Karanganyar Regency

Geography

Karanganyar Regency is located in the south east of Central Java, Indonesia. It is near Magetan Regency (in East Java Province), Sragen Regency in the north, Wonogiri Regency and Sukoharjo Regency in the south, and Surakarta (Solo) and Boyolali Regency in the west.

Karanganyar is located between 110°40′E and 110°70′E and between 7°28′S and 7°46′S; the average height is 511 meters above sea level.

Karanganyar Regency covers 77,378.6374 Ha, which consists of: rice fields (22,844.2597 hectares) and dry ground (54,534.3777 hectares). The rice field consists of irrigated area (7,872.6323 hectares), divided into technical irrigation system area (6,144.2939 hectares), and simple irrigation area (7,134.1251 hectares), and rain fall rice field (1,693.2084 hectares). Meanwhile, areas provided for buildings are 20,732.4406 hectares. Areas for gardening is 17,937.0211 hectares, plantation is 3,251.5006 hectares.

Population

The Regency had a population on 813,159 at the 2010 Census, an increase of 51,171 since the previous census in 2000.

Education

Based on data from the Culture and Education Department of the Karanganyar Regency, in 2005 there were: 489 primary schools; 7 private primary schools; 49 general secondary schools; 27 private secondary schools; 12 senior high schools; 5 private senior high schools; 2 SMKN units and 22 private vocation schools.

The number of students of primary schools were 81,057 students with 4,483 teachers, which made the student-teacher ratio 1 : 18.08. The numbers of junior high-schools were 37,558 students with 2,818 teachers, with a student-teacher ratio of 1 : 13.33. There were 20,507 high-school students, with 1,639 teachers, which made the student-teacher ratio 1 : 12.51.

Health

Based on data from the Karanganyar Regency Health Bureau in 2005, the number of health facilities consisted of: 3 hospitals, 21 Public Health Centres, 60 Secondary Public Health Centres, 28 nursing-midwiferies, and 30 Clinics. Figures for health-workers: there were 80 physicians, 24 dentists, 275 midwives, and 241 nurses.

Religion

There are 1821 Mosques, 679 small mosques, 127 Churches, 12 Temples and 1 Vihara.

Heritage & Tourism

Karanganyar is also home of the Mangadeg hill (also known as Truloroyo) Mangkunegaran royal burial complex built upon a small mountain. In the immediate vicinity are the Pablengan ruins of ritual bathing pools, fed by seven natural springs. Several hundred metres away is the mausoleum complex of former President Suharto Astana Giribangun as well as the alleged final resting place of legendary Javanese leader Raden Mas Samboernowo at the peak of this same hill, titled Argosari.

There are a substantial number of especially Javanese tourists who visit the Mangadeg and Argosari cemeteries to pray to Samboernowo for assistance in life, particularly business or political affairs, in line with the Kejawen or Kebatinan ancestor-worship/shamanic belief system.

Karanganyar also have one of great waterfall call "Grojogan Sewu" Grojogan Sewu waterfall, that mean thousand water fall.

Bio-pharmaceutical Center

April 2011: The research and technology ministry is sponsoring the formation of a bio-pharmaceutical center in Karanganyar Regency to improve the cultivation and post-harvest products of local farmer such as ginger, turmeric, black wild ginger, kencur.