Mbah Gotho facts for kids

Saparman Sodimejo, known more commonly as Mbah Gotho, was an Indonesian man. He became famous because he claimed to be incredibly old. He said he was born on December 31, 1870. If this was true, he would have been 146 years old when he died in 2017. This would make him the oldest person ever recorded.

Mbah Gotho himself could not remember his exact birth date. However, he said he remembered when a sugar factory was built in 1880. Local officials in Indonesia registered his birth year as 1870. This was put on his ID card in 2014.

The oldest person whose age was officially proven was Jeanne Calment. She was 122 years old when she passed away.

Mbah Gotho's Age Claim

In 2010, news reports began to share Mbah Gotho's story. They said he was about to turn 142 years old. This would have made him much older than Jeanne Calment. She was the oldest person with a proven age.

Mbah Gotho could not remember his exact birth date. But he often spoke about remembering the building of a sugar factory. This factory was built in Sragen in 1880. This memory helped support his claim of being very old.

In 2016, many news groups around the world reported on Mbah Gotho. They showed pictures of his ID card. This card showed his claimed birth date of 1870.

Why His Age Was Hard to Prove

Indonesian officials at the local office confirmed the birth date on his ID card. However, there was no other proof of his age. For an age claim to be officially recognized, like by Guinness World Records, independent proof is needed.

The Indonesian government did not keep birth records before 1900. Also, there have been mistakes in past records. Because of this, Mbah Gotho's amazing age could not be fully proven.

Some experts who study very old people found his claimed age hard to believe. They said it was like a "fiction." News stories also mentioned other people in Indonesia who claimed to be very old. For example, a woman named Maemunah was said to be born in 1867.

His Final Years

Mbah Gotho lived a very long life. He outlived many of his family members. He lived longer than ten of his brothers and sisters. He also outlived all four of his wives and all of his own children.

On April 28, 2017, Mbah Gotho was taken to the hospital. He was suffering from heart failure. He passed away two days later, on April 30, 2017, at 5:45 pm local time. He was buried in his hometown in Sragen.

Related pages

• Carmelo Flores Laura
• Luo Meizhen

Images for kids

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  Jurōjin, the god of longevity in Taoism

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  A woodblock print of Emperor Jimmu by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

See also

In Spanish: Sodimejo para niños