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SUMBAWA (Dutch Soembawa)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 75 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SUMBAWA (Dutch Soembawa) , one of the Little Sunda islands in the Dutch See also:East Indies, east of See also:Lombok, from which it is separated by the narrow Alas Strait. It has an See also:area of 4300 sq. m., or, including the neighbouring islands, 5240 sq. M. The deep See also:bay of See also:Sale or Sumbawa on the See also:north divides the See also:island into two peninsulas, and the See also:isthmus is further reduced by the narrower Bay of Chempi on the See also:south. The eastern See also:peninsula is deeply indented on. the north by the Bay of Bima. Four See also:mountain chains See also:cross the island in a See also:west to east direction. The See also:northern, as in See also:Bali and Lombok, is of volcanic origin, Tambora, forming a See also:minor peninsula east of Sumbawa Bay, is said to have lost a third of its See also:elevation in the eruption of 1815, but is still 9055 ft. high. In the See also:southern See also:chain is found a See also:limestone formation analogous to that in Bali, Lombok and See also:Java. Between these two chains are See also:round hills consisting of lavas or sometimes of volcanic tuffs, covered with the See also:long silvery grass which also clothes vast prairies in Java and See also:Sumatra. There are no navigable streams. The See also:climate and productions are not unlike those of Java, though the rains are heavier, the drought more severe, and the fertility less. See also:Sulphur, See also:arsenic, See also:asphalt and See also:petroleum exist.

The natives live solely by See also:

agriculture. But out of a See also:total See also:population of about 75,00o there are s s,000 foreigners, living mostly by See also:trade and See also:navigation. The natives consist of Sumbawans proper, a See also:people of Malayan stock; of Buginese and See also:Macassar immigrants, and of See also:wild tribes of the mountains of whom nothing is known. Mahommedanism prevails throughout the island, except among the mountain tribes. Politically Sumbawa, with its four See also:independent states, belongs to the confederated states of the See also:government of See also:Celebes and its dependencies, a situation to be explained by the fact of the old supremacy of the Macassaresi over Sumbawa, See also:Flores and See also:Sumba. The independent states are Sumbawa proper, Dompo, Sangar and Bima. Two other states on the northern extremity of the island were so far devastated by the Tambora eruption of 1815 that their territory, after lying for long uninhabited, was in 1866 divided between Dompo and Sangar. Sumbawa proper occupies the western peninsula. The See also:residence of the See also:sultan is Sumbawa on the north See also:coast. It is surrounded with a palisade and ditches. The inhabitants of this See also:state employ sometimes the See also:Malay and sometimes the Macassar See also:character in See also:writing. A considerable trade is carried on in the export of horses, buffaloes, goats, dinding (dried flesh), skins, birds' nests, See also:wax, See also:rice, katyang, sappanwood, &c.

Sumbawa entered into treaty relations with the Dutch East See also:

India See also:Company in 1674. Dompo is the western See also:half of the eastern peninsula. The See also:capital of the state, Dompo, lies in the See also:heart of the See also:country, on a stream that falls into Chempi Bay. Bada, the sultan's residence, is farther west. Sangar occupies the north-western promontory of the island, and Bima the extreme east. Bima or Bodjo, the See also:chief See also:town of the latter state, lies on the east See also:side of the Bay of Bima; it has a See also:stone-walled See also:palace and a See also:mosque, as well as a Dutch fort. See Zollinger, " Soembawa," in Verhandelingen See also:van het Batay. Genootschap, See also:xxiii.; Ligtvoet, " Anteekeningen betreffende den economischen Toestand en de Ethnographie van Soembawa," in Tijdschr. See also:Bat. Gen. xxiii.

End of Article: SUMBAWA (Dutch Soembawa)

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