Banda Aceh in the context of "Aceh Sultanate"

Aceh (/ˈɑːtʃeɪ/ AH-chay, Indonesian: [ˈatʃɛh] ; Acehnese: Acèh, Acehnese pronunciation: [atʃɛh]; Jawoë: اچيه; Old Spelling: Atjeh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northern end of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west, Strait of Malacca to the northeast, as well bordering the province of North Sumatra to the east, its sole land border, and shares maritime borders with Malaysia and Thailand to the east, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India to the north. Granted a special autonomous status, Aceh is a religiously conservative territory, with the majority of the population being Muslim and the only Indonesian province practicing Islamic Sharia law officially. There are ten indigenous ethnic groups in this region, the largest being the Acehnese people, accounting for approximately 70% of the region's population of about 5.55 million people in mid-2024. Its land area of 56,839.09 km is comparable to Croatia, Togo, the U.S. state of West Virginia, or Russia's Pskov Oblast.

Aceh is a provincial region that constitutes a unified legal community with a special status and is granted special authorities to regulate and manage its own governmental affairs and local interests in accordance with laws and regulations within the system and principles of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, based on the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, and is led by a Governor.

Indian Indonesians are Indonesians whose ancestors originally came from the Indian subcontinent. Therefore, this term can be regarded as a blanket term for not only Indonesian Indians but also Indonesians with other South Asian ancestries (e.g. Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, etc.). According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, there were about 120,000 people of Indian origin as well as 9,000 Indian nationals living and working in Indonesia as of January 2012. Most of them were concentrated in the province of North Sumatra and urban areas such as Banda Aceh, Surabaya, Medan, and Jakarta. However, it is quite impossible to get correct statistical figures on the Indian Indonesian population, because some of them have merged and assimilated with the indigenous population to become indistinguishable from native Indonesians.

The history of the arrival of Islam in Indonesia is somewhat unclear. One theory states that Islam arrived directly from Arabia as early as the 9th century, during the time of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates. Another theory credits Sufi travelers for bringing Islam in the 12th or 13th century, either from Gujarat in India or from Persia. Before the archipelago's conversion to Islam, the predominant religions in Indonesia were Hinduism (particularly its Shaivism tradition) and Buddhism.

The islands that now constitute Indonesia have been recognized for centuries as a source of spices such as nutmeg and cloves, which were key commodities in the spice trade long before the Portuguese arrived in the Banda Islands in 1511. Due to the archipelago's strategic place as the gateway between the Muslim world and Imperial China, it became a busy international hub for merchants engaged in many forms of trade. It became a place where different peoples shared their respective cultures, including Islam.

Breueh Island (also Pulo Breuh, Pulau Breuh, Poelau Bras, Poeloe Bras) is an island in Pulo Aceh District, Aceh Besar Regency, part of Aceh Province of Indonesia off the northwest tip of the island of Sumatra. It is about 18 mi west-northwest of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital. The island measures about 8.5 miles in length and 6 miles in width at its south end, and has a steep coastline with sandy beaches along its southern coast.

The administrative centre of Pulo Aceh District, Lampuyang, is located in the southeast corner of Breueh Island.

Baiturrahman Grand Mosque (Indonesian: Masjid Raya Baiturrahman; Acehnese: Meuseujid Raya Baiturrahman)is a mosque located in Banda Aceh, Aceh, Indonesia. The Baiturrahman Grand Mosque is a symbol of religion, culture, spirit, strength, struggle, and nationalism of the Acehnese people. The mosque is a landmark in Banda Aceh and has survived the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.