Case file · Folklore / legend
Founding of Pontianak
Tradition holds that Syarif Abdurrahman Alkadrie, founding the city of Pontianak in West Kalimantan in 1771, fired cannons into the forest to drive away the kuntilanak ghosts that haunted the river junction.
1771 CE · -0.03, 109.34 · status: legend
The account
The city's name is popularly derived from the ghost (pontianak). Cannons are still fired on the Kapuas River during Ramadan, a custom linked to the story.