Poso Regency

Poso Regency is a regency of Central Sulawesi Province of Indonesia. It covers an area of 7,553.43 km², and had a population of 209,228 at the 2010 Census and 244,875 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2024 was 253,350 . The principal town lies at Poso.

History

The regency as created in 1959 covered a much larger area to the east. However, on 4 October 1999 the regency's south-eastern districts were split off to form a separate Morowali Regency, and on 18 December 2003 the regency's north-eastern districts were likewise split off to form a separate Tojo Una-Una Regency. In 2007 there were calls to divide the remaining Poso Regency into two regencies to overcome religious-based conflicts; one new regency in the southeastern and western sectors would by named Tentena Regency, while the residual Poso Regency in the northeast sector would consist of the last seven kecamatan listed below; however, this proposal was not enacted.

Geography

Poso Regency is located within the folds of various mountain ranges, namely the Fennema and Toneba Mountains in the west, the Takolekaju Mountains in the southwest, the Verbeek Mountains in the southeast, and the Pompangeo and Lumut Mountains in the northeast.

Administrative districts

At the time of the 2010 Census, the Poso Regency was divided at 2010 into eighteen districts, but an additional 19th district was subsequently added by splitting off the western and southern villages of Pamona Utara District. The districts are tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2024. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the numbers of rural and urban villages in each district, and its postal code.

Kode Wilayah	Name of District	Area in km²	Pop'n Census 2010	Pop'n Census 2020	Pop'n estimate mid 2024	Admin centre	No. of villages	Post code
72.02.06	Pamona Selatan	456.79	18,372	20,977	22,152	Pendolo	12	94664
72.02.20	Pamona Barat	444.61	9,344	10,214	10,425	Meko	6	94662
72.02.26	Pamona Tenggara	309.34	6,487	7,888	7,986	Korobono	9	94665
72.02.27	Pamona Utara	613.57	30,191	14,628	15,019	Sulewana	10	94667
72.02.04	Pamona Pusalemba	496.33		19,357	19,865	Tentena	11	94663
72.02.05	Pamona Timur	602.17	9,531	12,271	12,946	Taripa	13	94666
	Southeast Sector	2,922.81	73,925	85,335	88,393		61
72.02.09	Lore Selatan	646.53	5,631	6,774	6,975	Gintu	8	94655
72.02.23	Lore Barat	270.27	2,821	3,188	3,351	Lengkeka	6	94654
72.02.07	Lore Utara	573.67	11,902	15,659	16,317	Wuasa	7	94658
72.02.08	Lore Tengah	698.78	4,033	4,971	5,425	Doda	8	94656
72.02.24	Lore Timur	236.84	4,877	6,690	7,363	Maholo	5	94657
72.02.25	Lore Peore	405.62	2,944	4,015	4,372	Watutau	5	94653
	Western Sector	2,831.71	32,208	41,297	43,803		39
72.02.02	Poso Pesisir	286.39	20,098	22,285	23,695	Mapane	16	94652
72.02.19	Poso Pesisir Selatan	582.63	8,842	9,910	9,937	Tangkura	9	94650
72.02.18	Poso Pesisir Utara	440.05	15,681	17,427	17,807	Tambarana	10	94651
72.02.01	Poso Kota	14.25	20,250	24,145	24,025	Gebangrejo	7	94617 - 94619
72.02.21	Poso Kota Selatan	28.64	8,992	10,402	10,023	Kawua	5	94613 - 94619
72.02.22	Poso Kota Utara	23.91	11,058	12,930	13,544	Lawanga	7	94611 - 94616
72.02.03	Lage	442.84	18,174	21,144	22,123	Tagolu	16	94661
	Northeast Sector	1,798.91	103,095	118,243	121,154		70

Notes: including 3 urban kelurahan. including 3 urban kelurahan. including 3 urban kelurahan.
all 19 classed as urban kelurahan, comprising 7 in Poso Town, 5 in South Poso Town and 7 in North Poso Town.

Social

Religions

The population of Poso district consists of various ethnic groups, so it is considered a multicultural regency in Indonesia. The population is also quite diverse in religion. Data from the Ministry of Religion in 2020, around 60.80% embraced Christianity. Regency's Religious Office noted that the majority of the population in Poso in 2020 was Protestant, with the number of adherents stated to be as many as 147,899 inhabitants. This was followed by 83,597 Muslims, 13,937 Hindus, 3.362 Roman Catholics and 4 Buddhists, respectively., the number of places of worship in Poso consisted of 280 mosques, 690 Protestant churches, 26 Catholic churches and 102 Hindu temples.
Prior to colonial rule, the inhabitants of Poso followed a traditional belief system known as Lamoa. Islam became the first prominent religion in Poso during the early 19th century when it was brought by the Mandarese people who settled in the To Kadombuku area, although the exact means of their arrival remain unknown. The spread of Christianity in Poso began in the late 19th century with the arrival of Albert Christian Kruyt, a Dutch Calvinist missionary sent by the Netherlands Missionary Society to initiate a mission. Following seventeen years of work, their efforts bore fruit when hundreds of To Pebato residents were baptized on Christmas Eve, 25 December 1909. Central Sulawesi Christian Church is a church organization that was established on 18 October 1947 in Tentena. GKST serves Central, West and South Sulawesi. In 2006, 188 thousand people registered to become members, and there are 376 congregations served by 625 priests.

Tourism

Tambing Lake is located in Lore Lindu National Park, 3 hours drive from Palu and 100 meters away from Palu-Napu Road. In 2014, 3,000 foreign tourists visited Tambing Lake, which is known as Endemic Bird Paradise, with 30 percent of the 270 kinds of birds endemic.

Ecology

Sulawesi black Ebony, also known as diospyros celebica, naturally can be found in Central Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, West Sulawesi and Maluku. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has issued their red list in 2000 and D. celebica belong to the category of vulnerable species, which means that ebony is at the limit of high risk for extinction in the wild.
Most of the endemic fauna in Poso is located in the area of cultural and natural heritage, such as Lake Poso and Lore Lindu National Park. Whitten, Maurice Kottelat, and L.R. Parenti states that there are several species of endemic biota that is only found in Lake Poso, such as Xenopoecilus poptae ; Adrianichthys kruyti, Weberogobius amadi and Nomorhamphus celebensis. Other endemic fish is Anguilla celebensis, Xenopoecilus sarasinorum, Xenopoecilus oophorus, Adrianichthys roseni; gastropods such as Miratesta celebensis; and some small shrimp.