 – 2001
- Southeast Asia
Founding
city in Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Baubau is a city in Southeast Sulawesi province, Indonesia. The city is located on the southwest coast of Buton island. Baubau attained city status on 21 June 2001 after Law Number 13 of 2001 was passed. It covers an area of 293.87 square kilometres (113.46 sq mi), of which about 30 square kilometres (12 sq mi) is water. It had a population of 136,991 at the 2010 Census and 159,248 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate in mid 2025 was 165,145 (comprising 81,653 males and 83,492 females). The city is the economic center of the Buton Island region and the second-largest city in the province. It was the cultural center of the Butonese people, the former capital of the Sultanate of Buton, the seat of the colonial administration of Eastern Sulawesi (Afdeeling Ost Celebes), and briefly the capital of the entire Southeast Sulawesi regency until 1955 when the capital status shifted to neighbouring Kendari.
There are several theories regarding the origin of the city's name. The first traces it to the word "bhaau", a Wolio language word meaning 'new', as the location was a bustling new town under the Sultanate of Buton. Another theory suggests that it came from "bau", a Malay word meaning "to smell", since it was a busy port town with unpleasant-smelling fish markets around the area. A third suggestion descends the word from the Bugis noble title "Andi Bau", as many holders of this title settled in the city after fleeing the first and second Bone Wars.
According to local legends, the city's history started when four groups of Malay merchants in the late 13th century landed on Buton Island. Sipajonga and Simalui landed first on the southern coast and arrived with a banner that would become the banner of the sultanate. Sitamanjo and Sijawangkati followed, landing on the northern coast and eventually moving inland, establishing the area now known as Wolio Fortress, which became the center of governance. These four are collectively known as "mia patamiana" and are said to be the origin of the royal family. The sultanate is said to have been a unification of four villages that later founded the kingdom. Islam spread to the region after a visiting scholar from Johor in the 16th century converted the ruling royals and eventually turned the kingdom into a sultanate with its own constitution called "Murtabat Tujuh". During much of its existence, the political position of the Buton Sultanate was mainpulated by more powerful entities such as Makassar, Ternate, and the Dutch East India Company. It was constantly under threat of invasion by the neighbouring Sultanate of Gowa and of raids by pirate ships from the Sultanate of Ternate, eventually falling under Dutch East India Company protection in the 17th century. A settlement later grew around Wolio Fortress and the palace complex that eventually become Baubau city.
In 1911, under the Dutch colonial government, the city became the capital of Afdeeling Oost Celebes, and the governance of the whole eastern Sulawesi region was consolidated to the city. As a result, the city grew in administrative importance and received modern infrastructure such as sealed roads, telephones, and military installments. The development of the city's infrastructure was modeled after Sibolga and was tailored to help fight the spread of malaria due to the region's swampy nature. This development was followed by economic expansion to the rest of Buton Island, starting with the opening of an asphalt mine in 1924. The asphalt was then used to construct inland roads to an economically important part of the island where there were coconut plantations and harvesting of forest goods such as rattan. During this time, the city also saw the founding of migrant quarters such as Kampung Bone and Kampung Wajo. Baubau acted as Southeast Sulawesi's main port, local goods hub, and main market town.
Baubau's economic importance declined following Indonesian independence, as the country's political power shifted from the sultanate to local figures and politicians. A local parliament was formed, with an election taking place in 1955, in which Masyumi and the Indonesian National Party gained the most seats (six and five respectively). The local parliament had already met in an ethnic Chinese school building in the city on 21 July 1953 and consisted of members appointed prior to the election.
Between 1952's Law Number 34 and 1955, the city was the capital of the Southeast Sulawesi Regency (today corresponding to Southeast Sulawesi province). The regency was later divided into Buton Regency, Kendari Regency, Kolaka Regency, and Muna Regency, whose seats were Baubau, Kendari, Kolaka, and Raha, respectively. When Southeast Sulawesi province formed, Kendari replaced Baubau as the capital, resulting in the latter becoming less relevant economically and politically. Despite the creation of the province being the result of popular demand, the vision was initially that Baubau would become the capital; hence, the decision to choose Kendari was seen as betrayal of the original plan for the province. The decision to choose Kendari instead of Baubau was both the result of the city's losing a public vote against Kendari, 45–27, and of an incident where the city drafted two budgets produced by two different officials at the same time, creating dualism in the city's bureaucracy. Both cities also experienced an influx of refugees in the 1950s due to the Darul Islam rebellion. People from outside of the cities were evacuated to camps within the city, with kidnappings of civilians by Darul Islam forces commonplace until the following decade.
Baubau was granted city status in 2001 following the fall of Suharto and consequent decentralization across Indonesia, separating itself from Buton Regency. Residents of Buton later demanded the creation of a new Buton Islands Province with Baubau as the capital, which would separate the regency from the rest of Southeast Sulawesi. The creation of this province was supported by the governor of Southeast Sulawesi and the Regional Representative Council, but did not go ahead due to a moratorium on creating new autonomous regions under the presidency of Joko Widodo.
