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Sumatra
Topography of Sumatra
Geography
Location Southeast Asia
Coordinates 00°N 102°E
Archipelago Greater Sunda Islands
Area 480,847.74 km2
(185,656.35 sq mi)
Area rank 6th
Highest elevation 3,805 m (12,484 ft)
Highest point Kerinci
Country
Indonesia
Provinces Aceh, Bengkulu, Jambi,
Lampung, Riau, West Sumatra,
South Sumatra, North Sumatra
Largest city Medan (pop. 2,109,330 (as of
2010))
SumatraFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Sumatra (disambiguation).
Sumatra (Indonesian: Sumatera), is an island in westernIndonesia and part of the Sunda Islands. It is the largestisland that is entirely in Indonesia (two larger islands, Borneoand New Guinea, are shared between Indonesia and othercountries) and the sixth largest island in the world at
480,847.74 km2 (including adjacent islands such as the RiauIslands and Bangga Belitung Islands), with a currentpopulation of over 50 million (54 million administratively, asRiau Islands and Bangka–Belitung Islands are included). Itsbiggest city is Medan with over 4 million in its metropolitanarea.
Sumatra is an elongated landmass spanning a diagonalnorthwest-southeast axis. The Indian Ocean borders thewest, northwest, and southwest sides of Sumatra with theisland chain of Simeulue, Nias and Mentawai bordering thesouthwestern coast. On the northeast side the narrow Straitof Malacca separates the island from the Malay Peninsula, anextension of the Eurasian continent. On the southeast thenarrow Sunda Strait separates Sumatra from Java. Thenorthern tip of Sumatra borders the Andaman Islands, whileon the lower eastern side are the islands of Bangka andBelitung, Karimata Strait and the Java Sea. The BukitBarisan mountains, which contain several active volcanoes,form the backbone of the island, while the northeast sides areoutlying lowlands with swamps, mangrove and complex riversystems. The equator crosses the island at its center on WestSumatra and Riau provinces. The climate of the island istropical, hot and humid with lush tropical rain forest originallydominating the landscape.
Settler colonies began arriving in Sumatra around 500 BC,and several significant kingdoms flourished there. I Ching, aChinese Buddhist monk, studied Sanskrit and spent fouryears of his life working in Palembang. The explorer MarcoPolo visited Sumatra in 1292.
Eighty-seven percent of Sumatrans are thought to be Muslim.The island is home to 22% of Indonesia's population.
Sumatra has a huge range of plant and animal species but haslost almost 50% of its tropical rainforest in the last 35 years,and many species are critically endangered such as the
Coordinates: 00°N 102°E
Demographics
Population 50,365,538 (as of 2010)
Density 104.74 /km2 (271.28 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups Acehnese, Batak, Minangkabau,
Malay, Tionghoa
Sumatran Tiger, Sumatran Rhino and Sumatran Orangutan.Deforestation on the island has also resulted in serious hazeover neighbouring countries, such as the 2013 SoutheastAsian haze causing considerable tensions with affected
countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.[1]
Contents
1 Etymology
2 History
3 Administration
4 Geography
5 Largest cities
6 Flora and fauna
7 Demographics
8 Rail transport
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
Etymology
Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit names of Swarnadwīpa ("Island of Gold") and Swarnabhūmi
("Land of Gold"), because of the gold deposits of the island's highland.[2] The first word mentioning the name of
Sumatra was the name of Srivijayan Haji (king) Sumatrabhumi ("King of the land of Sumatra"),[3] who sent anenvoy to China in 1017. Arab geographers referred to the island as Lamri (Lamuri, Lambri or Ramni) in the tenththrough thirteenth centuries, in reference to a kingdom near modern day Banda Aceh which was the first landfall fortraders.
