Map - Gorontalo (province) (Provinsi 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. In Indonesian history, the only Indonesian President from the Gorontaloan people is the third President of the Republic of Indonesia, Prof. DR. Ing. Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie. His father, Alwi Abdul Jalil Habibie, comes from the "Habibie" clan.

The provincial capital, as well as the main gateway and the most populated city, is Gorontalo City (often called Hulontalo City) which is also famous for the nickname "Porch of Medina" (Serambi Madina). This is because the kingdoms of Gorontalo have applied Islamic law as a basis for implementing the law, both in the fields of government, society, and the courts.

The province covers a total land area of 11,257.07 square kilometres (4,346.38 sq mi) 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 2021 was 1,180,948, resulting in a population density of 104.91 inhabitants per km2.

The Origin of Gorontalo

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:

a. 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".

b. 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". Then the word "Hulontalangi" can also be interpreted as "Flooded Land" according to the story of the people of Gorontalo.

c. Gorontalo comes from the word "Huidu Totolu", which means "Three Mountains". If traced its history, there are three ancient mountains on the Gorontalo peninsula, namely Mount Malenggalila, Mount Tilonggabila (changed to Tilongkabila) and another Mountain which is not named.

d. Gorontalo comes from the word "Pogulatalo", which means "Place of Waiting". The word "Pogulatalo" gradually changed in the words of the community to "Hulatalo"

e. Gorontalo comes from the word "Hulontalo". However, due to difficulties in pronunciation, the Dutch colonizers called "Hulontalo" to be "Gorontalo".