Geographically, Baubau lies between latitude 5.21°S and 5.33°S and longitude 122.30°E and 122.47°E, and is located in the southern part of Southeast Sulawesi province. Baubau is bordered to the north by the Buton Strait (between Buton Island and Muna Island), to the east and south by the Buton Regency districts Kapontori and Pasarwajo, and to the west by South Buton Regency's Kadatua District.
The topographical condition of Baubau consists mostly of mountains and hills above a long coast. Long hills stretch above the surrounding terrain with the variation of altitude between 0 and 100 meters above mean sea level. Baubau has a land slope of up to 40%. The dominant soil types in the city are cambisol, podzol, and latosol. Soils in the city and the rest of Buton Island are not fertile and are relatively unsuitable for large-scale farming. Similar to other Indonesian cities, Baubau has tropical weather. The day and night temperatures typically vary from 29 to 33 °C during the day and 20 to 29 °C at night.
The city area includes seven small offshore islands, six in Lea-Lea District and one in Kokalukuma District.
The city is divided into eight districts (kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and their populations as of the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as of mid 2025. The city was previously divided into four districts: Betoambari, which had an area of 34.34 square kilometres (13.26 sq mi); Wolio, which had an area of 26.77 square kilometres (10.34 sq mi); Sorawolio, which had an area of 82.25 square kilometres (31.76 sq mi); and Bungi, which had an area of 76.64 square kilometres (29.59 sq mi). At the time, Murhum, Kokalukuna, and Lea-Lea were incorporated within Betoambari, Wolio, and Bungi, while Batupoato was later cut out of Murhum. The table includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages (all classed as urban kelurahan) in each district, and their postcodes.
As with all Indonesian cities, Baubau is a second-level administrative division run by a mayor and vice mayor together with the city parliament, and has a status equivalent to a regency. Executive power lies with the mayor and vice mayor, while legislative duties are carried out by local parliaments. The mayor, vice mayor, and parliament members are democratically elected by the people of the city in elections. The heads of districts are appointed directly by the mayor, with recommendations by the city secretary.
The city is part of the 4th Southeast Sulawesi electoral district, together with Buton Regency, Wakatobi Regency, Central Buton Regency, and South Buton Regency, which together send 10 representatives to the 45-seat provincial parliament. For city elections, the city is divided into three electoral districts with 25 seats. The last election was in 2024 and the next one is planned for 2029. Below listed inside the table are the electoral districts in the city with their respective amount of seats.
The city is the headquarters of Kodim 1413 / Buton, which oversees territorial defense of the entire Buton Island. It has been part of Korem 143 / Haluoleo under Kodam XIV / Hasanuddin since 2017, when the larger Kodam VII / Wirabuana was dissolved.
Baubau's gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in 2023 was valued at 7.449 trillion rupiah. The largest contributors to the city's economy that year were its trade and retail, construction, and agriculture sectors, which consisted of 21.44%, 21.01%, and 15.60% of the city's GRDP. Its fastest-growing sector was its service sector, which grew by 11.05% between 2022 and 2023, and its fastest-declining sector was manufacturing, which declined by more than 22%. Economic growth of the overall city in 2023 was 3.38%, a decrease from the previous year's 5.28%.
The city's agriculture centers are Bungi, Sorawalio, and Lea-Lea districts, which between them have 59.6% of the city's registered agriculture business. In 2023, the city's most produced commodities were papaya and jackfruit, with the city producing 3,610 and 2,143 tonnes respectively, with high quantities of pineapple, tangerine, and dragon fruit also being produced. Around 1,300 hectares of the city were allocated for rice fields, however, many of these were underutilized and often abandoned by its farmers due to the soil being unsuitable for large-scale rice farming. The city also has significant seaweed farming output, exporting 4,914 tonnes in 2022, and fishing boats around the city catch decapterus fish, anchovies, mackerel tuna, and skipjack tuna. In addition, Baubau is a center of fish processing from nearby regions and processed around 10,000 tonnes of fish that were frozen and re-exported elsewhere in 2021. The city planned to establish a shrimp aquaculture industry within the city in 2023.
The city's tourism and service sector contributed around 1.21% to the city's economy. Baubau contains 50 registered hotels, 177 registered restaurant businesses, eight designated public market buildings, and 1,559 registered warungs. In 2023, the city was visited by 108,329 domestic tourists and 289 foreign tourists. The city has 3,458 registered small and micro industries in 2020, which employed 8,148 people that year.
There are 81 registered cooperatives in the city as of 2023, according to Statistics Indonesia. There are several bank branches present in the city such as Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank Negara Indonesia, and Sultra Bank. The city's main port, Murhum Port, aside from being used for fisheries, is also expected to support asphalt industries from nearby Buton Regency. About 28,000 people from the city participated in economic activities related to or within small enterprises and microindustries that existed within the city in 2023.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Baubau”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.