Pekanbaru (Jawi: ڤكنبارو ;Chinese: 北干巴鲁; pinyin: běigānbālǔ) is the capital of Riau, a province in Indonesia on the island of Sumatra. It has an area of 632.26 km² and a population of 903,902. Located on the Siak River, which drains to the Strait of Malacca. Pekanbaru has direct access to the busy strait and was long known as a trading port (the city name is derived from the Indonesian words of 'new market' or 'new town', "pekan" meaning 'market' or 'town', and "baru" meaning 'new'). The city is divided into 12 subdistricts (kecamatan). The Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport serves Pekanbaru with direct flights to Batam, Jakarta, Malaysia (Malacca and Kuala Lumpur), Singapore and other destinations in Indonesia. A settlement has existed on the city site since the 17th century. In the late 19th century, the city developed to serve the coffee and coal industries, and the Dutch built roads to help ship goods to Singapore and Malacca.

In 1749 under the terms of a peace treaty between the Sultan of Johor and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) Siak was put under Dutch administration. The Sultan moved residence to a palace in Senapelan built in 1760.