West Java Province, the province of West Java was subdivided into four cities () and sixteen regencies (), excluding the four regencies which were separated off in 2000 to form the new Banten Province. Subsequently five new independent cities were created between 1996 and 2002 by separation from their surrounding regencies - Bekasi on 16 December 1996, Depok on 27 April 1999, Cimahi and Tasikmalaya on 21 June 2001, and Banjar on 11 December 2002. A 17th regency was formed on 2 January 2007 – West Bandung Regency – from the western half of Bandung Regency, and an 18th regency was formed in October 2012 – Pangandaran Regency – from the southern half of Ciamis Regency. These 9 cities and 18 regencies are divided into 620 districts (), which comprise 1,576 urban villages () and 4,301 rural villages (). On 25 October 2013, the People's Representative Council (DPR) began reviewing draft laws on the establishment of 57 prospective new regencies (and eight new provinces), including a further three regencies in West Java – South Garut (Garut Selatan), North Sukabumi (Sukabumi Utara) and West Bogor (Bogor Barat) – but none of these three prospective regencies are shown separately on the map below, nor in the following table. Notes: (a) the 2005 population is included in the total for Bandung Regency, of which West Bandung Regency was formerly part. (b) the 2005 population total for Ciamis Regency include the figure for the new Pangandaran Regency, created in 2012. Geography West Java borders Jakarta and Banten province to the west and Central Java to the east. To the north is the Java Sea. To the south is the Indian Ocean. Unlike most other provinces in Indonesia which have their capitals in coastal areas, the provincial capital, Bandung, is located in the mountainous area in the centre of the province. Banten Province was formerly part of West Java but was created a separate province in 2000. West Java, in the densely populated western third of Java, is home to almost one out of every five Indonesians. West Java and Banten provinces, as a part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, have more mountains and volcanoes than any of the other provinces in Indonesia. The vast volcanic mountainous region of inland West Java is traditionally known as Parahyangan (also known as Priangan or Preanger) which means "The abode of hyangs (gods)". It is considered as