Ujung Pandang

Ujung Pandang məkăsˈər [key], city (1990 pop. 944,685), SW Sulawesi, capital of Sulawesi Selatan prov., Indonesia. The largest city in Sulawesi, it is one of Indonesia's important seaports, a distribution and transshipment point for goods from Europe and Asia. Exports include coffee, teak, spices, copra, rubber, rattan, and gums and resins. The city is also a commercial center, with a large central market. Industries include the manufacture of cement and paper and the assembly of automobiles. Once a center of spice smuggling, Ujung Pandang was a thriving port when the Portuguese arrived (16th cent.). The Dutch supplanted the Portuguese, triumphing over the indigenous sultan in 1667. Ujung Pandang became a free port in 1848. It is the seat of several universities. In World War II, Makasar Strait (between Borneo and Sulawesi) was the scene of a Japanese naval defeat.

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