Gorontalo

Gorontalo (Gorontaloan: Hulontalo) is a province of Indonesia on the island of Sulawesi. Located on the Minahasa Peninsula, Gorontalo was formerly part of the province of North Sulawesi until its inauguration as a separate province on 5 December 2000. The province is bordered by the provinces of North Sulawesi to the east and Central Sulawesi to the west, as well sharing a maritime border with the Philippines to the north. The provincial capital, as well as the main gateway to the province and its most populated city, is Gorontalo (also often called Hulontalo). The province covers a total land area of and had a population of 1,040,164 at the 2010 Census, and 1,171,681 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 1,192,737, resulting in a population density of . The province is known by the nicknames "Porch of Medina" (Bumi Serambi Madinah), an allusion to the cradle of Islamic civilisation used because the pre-colonial kingdoms of Gorontalo applied Islamic law as a basis for implementing the law, in the fields of government, society and the courts, and "Karawo Province" for the local karawo embroidery. The only Indonesian President to hail from the Gorontalo people was the third President of the Republic of Indonesia, Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie. His father, Alwi Abdul Jalil Habibie, came from the Habibie clan. The word Gorontalo comes from the word Hulontalo in the Gorontalo language. Hulontalo is derived from the word Hulontalangi, a name of one of the Kingdoms in Gorontalo. In addition, there are several historical records regarding the origin of the name Gorontalo, including: Gorontalo comes from the word "Hulontalangi", which means "Valley of the Noble". Hulontalangi comes from two syllables, namely "Huluntu" which means "Valley" and "Langi" which means "Noble". Gorontalo comes from the word "Hulontalangi", which means "Inundated Land". The word "Hulontalangi" in other translations comes from two syllables, namely "Huntu" which means "Piles of Soils" or "Mainland", and "Langi-Langi" which means "Flooded".