Before the oil boom of the early 1900s, Balikpapan was an isolated Bugis fishing village. Balikpapan's toponym (balik = "behind" and papan = "plank") is from a folk story in which a local king threw his newborn daughter into the sea to protect her from his enemies. The baby was tied beneath some planks that were discovered by a fisherman.
Oil development
In 1897 a small refinery company began the first oil drilling. Building of roads, wharves, warehouses, offices, barracks, and bungalows started when a Dutch oil company arrived in the area.
Second World War
On 24 January 1942 a Japanese invasion convoy arrived at Balikpapan and was attacked by four United States Navy destroyers that sank three Japanese transports. The Japanese army landed and after a sharp but short fight defeated the Dutch garrison. The defenders had partially destroyed the oil refinery and other facilities. After this the Japanese massacred many of the Europeans they had captured. Several campaigns followed until the 1945 Battle of Balikpapan, which concluded the Borneo campaign by which Allied Forces took control of Borneo island. Extensive wartime damage curtailed almost all oil production in the area until Royal Dutch Shell completed major repairs in 1950.
CIA air raid
In 1958 the CIA attacked Balikpapan and stopped oil exports. The USA was running a CIA covert mission to undermine President Sukarno's government by supporting right-wing rebels in Indonesia. The CIA, Taiwan and the Philippines had provided the Permesta rebels in North Sulawesi with an insurgent air force, the Angkatan Udara Revolusioner (AUREV). On 19 April 1958 a CIA pilot, William H Beale, Jr, flying a B-26 Invader bomber aircraft that was painted black and showing no markings, dropped four 500 lb (230 kg) bombs on Balikpapan. The first damaged the runway at Balikpapan airport, the second set the British oil tanker SS San Flaviano on fire and sank her and the third
