East Kalimantan Province is one of the second largest provinces after Papua, with abundant natural resource potentials. East Kalimantan has a land area of 127,267.52 km2 and with a sea area of 25,656 km2. It is bordered by North Kalimantan in the north, with the Makassar Strait and the Sulawesi Sea in the east, the South Kalimantan Province in the south, and in the west part, it is adjacent with the Central Kalimantan Province, West Kalimantan Province and the Sarawak State of East Malaysia.
The population of East Kalimantan in 2018 is 3,648,835 people. This province is well-known for its brown sugar production, mining, and forestry sectors, as well as a conservation center for wild animals and Orang Utans.
Before the Dutch colonial era, East Kalimantan is ruled by several kingdoms, namely the Kingdom of Kutai (Hindu), the Sultanate of Kutai Kartanegara ing Martadipura, the Sultanate of Pasir and the Sultanate of Bulungan and the Sultanate of Banjar.
Kalimantan region has a rich cultural diversity as a result of cultural assimilations of many nations and tribes living in the region. Some of the indigenous tribes living in East Kalimantan are the Tunjung, the Benuaq, the Bentian, the Penihing, the Bukat, the Dayaks, the Banjars, the Bugis, and the Javanese. The majority of population adheres to Islam (85,57%), Christian (9,41%), Catholic (4,17%) and Buddha (0,49%)
East Kalimantan has its typical art and culture festival called Erau. Erau is an international festival in Kutai, which is held every year in the center of Tenggarong city. The word ‘Erau’ itself comes from the Kutai language which means crowded.
The East Kalimantan region has good topographic characteristics that make it safe from disaster risks, such as catastrophic floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, forest fires, and landslides. Thanks to these advantageous factors, some regions in East Kalimantan, namely Penajam Paser Utara and Kutai Kartanegara, are designated as the new Indonesian Capital City after Jakarta in 2025.