[1] The administrative centre is the town of Tanah Merah (or Persatuan kampung) in the Mandobo District.

Among the figures exiled, were Mohammad Hatta, Sutan Sjahrir, Sayuti Melik, and Marco Kartodikromo.

When the Pacific War broke out and Japan occupied Indonesia, Boven-Digoel prisoners were evacuated by the Dutch to Australia.

It turned out that these political prisoners influenced the Australian trade union to boycott the Dutch ships that landed in the country.

The camp was reused to imprison Indonesian nationalists from Papua during the West New Guinea dispute such as J.A.