PEKANBARU Pekanbaru is the capital of Riau, a province in Indonesia on the island of Sumatra. It has an area of 632.

26 km and a population of 1.1 million,[2] making it Sumatra's fourth largest municipality, after Medan, Palembang, and Batam. It is on the Siak River, which drains to the Strait of Malacca. Pekanbaru has direct access to the busy strait and was long known as a trading port (the city name is derived from the Indonesian words of 'new market' or 'new town', "pekan" meaning 'market' or 'town', and "baru" meaning 'new'). The city is divided into 12 subdistricts (kecamatan). The Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport serves Pekanbaru. A settlement has existed on the ite since the 17th century. In the late 19th century, the city developed to serve the coffee and coal industries, and the Dutch built roads to help ship goods to Singapore and Malacca. Sultanate of Siak While Sultan Abdul Djalil Alamuddin Syah moved the center of the Mempura Kingdom of Siak to Senapelan (which is now called Pekanbaru) in 1605.This city used to be the family's only some citizens only and the sultan wanted to make Senapelan became forward in the trade sector. but his goal is not achieved so much that he moved the Center to the Kingdom of Siak Sri Indrapura. Chinese and Arab traders flocked In the year 1689 Chinese traders flock to this town with a economy wants to develop trade mean to them, therefore Arab traders from Aceh and Malacca to arrive so that the city has historically named merked the name is Pasar Bawah. the longer it is the more advanced so it can build a infrasutur such as roads, Buildings, places of worship and the port.So the city is again exchanged its name with the name of Pekanbaru which means it has a big economic opportunities in the field of trade. Dutch East Indies Company In 1749 under the terms of a peace treaty between the Sultan of Johor and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) Siak was put under Dutch administration. The Sultan moved residence to a palace in Senapelan built in 1760. Sultan Syarif Kasim II of Siak and his wife, 1910-1920. The last Sultan of Siak who ceded his kingdom to the Republic of Indonesia. At Senapelan Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah Alamudin unsuccessfully tried to organize a major regional fair. In the early 1780s his son Sultan Muhammad Ali managed to establish the grand fair. Due to the important commercial value for this part of Sumatra the settlement itself was renamed Pakanbaru by the local council of tribal elders on 23 June 1784. Translated Pekan Baru, literally means New Fair.

June 23 is officially celebrated as the founding day of Pakanbaru. Dutch East Indies Pekanbaru or Senapelan in 1956 Following the collapse of the VOC all company ownership of Pakanbaru was transferred to the Dutch crown. During the colonial Dutch East Indies era in the 19th and early 20th century the city remained important, especially as a major trading point: Siak river navigation conditions provide a stable relationship with shipping from the Malacca Strait. Additionally the city became a major center of the coffee industry and coal industry. The urban influence of the sultans gradually became more and more nominal, especially after the capital of the Sultanate moved to Sri Indrapura in 1830. Actual management functions were carried out by representatives of the Dutch colonial administration, i.e., by the post of assistant-resident and controller. Second World War During the Second World War from February 1942 to August 1945 the city was occupied by the armed forces of Japan. In an effort to strengthen the military and logistical infrastructure in this part of Sumatra, the Japanese launched the construction of a 220 km long railway, connecting Pakanbaru to the coast of Malacca Straits. The Pekanbaru Railway was constructed under harsh conditions by forced labour. 6,500 Dutch, mostly Indo-Europeans, and British prisoners of war and over 100,000 Indonesian, mostly Javanese, forced workers called Romushas were put to work by the Japanese army. By the time the work was completed in August 1945 almost a third of the European POWs and over half of the Indonesian coolies had died. The railway was never fully utilised. Today it remains unused and in an advanced state of decay.[3]