The borders of West Kalimantan roughly trace the mountain ranges surrounding the vast watershed of the Kapuas River, which drains most of the province.

The nickname references the geography of the province, which features hundreds of rivers of varying size, most of which are navigable.

After the end of the war, Japanese officers in Pontianak were arrested by allied troops and brought in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

It was led by Syarif Hamid II of Pontianak, who supported the Dutch endeavour to establish a federal United States of Indonesia (RUSI), of which West Kalimantan would have been a component.

Following the 5 April 1950 arrest of Sultan Hamid for complicity in the APRA coup attempt against the RUSI government led by Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) officer Raymond Westerling, there were demands from the public for a merger into the Republic of Indonesia, which took place on 22 April.

Domestic conflict continued, however, for another ten years between the new Suharto government and fighters organized during the confrontation and backed by the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Other specific characteristics are that the West Kalimantan region is one of the provinces in Indonesia which has a land border with another country, namely the State of Sarawak, East Malaysia.

Even with this position, West Kalimantan is currently the only province in Indonesia that have officially has an access road to get in and out of a neighbouring country.

Next, the ground OGH (organosol, gley and hummus) and the alluvial soil of about 2.0 million hectares, or 10.29 per cent sprawled across Dati II, but most likely in the coastal district.

Several major rivers are still the lifeblood and mainline to transport the countryside, although the road infrastructure has been able to reach most districts.

The province comprises two of Indonesia's 84 national electoral districts to elect members to the People's Representative Council.

The West Kalimantan I Electoral District consists of the 7 regencies and 2 cities listed above as "Western group", and elects 8 members to the People's Representative Council.

The West Kalimantan II Electoral District consists of the 5 regencies listed above as "Eastern group", and elects 4 members to the People's Representative Council.

This proposed measure has been held in abyance since 2013, but if and when the bill is approved, this will make Kapuas Raya the seventh largest province in Indonesia after Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, South Papua, Riau, South Sumatra and the newly-reduced Papua (province), as the total area of Kapuas Raya, encompassing five regencies, will measure 81,897.81 square km, or 55.7 per cent of the current size of West Kalimantan.

Currently, illegal logging for trees such as dipterocarp and plantations of palm oil and pulpwood threaten many rare species in the province due to the effects of habitat destruction.

[23] Peat bog fires and droughts or flooding during ENSO episodes also threaten the area and are worsened by ongoing deforestation.

Dr Hotlin Ompusunggu has received the 2011 Whitley Award for her conservation work in West Kalimantan.

She has been fighting against illegal logging by the trade-off with low-cost quality dental and medical treatment to 60,000 villagers on condition they involve in reforestation and conservation work.

The Dayaks are tribes in the hinterland, while the ethnic Malay mainly lives in the beach and river coastal areas.

The next largest ethnic groups (sixth to tenth) are the Bugis (3.13%), Sundanese (1.13%), Batak (0.60%), Daya (0.52%) and Banjar (0.33%), while others constitute 1.33%.

In rural areas inhabited by the Dayak predominantly Christian as in Bengkayang, Landak, Sanggau, Sintang and Sekadau.

Tari Menoreh Getah is a traditional dance which describes the motion of life of rural communities in West Kalimantan that meet their daily needs.

Tari Mandau is a dance which symbolises of the fighting spirit of the Dayak community in defence of dignity and status.

West Kalimantan men wear traditional clothing in the form of headgear decorated with feathers of hornbills, sleeveless shirt (vest), knee-length trousers and fabric that serves as a belt.

Jewellery is worn in the form of hornbill feathers as a headdress, beaded necklace and bracelet on the arm.

The classical attire for the Malays in West Kalimantan includes Telok Belanga (for men) and Baju Kurong (for women).

One of the cultural houses in West Kalimantan is called "Rumah Panjang" (longhouse) because its size length and made of wood.

This house is the residence of the Dayak tribe, the function of this custom home is actually a place to stay for a couple of heads of families and also usually used for meetings.

Robo-robo itself was intended as a warning Haulan series of important events began on Monday night to Tuesday, the last month of Safar to commemorate the death of Opu Daeng Manambun.