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

🇮🇩 Sumbawa is an Indonesian island, located in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands chain, with Lombok to the west, Flores to the east, and Sumba further to the southeast. Along with Lombok, it forms the province of West Nusa Tenggara, but there have been plans by the Indonesian government to split the island off into a separate province. Traditionally, the island is known as the source of sappanwood, as well as honey and sandalwood. Its savanna-like climate and vast grasslands are used to breed horses and cattle, as well as to hunt deer.

Sumbawa has an area (including minor offshore islands) of 15,414.50 square km or 5,951.57 square miles (three times the size of Lombok). 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.

History The 14th-century Nagarakretagama mentioned several principalities identified to be on Sumbawa; Dompu, Bima, Sape and one on the Sang Hyang Api island just off the coast of north-east Sumbawa. Four principalities in western Sumbawa were dependencies of the Majapahit Empire of eastern Java. Because of Sumbawa's natural resources, it was regularly invaded by outside forces – from the Javanese, Balinese, Makassar, to the Dutch and Japanese. The Dutch first arrived in 1605, but did not effectively rule Sumbawa until the early 20th century.

For a short period of time, the Balinese kingdom of Gelgel ruled a part of western Sumbawa. The eastern parts of the island, were traditionally divided into four sultanates: Sumbawa, Sanggau, Dompo, and Bima, which had links to the Bugis and Makassar peoples of South Sulawesi.

Historical evidence indicates that people on Sumbawa island were known in the East Indies for their honey, horses, sappanwood, which is used to make red dye, and sandalwood, which is used for incense and medications. The area was thought to be highly productive agriculturally. In the 18th century, the Dutch introduced coffee plantation on the western slopes of Mount Tambora, a volcano on the north side of Sumbawa, thus creating the Tambora coffee variant.

Tambora's colossal eruption in 1815 was the most powerful in recorded history, ejecting 180 cubic km (43 cu mi) of ash and debris into the atmosphere. The eruption killed up to 71,000 people and triggered a period of global cooling known as the "Year Without a Summer" in 1816. It also apparently destroyed a small culture of Papuan affinity, known to archaeologists as the "Tambora culture".

Administration Sumbawa is administratively divided into four regencies (kabupaten) and one kota (city).