Martapura, South Kalimantan

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3°27′S 114°50′E / 3.450°S 114.833°E / -3.450; 114.833

Martapura is the capital of the Banjar Regency in South Kalimantan province, Indonesia. It is located close to the city of Banjarbaru (with which it forms a continuous built-up area) and it consists of three districts within the Regency - Martapura, West Martapura and East Martapura, with a combined population at the 2020 Census of 169,356 people;^[1] the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 174,876.^[2]

Originally this town was named "Kayutangi", which was the last capital of the former Sultanate of Banjar. The famous Banjarese ulema Sheikh Muhammad Arsyad al-Banjari, author of Sabilal Muhtadin, comes from this town.

This town is famous as kota santri or the "city of santri (Muslim students)" in Kalimantan, because of the pesantren (Islamic boarding school) of Pondok Pesantren Darussalam Martapura. Martapura is often called "Veranda of Mecca" because there are many santris wearing white clothes in this town who walk up and down to study Islam, similar to Mecca in the hajj season.^[3]

This town is often visited by tourists because of its diamond industry center and the main diamond polishing in Kalimantan and provides many jewelry handicrafts.^[4]