Makassar

Makassar is the capital of South Sulawesi province in Indonesia, on the Makassar Strait in the southwest of Sulawesi. For centuries sailors from the city sailed to northern Australia to collect sea cucumbers and traded with the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land.

Makassar was the main port of the Sultanate of Gowa, which grew rich in the 16th and 17th centuries as a free port for spices, rice and Asian goods. Sultan Hasanuddin of Gowa, called the Rooster of the East, is a national hero of Indonesia, and the university and airport of the city carry his name. In 1667 the Dutch East India Company took control of the port. Under Dutch rule Makassar was the main town of eastern Indonesia, and its harbor linked the islands of the east with Java. The city was called Ujung Pandang from the 1970s until the old name returned in the late 1990s.

The port of Makassar ships cocoa, coffee, rice and nickel from Sulawesi and the islands to the east. Kalla Group, a business group based in the city, runs car dealerships, construction and property firms. Bosowa is also based in Makassar and makes cement.

Fort Rotterdam, with its white walls and Dutch buildings, holds the La Galigo Museum of the history of South Sulawesi. At Paotere harbor, wooden pinisi schooners load and unload cargo for the islands. Coto Makassar, a beef soup with peanuts and spices, is eaten with rice cakes in small restaurants across the city. Losari Beach, a waterfront promenade facing the sunset, is where people gather in the evening along the sea wall.