Late in the 14th century the name Sumatra became popular in reference to the kingdom of Samudra Pasai, whichwas a rising power until it was replaced by Sultanate of Aceh. Sultan Alauddin Shah of Aceh, on letters written in
1602 addressed to Queen Elizabeth I of England, referred to himself as "king of Aceh and Samudra".[4] The word
itself is from Sanskrit "Samudra", (सम�ु), meaning "gathering together of waters, sea or ocean".[5]
After the introduction of Islam to the archipelago in 13th century, the island was also called Andalas by Muslim
travellers .[6] Sumatra was the farthest east in the Muslim world so its position was in some way similar to Al-Andalus which was the farthest west, hence the name. European writers in the 19th century found that the
indigenous inhabitants did not have a name for the island.[7]
Historical population
Year Pop. ±%
1971 20,808,148 —
1980 28,016,160 +34.6%
1990 36,506,703 +30.3%
1995 40,830,334 +11.8%
2000 42,616,164 +4.4%
2005 45,839,041 +7.6%
2010 50,613,947 +10.4%
sources:[8]
Batak warriors, 1870
History
People who spoke Austronesian languages first arrived in Sumatraaround 500 BCE. One of the earliest known kingdoms was Kantoli,which flourished in the 5th century CE in southern Sumatra. Kantoli wasreplaced by the Empire of Srivijaya and then later by the Kingdom ofSamudra. Srivijaya was a Buddhist monarchy centred in what is nowPalembang. Dominating the region through trade and conquestthroughout the 7th to 9th centuries, the empire helped spread the Malayculture throughout Nusantara. The empire was a thalassocracy ormaritime power that extended its influence from island to island.Palembang was a center for scholarly learning, and it was there theChinese Buddhist pilgrim I Ching studied Sanskrit in 671 CE beforedeparting for India. On his journey to China, he spent four years inPalembang translating Buddhist texts and writing two manuscripts.
Srivijayan influence waned in the 11th century after it was defeated by theChola Empire of southern India. At the same time, Islam made its way toSumatra through Arabs and Indian traders in the 6th and 7th centuries
AD.[9] By the late 13th century, the monarch of the Samudra kingdom hadconverted to Islam. Marco Polo visited the island in 1292, and Ibn Battutavisited twice during 1345–1346. Samudra was succeeded by the powerfulAceh Sultanate, which survived to the 20th century. With the coming of theDutch, the many Sumatran princely states gradually fell under their control.Aceh, in the north, was the major obstacle, as the Dutch were involved inthe long and costly Aceh War (1873–1903).
Sumatra came under the control of the Dutch East Indies and became amajor producer of pepper, rubber, and oil. In the early and mid-twentieth century, Sumatran academics and leaderswere important figures in Indonesia's independence movements, such as: Mohammad Hatta (the first vice-president) and Sutan Sjahrir (the first prime minister).
The Great Sumatran fault (a strike-slip fault), and the Sunda megathrust (a subduction zone), run the entire length ofthe island along its west coast. On 26 December 2004, the western coast and islands of Sumatra, particularly Acehprovince, were struck by a tsunami following the Indian Ocean earthquake. More than 170,000 Indonesians werekilled, primarily in Aceh. Other recent earthquakes to strike Sumatra include the 2005 Sumatra Earthquake and theOctober 2010 Sumatra earthquake.Then environment minister Gusti Mohammad Hatta stated in 2010 that Sumatrahad experienced tremendous pressures resulting from natural resource exploitation. He further argued that naturalforests had decreased, leaving only 29 percent of forest cover on the island.[1]
Administration
The ten administrative Provinces (provinsi) of Sumatra - including the smaller islands nearby - are listed below with
their populations at the 2010 and 2010 Censuses,:[10]
Traditional house in Nias North
Sumatra
Name Area (km2)Population
Census 2000Population
Census 2010Capital
Aceh 157,956.00 4,073,006 4,486,570 Banda Aceh
North Sumatra(Sumatera Utara)
72,981.23 11,642,488 12,326,678 Medan
West Sumatra
(Sumatera Barat)42,012.89 4,248,515 4,845,998 Padang
Riau 87,023.66 3,907,763 5,543,031 Pekanbaru
Jambi 50,058.16 2,407,166 3,088,618 Jambi
South Sumatra(Sumatera Selatan)
91,592.43 6,210,800 7,446,401 Palembang
Bengkulu 19,919.33 1,455,500 1,713,393 Bengkulu
Lampung 34,623.80 6,730,751 7,596,115 Bandar Lampung
Bangka-Belitung(Kepulauan Bangka Belitung)
16,424.14 899,968 1,223,048 Pangkal Pinang
Riau Islands(Kepulauan Riau)
8,256.10 1,040,207 1,685,698 Tanjung Pinang
Totals 480,847.74 42,616,164 50,613,947
Geography
The longest axis of the island runs approximately 1,790 km (1,110 mi) northwest–southeast, crossing the equatornear the centre. At its widest point, the island spans 435 km (270 mi). The interior of the island is dominated bytwo geographical regions: the Barisan Mountains in the west and swampy plains in the east.
Map of geological formation of
Sumatra island
Mount Sinabung, North Sumatra
Medan, the capital of the province of
North Sumatra, Indonesia
To the southeast is Java, separated by the Sunda Strait. To the north is the Malay Peninsula, separated by the Straitof Malacca. To the east is Borneo, across the Karimata Strait. West of the island is the Indian Ocean.
