PONTIANAK CITY

Pontianak City is one of the oldest cities in Kalimantan. The city is 249
years old. Even various sources often present quite different backgrounds. One
of them is related to the female ghost who has died in childbirth, kuntilanak.
The following is the background we found. The city of Pontianak was founded
by Syarif Abdurrahman Alkadrie on Wednesday, 23 October 1771 (14 Rajab
1185 H) which was marked by forest clearing at the intersection of the Landak
River, the Kapuas Kecil River and the Kapuas Besar River. The place later stood
the hall and residence.
Then, in 1778 (1192 H), Syarif was appointed the first Sultan of Pontianak.
The establishment of the Jami ‘Mosque, which is now called the Sultan Syarif
Abdurrahman Mosque and the Kadariah Palace located in Dalam Bugis Village,
East Pontianak District, marked the location of his power.
In the book “Borneos Wester Afdeling.”, V.J. Verth, a Dutch historian wrote the
history of the city of Pontianak, whose contents are slightly different from the
stories that are widely circulating today.
According to Verth, the Dutch entered Pontianak in 1194 Hijriah (1773 AD)
from Batavia.
Verth wrote that Syarif Abdurrahman was the son of the cleric of Syarif Hussein
bin Ahmed Alqadrie, or in another version known as Al Habib Husin. Syarif left
Mempawah kingdom and started living overseas.
While in the Banjarmasin region, Syarif married the younger brother of the
Sultan of Banjar, Sunan Nata Alam and was appointed Prince. He was
successful in trading activities and raised sufficient capital to arm his designer
ships and boats.
Not long after that, he started his resistance against Dutch colonialism.
With the help of the Sultan of Pasir, Syarif succeeded in hijacking the Dutch
ships near Bangka as well as British and French ships in the Port of Pasir.
After that, Sharif became a well-off man and tried to establish a settlement on
an island in the Kapuas River.
He also found a branch of the Landark River which he later developed into
a prosperous trading center. This area became known as Pontianak.