Donggala Regency is a regency in the Central Sulawesi Province of Indonesia. It lies between 0° 30" north and 2°20" south latitude, and between 119° 45°" and 121° 45" east longitude,[1] and covers a land area of 5,126.59 km2. It had a population of 277,236 at the 2010 Census[3] and 300,436 at the 2020 Census;[4] the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 308,301 (comprising 158,400 males and 149,900 females).[2] The administrative capital of Donggala Regency is the town of Banawa, located a 30-minute drive (34 km) northwest from the city of Palu, the capital of the province.
Before the Dutch assumed administration in 1904 under Governor-General J. B. van Heutsz, the Central Sulawesi area was the home of eight small kingdoms (kerajaan): Palu, Sigi Dolo, Kulawi, Biromaru, Banawa, Tawaili, Parigi, and Moutong.[5][6]
Since the Donggala Regency was established on 4 July 1959, then comprising almost the entire western portion of Central Sulawesi Province (Buol Toti-Toli Regency, previously part of the regency, was split off from it at that date), it has been significantly reduced in area and population. The city of Palu was split off as a separate municipality on 22 July 1994, the Parigi Moutong Regency was split off on 10 April 2002, and the Sigi Regency was split off on 21 July 2008.
In September 2018, Donggala and Palu City suffered heavy casualties due to the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami.[7]
The Dongala Regency is divided into sixteen districts (kecamatan). These are physically divided into two non-contiguous sections, lying to the west and to the east of the Palu River Valley respectively, and separated from each other by Palu city and the Sigi Regency. The first (southern) section comprises five districts, of which the northern Banawa and Banawa Tengah (together known as Donggala town) were the areas most grievously inundated by the 2018 earthquake and tsunami. The second (northern) section comprises eleven districts, stretching south to north along the west coast of Sulawesi's northern peninsula.
These districts are tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census[3] and 2020 Census,[4] together with the official estimates of population as at mid 2023 (rounded oiff to the nearest 100 persons).[2] The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district (totaling 158 rural desa and 9 urban kelurahan - the latter all in Banawa District), and its postal codes.
Notes: (a) including 2 offshore islands. (b) including 2 offshore islands.
(c) comprising 9 kelurahan (Boneoge, Boya, Ganti, Gunung Bale, Kabonga Besar, Kabonga Kecil, Labuan Bajo, Maleni and Lalombi) and 5 desa.
(d) including 17 offshore islands. (e) including 3 offshore islands. (f) including 6 offshore islands.
Many of the districts of Donggala Regency, together with Palu City and some of the districts of Sigi Regency, were covered in the Rencana Pembangunan Jangka Panjang (Long-Term Development Plan) as of 2013. In all, the area of the Plan covered twenty-one districts.[1]
0°41′40″S 119°43′50″E / 0.69444°S 119.73056°E / -0.69444; 119.73056