Maros Regency (, ) is a regency of South Sulawesi province of Indonesia. It covers a land area of 1,442.5 sq.km, and had a population of 319,002 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 391,774 at the Census of 2020.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. The official population estimate for mid 2025 was 414,720 (comprising 212,401 males and 202,319 females).Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 27 February 2026, Kabupaten Maros Dalam Angka 2026 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.7309)
Almost all of the regency lies within the official metropolitan area of the city of Makassar. The administrative centre of the regency is the town of Turikale (which had 7,209 inhabitants in 2024).Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2025, Kecamatan Turikale Dalam Angka 2025 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.7308022)
Administrative division The regency is divided into 14 districts (), tabulated below with their area and population from the 2010Biro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and the 2020 Census,Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. together with the official end 2025 population estimates.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 27 February 2026, Kabupaten Maros Dalam Angka 2026 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.7309) The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, their postal codes and the number of administrative villages in each district (totaling 80 rural desa and 23 urban kelurahan).
Kode Wilayah Name ofDistrict(kecamatan) Area in km2 Pop'nCensus2010 Pop'nCensus2020 Pop'nEstimateend 2025AdmincentreNo. ofvillagesPostcodes 73.09.01 Mandai 38.1 35,044 51,801 54,783Tete Baru 6 (a) 90552 73.09.13 Moncongloe 37.4 16,939 23,728 26,393Moncongloe Bulu 590564 73.09.04 Maros Baru (Maros Town) 39.5 23,987 28,360 30,571Baju Bodoa 7 (b) 90511-90516 73.09.08 Marusa 48.6 25,226 34,324 40,124Temmapaduae 790511-90516 73.09.14 Turikale 23.8 41,319 48,558 50,270Petuadae 7 (c) 90511-90516 73.09.12 Lau 41.6 24,201 27,542 29,646Macini Baji 6 (d)90513-90514 73.09.05 Bontoa (Maros Utara) 64.0 26,573 30,604 33,163Panjalingan 9 (e)90554 73.09.03 Bantimurung 151.5 28,078 32,825 34,218Kalabbirang 8 (f)90561 73.09.09 Simbang 101.3 22,209 25,538 27,408Jene Taesa 690560 73.09.07 Tanralili 77.0 24,456 30,964 38,709Borong 8 (g)90553 73.09.11 Tompobulu 259.4 14,104 15,932 18,204Pucak 890565 73.09.02 Camba 121.7 12,554 14,223 13,725Cempaniga 8 (h)90562 73.09.10 Cenrana 208.1 13,593 14,562 15,235Bengo 790524 73.09.06 Mallawa 230.7 10,719 12,813 13,342Ladangae 11 (i)90563 Totals 1,442.5 319,002 391,774 425,791Turikale 103
Notes: (a) including the 2 kelurahan of Bontoa and Hasanuddin. (b) including the 3 kelurahan of Baji Pamai, Baju Bodoa and Pallantikang. (c) all 7 are kelurahan - Adatongeng, Alliritengae, Boribellaya, Pettuadae, Raya, Taroada and Turikale. (d) comprising the 4 kelurahan (Allepolea, Maccini Baji, Mattiro Deceng and Soreang) and 2 desa. (e) including the kelurahan of Bontoa. (f) including the 2 kelurahan of Kalabbirang and Leang-Leang. (g) including the kelurahan of Borong. (h) including the 2 kelurahan of Cempaniga and Mario Pulana. (i) including the kelurahan of Sabila.
Twelve of the fourteen districts tabulated above lie within the official metropolitan area of the city of Makassar; the remaining two districts (Camba and Mallawa), which together form the northeast salient of the regency (with just 6.36% of the regency's population in 2025), are not included in the metropolitan area.
Demography In 2000, 54.77% of the population were Bugis, 39.59% were Makassar people and 5.64% belonged to other ethnic groups.
Rock art in Maros
Important examples of rock art exist in the Maros regency. At the Leang Petta Kere cave for example, in the Bantimurung - Bulusaraung National Park about 30 km to the north of Makassar, there are a number of red-and-white hand prints of animals and hands.Dyah Ayu Pitaloka, 'Exploring the Leang-Leang Caves of Maros' , The Jakarta Globe, 6 July 2014. The images were made by blowing red pigment around hands that were pressed on the surface of the rocks. These handprints are often accompanied by fruit-eating, pig-deer looking animals called babirusas. A total of 12 images were found on the walls of seven different caves in the area. The sites have been submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative list for possible inclusion.Maros Prehistoric Cave - UNESCO World Heritage Centre. See, specifically, the listing for Prehistoric Cave Sites in Maros-Pangkep.
The main site of the rock art is in seven caves around 40–60 km north east of Makassar. The oldest is a hand stencil located in Timpuseng cave with an estimated age of over 39,000 years.'Modern humanity may have begun in RI', The Jakarta Post, 10 October 2014. It is accompanied by a depiction of a female babirusa, from about 35,000 years ago. The panel where the art can be found is located 4 meters above the cave floor and 8 meters from the entrance.
In the 1950s, the rock art in the caves was discovered by a Dutch archaeologist, H. R. van Heekeren, but at the time, was not regarded as being especially significant. More recently, analysis of the pictures by an Australian-Indonesian team suggests that a number of the markings are over 30,000 years old.M. Aubert et al, 'Pleisocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia', Nature, 514, 9 October 2014. Also Paul S.C. Tacon et al, '40,000 year old rock art found in Indonesia', The Conversation, 9 October 2014. They were looking at mineral layers that were covering the images, and tracing the amount of radioactive uranium in them. This technique did not give an exact date, but it narrowed down the time when the images were possibly painted. The work suggests that early settlers in Asia were creating their own artwork at the same time, or even earlier, than artwork of this kind was being created in Europe.
The caves were of interest to the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace visited the East Indies during the period 1854 to 1862 although he appears not to have spotted the artwork.'Cave paintings in Indonesia suggest art came out of Africa', The Guardian, 8 October 2014. Wallace discusses his visit to the region in his well-known book The Malay Archipelago first published in 1869.
Journal Science announced that hand print in Maros Cave by mouth spraying dye is in the sixth position of the 2014’s top ten science breakthroughs and is called as Indonesian Cave Art. The art of drawing in (Maros Cave) rocks has same old with inhabitant of the European land.
Natural features
Maros Regency is famous for its karst hills and cliffs which have been referred to as "The Spectacular Karst Towers".
The Karaenta Nature Reserve, best known for the Moor macaque monkeys (Macaca maura) in the park, is located in the Cenrana district (kecamatan) in the regency.Andi Hajramurni, 'Committed ranger and macaque tamer' , The Jakarta Post, 7 April 2005. Moor macaques are endemic to Sulawesi and are considered to be endangered because the remaining numbers are believed to be limited.
Caves The longest known cave in Indonesia is the Salukangkallang cave (27-kilometer in length). The cave is mostly in the Samangki Village Tourist Area (Kawasan Desa Wisata Samangki), but the entrance to the cave is in Labuaja village, nearby to Samangki village.
References