Medan
Geographical unit
Medan (also: Kota Medan ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of Sumatra Utara (North Sumatra).
Location and Outline
The town spreads on a coastal plain in the north-east of the island of Sumatra, where the city center is about 20 km from the coast and the Straits of Malacca away. Along the coast of the port Belawan.
More than 50 km in the southwest begins the Batak Toba or Highlands. At its edge is the town of Berastagi, behind the volcano Sinabung and Lake Toba.
Medan is the capital of North Sumatra province and is in the government district ( kabupaten ) Deli Serdang surrounded.
The city itself is further divided into 21 Kecamatan ( sub-districts ) and 151 Kelurahan. The 21 sub-districts are:
- Tuntungan
- Johor
- Amplas
- Denai
- Area
- Kota
- Maimun
- Polonia
- Baru
- Selayang
- Sunggal
- Helvetia
- Petisah
- Barat
- Timur
- Perjuangan
- Tembung
- Deli
- Labuan
- Marelan
- Belawan
History
Medan was founded in 1590 by Karo - Batak and was called Kampung Medan ( Medan village ) or Medan- Deli. The settlement developed in the tension between various Sultanates: the powerful Aceh and the smaller Deli, Siak and Serdang. It originally belonged to Deli until this 1612 defeated by Aceh and was annexed. 1658 took over the Dutch settlement, took off in 1860 tobacco plantations and collected 1915 Medan the capital of North Sumatra province.
1823 Medan had only 200 inhabitants, in 1918 already 43.900.
Population
The city is just over two million inhabitants - to Jakarta and Surabaya - the third largest city in Indonesia and in Palembang, the largest city on the island of Sumatra. In the metropolitan region of Medan with the adjacent port Belawan total of over six million people live.
The population is next to Batak, the Mandailing are sometimes shown separately, and Malays from ( immigrant under the transmigration program ) Javanese, Achinesen, Sundanese, Minangkabau and Chinese, but in addition also Sikh, Arab and Tamil.
Culture and sights
- In the city, some buildings have been preserved in the Dutch style: the old town hall, post office and the Tirtanadi water tower, at the same time the symbol of the city. In and around the Jl. Ahmad Yani, there are a large number of interesting commercial buildings in the Art Deco and Art Nouveau, but some in pitiful condition.
- The Maimun Palace ( Istana Maimun ) was built in the years 1887-1891, during the lifetime of the last reigning Sultan of Deli.
- The Great Mosque ( Masjid Raya ) was established in 1906 in the Moroccan style by the Dutch architect Dingemans.
- About 70 km from the town is the Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre in Bukit Lawang, on the edge of the National Park Gunung Leuser.
Education
In the city there are 2 public and 20 private universities.
Sports
Football is popular in Medan and there are two clubs: PSMS Medan and Medan Jaya. Also widespread is Wushu, a modern development of Chinese martial arts.
Traffic
A large part of the urban transport is performed by motorized becaks ( three-wheeled auto-rickshaws ).
A toll road connects Medan Belawan and with Tanjungmorawa. The railway connects Medan to Binjai and Tanjungpura in the northwest, with Belawan to the north and Tebing Tinggi and Pematang Siantar in the southwest.
Bandar Udara Internasional Polonia The current airport is located near the city center. On the grounds of a plantation owned by a Poland, in 1928, the airport was opened. It will be replaced by a new airport 18 km outside the city. Construction of the airport Kuala Namu was started in 2006 and the opening is scheduled for 25 July 2013.
Pictures
Great Mosque today
Railway crossing
Street Scene
Medan at night
Personalities
Sons and daughters:
- Jan van Breda Kolff (1894-1976), a Dutch footballer
- Walle Nauta (1916-1994), Dutch neuroanatomist, Righteous Among the Nations
- Chairil Anwar (1922-1949), Indonesian writer
- Erika Remberg (* 1932), Austrian actress