All Topics  
Bangka Island

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Bangka Island
 
 
  Topics Bangka Island Topic Home

Bangka (or sometimes Banka) is an island lying east of Sumatra
Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the list of islands by area in the world ....
, Indonesia
Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
. Population (1990) 626,955. Area: c.4,600 sq mi (11,910 kmē).

There is an additional small island named Pulau Bangka in northern Sulawesi
Sulawesi

Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands....
, Indonesia
Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
.

ka is an island province together with Belitung Island. Bangka lies just east of Sumatra
Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the list of islands by area in the world ....
, separated by the Bangka Strait
Bangka Strait

Bangka Strait is a strait which separates the island of Sumatra and Bangka Island in the Java Sea, Indonesia....
; to the north lies the South China Sea
South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea*south of China,*west of the Philippines,*north west of Sabah , Sarawak and Brunei,*north of Indonesia,...
, to the east, across the Gaspar Strait
Gaspar Strait

Gaspar Strait separates Belitung and Bangka Island islands in Indonesia. It connects the Java Sea to the South China Sea....
, is the island of Belitung
Belitung

Belitung, formerly known as Billiton, is an Islands of Indonesia on the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in the Java Sea. The island is known for its black pepper and for its tin....
, and to the south is the Java Sea
Java Sea

The Java Sea is a large shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf. It was formed as sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age. The Java Sea lies between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south; Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Bangka Island'
Start a new discussion about 'Bangka Island'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Bangka (or sometimes Banka) is an island lying east of Sumatra
Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the list of islands by area in the world ....
, Indonesia
Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
. Population (1990) 626,955. Area: c.4,600 sq mi (11,910 kmē).

There is an additional small island named Pulau Bangka in northern Sulawesi
Sulawesi

Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands....
, Indonesia
Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
.

Geography

Bangka is an island province together with Belitung Island. Bangka lies just east of Sumatra
Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the list of islands by area in the world ....
, separated by the Bangka Strait
Bangka Strait

Bangka Strait is a strait which separates the island of Sumatra and Bangka Island in the Java Sea, Indonesia....
; to the north lies the South China Sea
South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea*south of China,*west of the Philippines,*north west of Sabah , Sarawak and Brunei,*north of Indonesia,...
, to the east, across the Gaspar Strait
Gaspar Strait

Gaspar Strait separates Belitung and Bangka Island islands in Indonesia. It connects the Java Sea to the South China Sea....
, is the island of Belitung
Belitung

Belitung, formerly known as Billiton, is an Islands of Indonesia on the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in the Java Sea. The island is known for its black pepper and for its tin....
, and to the south is the Java Sea
Java Sea

The Java Sea is a large shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf. It was formed as sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age. The Java Sea lies between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south; Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east....
. The size is about 12,000 kmē. Most of the geographical faces of the island consists of lower plains, swamps, small hills, beautiful beaches, white pepper fields and tin minings.

The largest town is Pangkalpinang which also serves as the capital of Bangka-Belitung
Bangka-Belitung

Bangka-Belitung Islands is a Provinces of Indonesia of Indonesia, which includes two main islands, Bangka Island and Belitung, and several smaller ones that lie from the east of Sumatra to the northeast of South Sumatra province....
 province. Sungailiat
Sungailiat

Sungailiat is a Subdistricts of Indonesia of Bangka Regency, Bangka-Belitung province of Indonesia. It is also the capital of the regency....
 is the second largest city in Bangka island. Muntok
Muntok

Muntok or more commonly known as Mentok. It is a town in the Indonesian province of Bangka-Belitung, Indonesia. Muntok is the capital of the West Bangka Regency....
 is the principal port in the west. The other important town are Toboali
Toboali

Toboali is a town in the Indonesian province of Bangka-Belitung, Indonesia. Toboali is the capital of the South Bangka Regency....
 in the southern region, Koba
Koba

Koba can refer to:* Koba, from the 1883 novel The Patricide by Alexander Kazbegi* Joseph Stalin, a pseudonym after Kazbegi's characher...
 an important tin mining town, also located on the southern part of the island, and Belinyu a town famous for its seafood products. Three are 3 sea ports in Bangka; Muntok on the far west, Belinyu on the far north, Sadai on the far south, and Pangkal Balam are the closest one to Pangkal Pinang.

Economy


Since c. 1710, Bangka has been one of the world's principal tin
Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. Tin is obtained chiefly from the mineral cassiterite, where it occurs as an oxide, SnO2....
-producing centers. Tin production is an Indonesian government monopoly
Monopoly

In economics, a monopoly exists when a specific individual or enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product or service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it....
, and there is a smelter at Muntok. Pepper
Black pepper

Black pepper is a flowering plant vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning....
 is also produced on the island.

Demographics


The majority of the inhabitants are Malay Indonesians and Chinese
Chinese Indonesian

Chinese Indonesians are Ethnic Chinese people living in Indonesia, as a result of centuries of overseas Chinese migration.Chinese Indonesian people are diverse in their origins, timing and circumstances of immigration to Indonesia, and level of ties to China....
, mostly Hakkas. The population is split between those who work the pepper farms and those who work on the tin mines.

History


Bangka was ceded to Britain
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 by the sultan of Palembang
Palembang

Palembang is a city of 1,286,000 in the south of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is the capital of the Provinces of Indonesia of South Sumatra and its metropolitan area includes more than 1,730,000 people....
 in 1812, but in 1814 it was exchanged with the Dutch
Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
 for Cochin
Kochi (India)

Kochi , formerly known as Cochin, is a city in the Indian States and territories of India of Kerala. The city is one of the principal seaports of the country and is located in the district of Ernakulam district, about north of the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram....
 in India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
. The island was occupied by the Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
ese from 1942 to 1945. It became part of independent Indonesia in 1949. The island, together with neighboring Belitung, was formerly part of South Sumatra
South Sumatra

South Sumatra is a Provinces of Indonesia of Indonesia. It is on the island of Sumatra, and borders the provinces of Lampung to the south, Bengkulu to the west, and Jambi to the north....
 (Sumatera Selatan) province, but in 2000 the two islands became the new province of Bangka-Belitung. Bangka is famous for two other events; the Banka Island Massacre
Banka Island massacre

The Bangka Island massacre took place on 16 February 1942, when Empire of Japanese soldiers machine gunned 22 Australian military nurses. There was only one survivor....
 in WWII by the Japanese of Australian Nurses and as reputedly the setting for the book "Lord Jim
Lord Jim

Lord Jim is a novel by Joseph Conrad, originally published in Blackwood's Magazine from October 1899 to November 1900 in literature....
" by Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad was a Polish novelist, writing in English. Many critics regard him as one of the greatest novelists in the English language, despite his not having learned to speak English fluently until he was in his twenties ....
.

In 1930 Bangka had a population of 205,363.

Bangka is also home to a number of communist Indonesians who have been under house arrest since the 1960's anti-Communist purge
Indonesian killings of 1965–66

The Indonesian killings of 1965–66 were a violent anti-Communist purge following 30 September Movement in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta....
 and are not permitted to leave the island.

See also

  • Islands of Indonesia
    Islands of Indonesia

    Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands according to estimates made by the Politics of Indonesia, with about 6,000 of those inhabited. The country extends from adjacent the Malay Peninsula in its west and into Melanesia in its east....