Makassar, (sometimes spelled Macassar, Mangkasara) formerly called Ujung Pandang is the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the largest city in Sulawesi Island. From 1971 to 1999, the city was formally named Ujung Pandang and after a precolonial fort in the city, and the two names are often used interchangeably. Makassar has become the primary port and airline hub of the eastern archipelago, the thousands of remote islands being developed and incorprated into the mainstream of Indonesian society and economy. Today Makassar is a bustling city with inhabitants from all over the archipelago, ethnic and most dominant language is Makassar and Bugis, at the last census people also spoke Javanese, Sundanese, Batak, Minangkabau and Banjarese. Tens of thousands were put in the last language group 'remaining languages', which concludes most of the innumerable languages in eastern Indonesia. People from this region come to Makassar to trade, to study, to buy provisions or just to escape the limitations of the village life.