Tanah Datar is a regency (kabupaten) in West Sumatra

West Sumatra

West Sumatra is a province of Indonesia. It lies on the west coast of the island Sumatra. It borders the provinces of North Sumatra to the north, Riau and Jambi to the east, and Bengkulu to the southeast. It includes the Mentawai Islands off the coast...

 province, Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. The regency has a population of 334,000. The capital of the regency is Batusangkar

Batusangkar

Batusangkar is the capital of the Tanah Datar regency of West Sumatra, Indonesia.The town is near the former seat of the Minangkabau royalty established by Adityawarman in Pagaruyung, represented by the reconstructed Pagaruyung Palace...

. The town of Padang Panjang

Padang Panjang

Padang Panjang is located in the cool highlands of West Sumatra, inland from the provincial capital Padang. It sits on a plateau beneath the volcanoes Mount Marapi and Mount Singgalang. It has an area of 23 km² and a population of over 40,000...

 is also located in the regency but constitutes a municipality (kota otonom) of its own.

Tanah Datar has several tourist attractions including the Pagaruyung Palace

Pagaruyung Palace

Pagaruyung was the seat of Minangkabau kings, though little is known about it...

 (Istano Pagaruyuang) with its museum, Sanskrit and Malay language stone inscriptions from the 14th century, several sites with megaliths (batu tagak), and the village Pandai Sikat (Pandai Sikek), where the traditional songket

Songket

Songket is a fabric that belongs to the brocade family of textiles of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. It is hand-woven in silk or cotton, and intricately patterned with gold or silver threads. The metallic threads stand out against the background cloth to create a shimmering effect...

(kain balapak) is still woven. The northern part of Lake Singkarak

Lake Singkarak

Lake Singkarak is a lake in West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is located between the cities of Padang Panjang and Solok. It has an area of 107.8 km², being approximately 21 km long and 7 km wide. The natural outlet for excess water is the Ombilin river which flows eastward to the Strait of...

is also situated in Tanah Datar.

Administration

Tanah Datar is divided in 14 subdistricts (kecamatan):

• Batipuh
• Batipuh Selatan
• X Koto
• V Kaum
• Lintau Buo Utara
• Lintau Buo
• Padang Ganting
• Pariangan
• Rambatan
• Salimpaung
• Sungai Tarab
• Sungayang
• Tanjung Emas
• Tanjung Baru

External links

Official website