Sumbawa

Sumbawa

Geography
Location	South East Asia
Coordinates	8°47′S 118°5′E / 8.783°S 118.083°E / -8.783; 118.083
Archipelago	Lesser Sunda Islands
Area	15,448 km² (57th)
Highest point	Tambora (2,850 m)
Country
Indonesia
Province	West Nusa Tenggara
Demographics
Population	1,219,590 (as of 2005)
Density	100 /km2 (260 /sq mi)

Sumbawa is an Indonesian island, located in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands chain, with Lombok to the west, Flores to the east, and Sumba further to the southeast. It is in the province of West Nusa Tenggara.

Sumbawa is 15,448 km² (three times the size of Lombok) with a population of around 1.5 million. It marks the boundary between the islands to the west, which were influenced by religion and culture spreading from India, and the region to the east that was not so influenced.

History

Four principalities in western Sumbawa were dependencies of the Majapahit Empire of eastern Java. Because of Sumbawa's natural resources it was regularly invaded by outside forces - Japanese, Dutch, Makassarese. The Dutch first arrived in 1605, but did not effectively rule Sumbawa until the early 20th century. The Balinese kingdom of Gelgel ruled western Sumbawa for a short period as well. It was also home to the Sultanate of Bima.

Historical evidence indicates that people on Sumbawa island were known in the East Indies for their honey, horses^[1], sappan wood for producing red dye^[2], and sandalwood used for incense and medications. The area was thought to be highly productive agriculturally.

Rice fields

Rice barns

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Child dancers in Sultan's palace

Administration

Sumbawa is divided into 4 regencies and one kota (city). They are:

• West Sumbawa Regency
• Sumbawa Regency
• Dompu Regency
• Bima Regency
• Bima City.

Geography

To the west is Alas Strait, Saleh Bay in the middle, the Flores Sea in the middle.

There are a number of smaller surrounding islands, most notably Moyo Island, Sangeang Island and Komodo Islands to the east.

Demographics

Islam was introduced via the Makassarese of Sulawesi.

Sumbawa has historically had two major linguistic groups who spoke languages that were unintelligible to each other. One group centered in the western side of the island speaks Basa Semawa (Indonesian: Bahasa Sumbawa) which is similar to the Sasak language from Lombok; the second group in the east speaks Nggahi Mbojo (Bahasa Bima). The kingdoms located in Sumbawa Besar and Bima were the two focal points of Sumbawa. This division of the island into two parts remains today; Sumbawa Besar and Bima are the two largest towns on the island, and are the centers of distinct cultural groups that share the island. The official estimate of population as at 2005 was 1,219,590.

Volcanoes

Sumbawa lies within the Pacific Ring of Fire. It is a volcanic island, including Mount Tambora (8°14’41”S, 117°59’35”E) which exploded in 1815, the most destructive volcanic eruption in modern history (roughly four times larger than the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, between Java and Sumatra, in terms of volume of magma ejected). The eruption killed as many as 72,000. It also apparently destroyed a small culture of Southeast Asian affinity, known to archaeologists as the Tamboran kingdom. It launched 100 cubic kilometers of ash into the upper atmosphere, which caused 1816 to be the "year without a summer." [1]

Island use

The Western half of Sumbawa is used by Newmont Mining Corporation as a mine with high sources in gold and copper.

References

1. ^ Jong Boers, B.D. de (2007), ‘The ‘Arab’ of the Indonesian Archipelago: The Famed Horse Breeds of Sumbawa’ in: Greg Bankoff and Sandra Swart (eds), Breeds of Empire: The ‘invention’ of the horse in Southern Africa and Maritime Southeast Asia, 1500-1950. Copenhagen: NIAS Press, pp 51-64
2. ^ Jong Boers, B.D. de (1997), ‘Sustainability and time perspective in natural resource management: The exploitation of sappan trees in the forests of Sumbawa, Indonesia (1500-1875)’, in: Peter Boomgaard, Freek Colombijn en David Henley (eds), Paper landscapes; Explorations in the environmental history of Indonesia. Leiden: KITLV Press, pp. 260-281