Indonesia has been independent since 1945 after having been the Dutch East Indies for more than 350 years. It is a huge country, stretching along both sides of the Equator for more than 46 degrees of longitude (roughly 5100 km or 3200 miles). Comprised of some 17,000 islands (more than 6000 inhabited islands), it has hundreds of major aids to navigation. Borneo, known as Kalimantan in Indonesia, is the world's third largest island. 73% of the island is Indonesian; the remaining portion includes the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah and the independent sultanate of Brunei. This page describes lighthouses of the northeastern Kalimantan coast that faces the Sulawesi (Celebes) Sea. This includes all of North Kalimantan Province and also the Berau Regency in northernmost East Kalimantan Province. The Indonesian word for a lighthouse is mercusuar or (in two words) mercu suar. The phrase menara suar, which includes the Arabic word menara, is sometimes used instead. Tanjung and ujung are words for capes, bukit is a hill, pulau is an island, selat is a strait, karang is a reef, sungai is a river, muara is an estuary, teluk is a bay or harbor, and pelabuhan is a port. Aids to navigation in Indonesia are operated and maintained by the Directorate General of Marine Navigation (Direktorat Jenderal Navigasi Laut). ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volumes F and Q of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 112.
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Kalimantan Utara (North Kalimantan) Province Lighthouses
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Kalimantan Timur (East Kalimantan) Province: Berau Regency Lighthouses
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![]() Pulau Sambit Light, Celebes Sea, 2007 ex-Panoramio photo copyright Christian Redinger; used by permission |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Malaysia: Labuan and Sabah | South: Eastern Kalimantan
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted December 9, 2008. Checked and revised March 28, 2021. Lighthouses: 33. Site copyright 2021 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.