Bima, West Nusa Tenggara Province, Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia

🇮🇩 Bima (Kota Bima) is a city on the eastern coast of the island of Sumbawa in central Indonesia's province of West Nusa Tenggara. It is the largest city on the island of Sumbawa.It is separate from (but surrounded on the landward side by) the adjoining Regency of Bima.

The people of Bima and the entire eastern side of Sumbawa speak what is known as Bima language (Bahasa Bima ; Nggahi Mbojo). From 1620 to 1958 it was the capital of the Bima Sultanate. In modern times, Bima is the largest regional and economic hub of Eastern Sumbawa with transmigrants from other parts of Indonesia, especially Java, Bali, and Lombok. It has a central downtown commercial zone. It is home to the Sultan Salahuddin mosque and the Sultan Salahuddin museum (former Bima Sultanate palace). It is connected by provincial road to Dompu and Sape.

Administrative districts Bima city consists of five districts (kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 census and the 2020 census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2022. The table also includes the locations of the District administrative centres and the number of administrative villages (all rated as urban kelurahan) in each district.

Geography The city is located on the eastern shore of Bima Bay. Traditionally Bima was a port city that connected to other port cities in Eastern Indonesia such as Makassar and Ternate, as well as to ports in Lombok, Bali, and East Java.

Transport Bima is connected through trans Sumbawa road to Sape harbour in the east and Dompu in Southwest all the way to Sumbawa Besar and Taliwang in the western part of Sumbawa. Bus services connected Bima to other neighboring cities in Sumbawa as far as Mataram in Lombok are available. Air transportation is served through Sultan Salahuddin Airport in southern outskirt of Bima by NAM Air and Wings Air to Lombok, Denpasar and Makassar. Bima was also a stop on Qantas Airways' pre-war route between Sydney and Singapore, serviced by C Class Empire flying boats.

History In the Middle Ages, Bima was the easternmost extent of the expansion of Hinduism in Southeast Asia, as a result of heavy Indian influence on the region during the time period.

Bima was once one of the four sultanates on the island of Sumbawa. From the 17th to 20th centuries, it was the capital of the Bima Sultanate and is home to an old palace of the city's rulers. In the early 17th century, the Islamization of Bima had fallen off the old Hindu kingdom on the east coast of the island of Sumbawa.

In 1792, Sultan Abdu'l Hamid Muhammad Shah signed a contract with the Dutch East India Company, through which Bima became the Protectorate of the Dutch.

Tourist Industry Bima has several well-known tourist destinations, such as Mount Tambora, Wawo traditional Village, Sambori traditional village, Snake Island, Ana fari Lake (Lake of the angels) and Satonda Island. There are many white sandy beaches both in the northern and southern parts of Bima. The city has modest tourist accommodations, such as 1-star hotels and some restaurants. Its main attractions are the Sultan Salahuddin mosque, the Terapung mosque and Sultan Salahuddin museum (former Bima Sultanate palace). Bima airport serves as the air-hub for domestic and foreign visitors, who are more attracted to visit Hu'u beach for surfing or Tambora volcano for hiking.