The backbone of the island is the Barisan Mountain chain, with the active volcano Mount Kerinci as the highestpoint at 3,805 m (12,467 ft), located at about the midpoint of the range. The volcanic activity of this regionendowed the region with fertile land and beautiful sceneries, for instancearound Lake Toba. It also contains deposits of coal and gold. Thevolcanic activity stems from Sumatra's location on the Pacific Ring of Fire—which is also the reason why Sumatra has had some of the mostpowerful earthquakes ever recorded: in 1797, 1833, 1861, 2004, 2005,and 2007.
To the east, big rivers carry siltfrom the mountains, formingthe vast lowland interspersedby swamps. Even if mostlyunsuitable for farming, the areais currently of great economicimportance for Indonesia. Itproduces oil from both aboveand below the soil – palm oil and petroleum.
Sumatra is the largest producer of Indonesian coffee. Small-holders growArabica coffee (Coffea arabica) in the highlands, while Robusta (Coffea canephora) is found in the lowlands.Arabica coffee from the regions of Gayo, Lintong and Sidikilang is typically processed using the Giling Basah (wet
hulling) technique, which gives it a heavy body and low acidity.[11]
Most of Sumatra used to be covered by tropical rainforest, but economic development coupled with corruption andillegal logging has severely threatened its existence. Even designated conservation areas have not been spared fromthis destruction.
The island is the world's fifth highest island, and the third highest in the Indonesian archipelago.
Batang Hari River is the longest river in the island with its source in the Minangkabau Highlands, stretching around800 kilometres eastward to its estuary in the Jambi lowlands.
Largest cities
The largest cities in Sumatra by population, listed by their 2010 census
populations,[10] are:
Rafflesia arnoldii
Rank Capital City provincePopulation
2010 CensusCity Birthday
Area in
Km 2
1 Medan North Sumatra 2,109,339 1 July 1590 265.10
2 Palembang South Sumatra 1,452,840 17 June 1683 374.03
3 Pekanbaru Riau 903,902 23 June 1784 633.01
4 Bandar Lampung Lampung 879,851 17 June 1682 118.50
5 Padang West Sumatra 833,584 7 August 1669 694.96
6 Jambi Jambi 529,118 17 May 1946 205.00
7 Bengkulu Bengkulu 300,359 18 March 1719 144.52
8 Dumai Riau 254,332 20 April 1999 2,039.35
9 Binjai North Sumatra 246,010 90.24
10 Pematang Siantar North Sumatra 234,885 24 April 1871 60.52
11 Banda Aceh Aceh 224,209 22 April 1205 61.36
12 Lubuklinggau South Sumatra 201,217 17 August 2001 419.80
Flora and fauna
See also: List of national parks of Indonesia
Sumatra supports a wide range of vegetation types which are home to a
rich variety of species, including 17 endemic genera of plants.[12] Uniquespecies include the Sumatran Pine which dominates the Sumatran tropicalpine forests of the higher mountainsides in the north of the island andrainforest plants such as Rafflesia arnoldii (the world's largest individualflower), and the Titan Arum (the world's largest unbranchedinflorescence).
The island is home to 201 mammal species and 580 bird species. There are 9endemic mammal species on mainland Sumatra and 14 more endemic to the
nearby Mentawai Islands.[12] The species present include: Sumatran Tiger,Sumatran Orangutan, Sumatran Rhinoceros, Sumatran Elephant, SumatranStriped Rabbit, Dhole, Dayak Fruit Bat, Malayan Tapir, Malayan Sun Bear,Sunda Clouded Leopard, black leopard. There are about 300 freshwater fish
species in Sumatra.[13]
The island has lost 48% of its natural forest cover since 1985, and many of theremaining species are endangered. The Sumatran Tiger, Sumatran Rhino, andSumatran Orangutan are all Critically Endangered, indicating the highest level ofthreat to their survival. In October 2008, the Indonesian government announced a
plan to protect Sumatra's remaining forests.[14]
Minangkabau women
carrying platters of food to a
ceremony
The island includes more than 10 national parks, including 3 which are listed as the Tropical Rainforest Heritageof Sumatra World Heritage Site – Gunung Leuser National Park, Kerinci Seblat National Park and Bukit BarisanSelatan National Park. The Berbak National Park is one of three national parks in Indonesia listed as a wetland ofinternational importance under the Ramsar Convention.
