Bangka Island
Encyclopedia
Bangka is an island lying east of Sumatra
, Indonesia
. Population (1990) 626,955. Area: c.4,600 sq mi (11,910 km²).
There is an additional small island named Pulau Bangka in northern Sulawesi
, Indonesia
.
, separated by the Bangka Strait
; to the north lies the South China Sea
, to the east, across the Gaspar Strait
, is the island of Belitung
, and to the south is the Java Sea
. The size is about 12,000 km². 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
province. Sungailiat
is the second largest city in Bangka island. Muntok
Mentok is the principal port in the west. The other important town are Toboali
in the southern region, Koba
an important tin mining town, also located on the southern part of the island, and Belinyu a town famous for its seafood products. There are 4 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 Pangkalpinang.
-producing centers. Tin production is an Indonesian government monopoly
, and there is the biggest tin smelter at Muntok
. White pepper is also produced on the island.
and Chinese
, mostly Hakkas. The population is split between those work on the tin
mines, palm oil
plantations, rubber
plantations, fisherman
and those who work on pepper farms.
by the sultan of Palembang
in 1812, but in 1814 it was exchanged with the Dutch
for Cochin
in India
. The island was occupied by the Japan
ese from February 1942 to August 1945. It became part of independent Indonesia in 1949. The island, together with neighboring Belitung
, was formerly part of South Sumatra
(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
during World War II
, perpetrated by the Japanese
against Australia
n nurses and British and Australian servicemen and civilians, and for reputedly being the setting for the book Lord Jim
by Joseph Conrad
.
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 1960s anti-Communist purge
and are not permitted to leave the island.
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. Population (1990) 626,955. Area: c.4,600 sq mi (11,910 km²).
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. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
Geography
Bangka is an island province together with Belitung Island. Bangka lies just east of SumatraSumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
, 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.-See also:* Japanese cruiser Ashigara* List of straits...
; to the north lies the South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
, to the east, across the Gaspar Strait
Gaspar Strait
Gaspar Strait separates Belitung and Bangka islands in Indonesia. It connects the Java Sea to the South China Sea.These straits, formed between the large islands Banca and Billiton, are generally called Gaspar Straits, after the Spanish captain from Manila, who passed through them in 1724; but...
, is the island of Belitung
Belitung
Belitung, , is an island on the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in the Java Sea. The island is known for its pepper and for its tin. It was in the possession of the British from 1812 until the British ceded control of the island to the Dutch in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824...
, 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 km². 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 province of Indonesia. The province includes two main islands, Bangka and Belitung, and several smaller ones that lie east of the Sumatran mainland and northeast of South Sumatra province. The Bangka Strait separates Sumatra and Bangka, and the Gaspar Strait separates...
province. Sungailiat
Sungailiat
Sungailiat is a subdistrict of Bangka Regency, Bangka-Belitung province of Indonesia. It is also the capital of the regency.-Demographics:The majority of the people in Muntok are Hakka Chinese and Malay. Majority of Chinese are Buddhism, Catholic and Protestant....
is the second largest city in Bangka island. Muntok
Muntok
Muntok or, more commonly, Mentok is a town in the Indonesian province of Bangka-Belitung, Indonesia. Muntok is the capital of the West Bangka Regency...
Mentok 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.-Demographics:The majority of the people in Toboali are Hakka Chinese and Malay. Majority of Chinese are Buddhist, Catholic or Protestant....
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 character* Koba , by Raymond Williams, based on Stalin's life but set in a fictional context....
an important tin mining town, also located on the southern part of the island, and Belinyu a town famous for its seafood products. There are 4 sea ports in Bangka; Muntok
Muntok
Muntok or, more commonly, Mentok is a town in the Indonesian province of Bangka-Belitung, Indonesia. Muntok is the capital of the West Bangka Regency...
on the far west, Belinyu on the far north, Sadai on the far south, and Pangkal Balam are the closest one to Pangkalpinang.
Economy
Since c. 1710, Bangka has been one of the world's principal tinTin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
-producing centers. Tin production is an Indonesian government monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
, and there is the biggest tin smelter at Muntok
Muntok
Muntok or, more commonly, Mentok is a town in the Indonesian province of Bangka-Belitung, Indonesia. Muntok is the capital of the West Bangka Regency...
. White pepper is also produced on the island.
Demographics
The majority of the inhabitants are MalaysMalay Indonesian
Malay Indonesians are ethnic Malays living throughout Indonesia, as one of the indigenous peoples of the island nation. Indonesia has the second largest ethnic Malay population, the first is Malaysia. Historically, Indonesian, the national language of Indonesia, was derived from the Malay spoken...
and Chinese
Chinese Indonesian
Chinese Indonesians, also called the Indonesian Chinese, are an overseas Chinese group whose ancestors emigrated from China to Indonesia, formerly a colony of the Netherlands known as the Dutch East Indies...
, mostly Hakkas. The population is split between those work on the tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
mines, palm oil
Palm oil
Palm oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil are edible plant oils derived from the fruits of palm trees. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis; palm kernel oil is derived from the kernel of the oil palm and coconut oil is derived from the kernel of the...
plantations, rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
plantations, fisherman
Fisherman
A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...
and those who work on pepper farms.
History
Bangka was ceded to BritainUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by the sultan of Palembang
Palembang
Palembang is the capital city of the South Sumatra province in Indonesia. Palembang is one of the oldest cities in Indonesia, and has a history of being a capital of a maritime empire. Located on the Musi River banks on the east coast of southern Sumatra island, it has an area of 400.61 square...
in 1812, but in 1814 it was exchanged with the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
for Cochin
Dutch Malabar
Malabar, also known by the name of its main settlement Cochin, was a commandment of the Dutch East India Company on the Malabar Coast between 1661 and 1795, and is part of what is today collectively referred to as Dutch India...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The island was occupied by the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, 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 February 1942 to August 1945. It became part of independent Indonesia in 1949. The island, together with neighboring Belitung
Belitung
Belitung, , is an island on the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in the Java Sea. The island is known for its pepper and for its tin. It was in the possession of the British from 1812 until the British ceded control of the island to the Dutch in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824...
, was formerly part of South Sumatra
South Sumatra
South Sumatra is a province of Indonesia.-Geography: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 Japanese soldiers machine gunned 22 Australian military nurses. There was only one survivor....
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, perpetrated by the Japanese
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
against Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n nurses and British and Australian servicemen and civilians, and for reputedly being the setting for the book Lord Jim
Lord Jim
Lord Jim is a novel by Joseph Conrad originally published as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine from October 1899 to November 1900.An early and primary event is Jim's abandonment of a ship in distress on which he is serving as a mate...
by Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language 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 1960s anti-Communist purge
Indonesian killings of 1965–66
The Indonesian killings of 1965–1966 were an anti-communist purge following a failed coup in Indonesia. The most widely accepted estimates are that over half a million people were killed...
and are not permitted to leave the island.