Theme Week Indonesia – Sumatra
Friday, 24 May 2019 - 12:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Asia / Asien General , UNESCO World Heritage
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Berbak National Park © cifor.org – James Maiden/cc-by-sa-2.0
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Sumatra is a large island in western
Indonesia that is part of the
Sunda Islands . It is the largest island that is located entirely in Indonesia (after
Borneo , which is shared between Indonesia and other countries) and the
sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km² (not including adjacent islands such as the Riau Islands and Bangka Belitung Islands). The
Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra site was inscribed as a
UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004. The 25,951 km² area of the World Heritage Site includes the National Parks
Gunung Leuser ,
Kerinci Seblat and
Bukit Barisan Selatan .
Sumatra is an elongated landmass spanning a diagonal northwest-southeast axis. The Indian Ocean borders the west, northwest, and southwest coasts of Sumatra with the island chain of Simeulue , Nias and Mentawai off the western coast. In the northeast the narrow Strait of Malacca separates the island from the Malay Peninsula , which is an extension of the Eurasian continent. In the southeast the narrow Sunda Strait separates Sumatra from Java . The northern tip of Sumatra borders the Andaman Islands , while off the southeastern coast lie the islands of Bangka and Belitung, Karimata Strait and the Java Sea . The Bukit Barisan mountains, which contain several active volcanoes, form the backbone of the island, while the northeastern area contains large plains and lowlands with swamps, mangrove forest and complex river systems. The equator crosses the island at its center in West Sumatra and Riau provinces. The climate of the island is tropical , hot and humid. Lush tropical rain forest once dominated the landscape.
Traditional house in Nias © flickr.com - monica renata/cc-by-2.0
To the east, big rivers carry silt from the mountains, forming the vast lowland interspersed by swamps. Even if mostly unsuitable for farming, the area is currently of great economic importance for Indonesia. It produces oil from both above and below the soil –
palm oil and
petroleum . Sumatra is the largest producer of
Indonesian coffee . Small-holders grow Arabica 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.
Sumatra has a wide range of plant and animal species but has lost almost 50% of its tropical rainforest in the last 35 years. Many species are now
critically endangered , such as the
Sumatran ground cuckoo , the
Sumatran tiger , the
Sumatran elephant , the
Sumatran rhinoceros , and the
Sumatran orangutan .
Deforestation on the island has also resulted in serious seasonal smoke haze over neighbouring countries, such as the
2013 Southeast Asian haze causing considerable tensions between Indonesia and affected countries
Malaysia and
Singapore .
Here you can find the complete
Overview of all Theme Weeks .
Read more on
LonelyPlanet.com – Sumatra ,
Wikitravel Sumatra Wikivoyage Sumatra and
Wikipedia Sumatra . Learn more about the
use of photos . To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (
Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State -
Weather report by weather.com -
Global Passport Power Rank -
Travel Risk Map -
Democracy Index -
GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank -
Global Competitiveness Report -
Corruption Perceptions Index -
Press Freedom Index -
World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index -
UN Human Development Index -
Global Peace Index -
Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index ). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at
comment@wingsch.net . Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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