Demographics
Sumatra is not particularly densely populated, with just over 100 people per km2
– more than 50 million people in total. Because of its great extent, it is nonetheless
the fourth[15] most populous island in the world. The most populous regionsinclude most of North Sumatra and central highlands in West Sumatra, while themajor urban centers are Medan and Palembang.
The people represent many ethnic groups, speaking 52 languages. Most of thesegroups share many similar traditions, and the different tongues are closely related.Ethnic Malay dominate most of the eastern coast, while people in the southernand central interior speak languages related to Malay, such as the Lampung andMinangkabau people. The highland of northern Sumatra is inhabited by theBataks, while the northernmost coast is dominated by Acehs. Ethnic Chineseminorities are present in urban centres.
A majority of people in Sumatra are Muslims (87%), while 10% are Christians,
2% are Buddhist and 1% are Hindu.[16] Most central Bataks are ProtestantChristians, a religion introduced by the German Rhenish Missionary Society.
Rail transport
Several unconnected railway networks built during Netherlands East Indies exist in Sumatra, such as the onesconnecting Banda Aceh-Lhokseumawe-Besitang-Medan-Tebingtinggi-Pematang Siantar-Rantau Prapat in
Northern Sumatra (the Banda Aceh-Besitang section was closed in 1971, but is being rebuilt, as of 2011[17]),Padang-Solok-Bukittinggi in West Sumatra, and Bandar Lampung-Palembang-Lahat-Lubuk Linggau in SouthernSumatra.
See also
Architecture of Sumatra
Communism in Sumatra
Music of Sumatra
References
1. ^ http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/19/world/asia/singapore-haze/?hpt=hp_t3
2. ^ Drakard, Jane (1999). A Kingdom of Words: Language and Power in Sumatra. Oxford University Press.
ISBN 983-56-0035-X.
External links
Sumatra travel guide from Wikivoyage
William Marsden, The History of Sumatra, (1783); 3rd ed. (1811) on line.
(http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16768)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sumatra&oldid=608462188"
Categories: Islands of Indonesia Sumatra Greater Sunda Islands
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3. ^ Munoz. Early Kingdoms. p. 175.
4. ^ Sneddon, James N. (2003). The Indonesian language: its history and role in modern society
(http://books.google.com/books?id=A9UjLYD9jVEC&pg=PA65). UNSW Press. p. 65. ISBN 9780868405988.
5. ^ Macdonell, Arthur Anthony (1924). A practical Sanskrit dictionary with transliteration, accentuation, and
etymological analysis (http://books.google.com/books?id=laIPgMQF_XsC&pg=PA347&lpg=PA347). Motilal
Banarsidass Publ. p. 347. ISBN 9788120820005.
6. ^ "Indonesia Islands Map Travel Information" (http://bestindonesiaislands.com/index.php/Sumatra/Sumatra-
Island.html). Bestindonesiaislands.com. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
7. ^ Reid, Anthony (2005). An Indonesian Frontier: Acehnese and Other Histories of Sumatra. National University of
Singapore Press. ISBN 9971-69-298-8.
8. ^ http://www.bps.go.id/tab_sub/view.php?kat=1&tabel=1&daftar=1&id_subyek=12¬ab=1
9. ^ G.R. Tibbets,Pre-Islamic Arabia and South East Asia, in D.S. Richards (ed.),1970, Islam and The Trade of
Asia, Oxford: Bruno Cassirer Pub. Ltd, p. 127 nt. 21; S.Q.Fatimi, In Quest of Kalah, in D.S. Richards (ed.),1970,
p.132 n.124; W.P. Groeneveldt, Notes in The Malay Archipelago, in D.S. Richards (ed.),1970, p.129 n.42
10. ̂a b Biro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta.
11. ^ Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia. http://www.sca-indo.org/arabica-regions/index.cfm?rid=1. Retrieved
August 8, 2008.
12. ̂a b Whitten, Tony (1999). The Ecology of Sumatra. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 962-593-074-4.
13. ^ Nguyen, T.T.T., and S. S. De Silva (2006). Freshwater finfish biodiversity and conservation: an asian
perspective. Biodiversity & Conservation 15(11): 3543-3568
14. ^ staff (2008-10-14). "Forest, Wildlife Protection Pledged at World Conservation Congress" (http://www.ens-
newswire.com/ens/oct2008/2008-10-14-01.asp). Ens-newswire.com. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
15. ^ "Population Statistics" (http://www.geohive.com/). GeoHive. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
16. ^ "Number of Population by Religion Year 2005" (http://www.depag.go.id/index.php?menu=page&pageid=17).
17. ^ http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/columnists/the-slow-train/476582
