Story

Boven Digoel Regency is an inland regency (kabupaten) in the northeastern part of the Indonesian province of South Papua. It was split off from Merauke Regency (of which it used to be a part) on 12 November 2002. It is bordered to the south by the residual Merauke Regency, to the west by Mappi Regency, and to the north by the province of Highland Papua. At the same time, to the east lies the international border with Papua New Guinea.

The regency covers an area of, and the total population was 55,784 at the 2010 Census and 64,285 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as of mid-2024 was 71,997 (comprising 38,130 males and 33,867 females). The administrative centre is the town of Tanah Merah (or Persatuan kampung) in the Mandobo District.

Communist prisoners to Boven Digoel in In the Dutch East Indies era, the present Boven Digoel Regency was known as Digul Atas (Upper Digul), located on the banks of the Digul River.

Boven-Digoel was a Dutch prison camp in the Dutch East Indies at the headwaters of the Digul River, where Indonesian nationalists and communists were interned between 1928 and 1942. Initially set to accommodate prisoners of the 1926 revolt led by the Communist Party of Indonesia, Boven-Digoel later was used as an exile for the national movement figures with a recorded number of prisoners of 1,308 people. Among the figures exiled, were Mohammad Hatta, Sutan Sjahrir, Sayuti Melik, and Marco Kartodikromo.

Statue in rememberence of Mohammad Hatta near the airport and former prison building.

When the Pacific War broke out and Japan occupied Indonesia, Boven-Digoel prisoners were evacuated by the Dutch to Australia. The transfer was based on concerns that the prisoners would rebel if they remained at Boven-Digoel. It was hoped that the Indonesians brought to Australia would help the Dutch. It turned out that these political prisoners influenced the Australian trade union to boycott the Dutch ships that landed in the country. After the Allies won, the prisoners were returned to their original places in Indonesia.

The camp was reused to imprison Indonesian nationalists from Papua during the West New Guinea dispute such as J.A. Dimara, Petrus Korwa, and Hanoch Rumbrar.

Secara astronomis, Kabupaten Boven Digoel terletak di antara 5,04° sampai 7,26° Lintang Selatan 139,64° sampai 140,99° Bujur Timur. Kabupaten ini memiliki luas wilayah sebesar 23.558 km² yang terbagi ke dalam 20 distrik berdasarkan data visualisasi kemendagri.

Kabupaten Boven Digoel sebagian besar wilayahnya berada pada ketinggian 25–100 m di atas permukaan laut. Kemiringan tanah di Kabupaten Boven Digoel beragam, mulai dari tanah datar hingga bergunung, tetapi yang paling dominan yaitu kemiringan tanah yang agak datar hingga berombak. Sebagian besar wilayah Boven Digoel didominasi oleh dataran, selebihnya merupakan wilayah bergelombang dan hanya sebagian kecil wilayah merupakan daerah gambut/rawa, perbukitan dan pegunungan.

Menurut UU No. 26 Tahun 2002, batas wilayah Kabupaten Boven Digoel adalah:

Kabupaten Boven Digoel termasuk wilayah beriklim tropis. Suhu udara rata-rata berkisar antara 23°C hingga 33°C. Kelembaban udara relatif normal yaitu berkisar antara 70% hingga 90%. Rata-rata curah hujan beberapa tahun terakhir cukup tinggi. Curah hujan tertinggi terjadi pada Tahun 2007 yaitu mencapai 420,9 mm. Kecepatan angin umumnya tidak terlalu banyak berubah pada delapan tahun terakhir dari Tahun 2004. Kecepatan angin berkisar hanya rata-rata 3 – 4,5 Knot pertahun dan termasuk kategori angin teduh. Matahari bersinar sepanjang tahun dengan intensitas penyinaran rata-rata 35% hingga 45% per tahun.