Sumbawa

There are a number of Sumbawa is an Indonesian island, 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 part of the province of West Nusa Tenggara, but there are presently steps being taken by the Indonesian government to turn the island into a separate province. Traditionally the island is known as the source of sappanwood used to make red dye, honey and sandalwood. Its savanna-like climate and vast grassland is used to breed horses and cattle and to hunt deer.

Sumbawa has an area (including minor offshore islands) of 15,448 km2 or 5,965 sq mi (three times the size of Lombok) with a current population (January 2014) of around 1.39 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 less influenced. In particular this applies to both Hinduism and Islam.

Islam was introduced via the Makassarese of Sulawesi.

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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). They were once separated by the Tambora culture, which spoke a language related to neither. After the demise of Tambora, 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 population of the island (including minor outliers) was 1.33 million at the latest decennial census in 2010, comprising 29.58% of the population of the entire province's with 4.5 million people. Due to lack of work opportunities on the island and its frequent droughts (unlike wet Bali), many people on the island seek work in the Middle East as laborers or domestic servants; some 500,000 workers, or over 10% of the population of West Nusa Tenggara, have left the country to work overseas.

The island is bound by bodies of water; to the west is Alas Strait, south is the Indian Ocean, Saleh Bay creates a major north-central indentation in the island, and the Flores Sea runs the length of the northern coastline. The Sape Strait lies to the east of the island and separates Sumbawa from Flores and the Komodo Islands, there are a number bays and gulfs, most notably Bima Bay, Cempi Bay, and Waworada Bay

Sumbawa's most distinguishing feature is Saleh Bay and the Tambora Peninsula with Mount Tambora. Highlands rise in four spots on the island, as well as on Sangeang Island, the large western lobe of Sumbawa is dominated by a large central highland, there is Mt. Tambora, Dompu and Bima each have more minor highlands.

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large surrounding islands, most notably are Moyo Island, volcanically active Sangeang Island, and the tourist Komodo Islands (administered under Flores) to the east.

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 April 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 Tambora culture. It launched 100 cubic kilometres (24 cu mi) of ash into the upper atmosphere, which caused 1816 to be the "year without a summer".

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There is a road network in Sumbawa, but it is poorly maintained and has long portions of rough gravel. Frequent ferry service to Sumbawa (Poto Tano) from Lombok (Labuhan Lombok) exists, however ferry service to Flores from Sape is infrequent. Bima is the largest city on Sumbawa and has ferry and bus service directly to Java and Bali, though service breakdowns are common.

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