Bangka Belitung in the context of "Natuna Sea"

Sumatra (/sʊˈmɑːtrə/) is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km (182,812 mi.), including adjacent islands such as the Simeulue, Nias, Mentawai, Enggano, Riau Islands, Bangka Belitung and Krakatoa archipelago.

Sumatra is an elongated landmass spanning a diagonal northwest–southeast axis. The Indian Ocean borders the northwest, west, and southwest coasts of Sumatra, with the island chain of Simeulue, Nias, Mentawai, and Enggano off the western coast. In the northeast, the narrow Strait of Malacca separates the island from the Malay Peninsula, which is an extension of the Eurasian continent. In the southeast, the narrow Sunda Strait, containing the Krakatoa archipelago, separates Sumatra from Java. The northern tip of Sumatra is near the Andaman Islands, while off the southeastern coast lie the islands of Bangka and Belitung, Karimata Strait and the Java Sea. The Bukit Barisan mountains, which contain several active volcanoes, form the backbone of the island, while the northeastern area contains large plains and lowlands with swamps, mangrove forest and complex river systems. The equator crosses the island at its centre in West Sumatra and Riau provinces. The climate of the island is tropical, hot, and humid. Lush tropical rain forest once dominated the landscape.

Lepar (Indonesian: Pulau Lepar) is an island in Indonesia, located off the southeastern coast of Bangka. Administratively part of South Bangka in Bangka Belitung province, it is the third-largest island in the province after its much larger namesakes Bangka and Belitung, with an area of 169 square km. Lepar sits in the Gaspar Strait which separates the two larger islands. It stretches about 22 km east–west and 17 km north–south, with the towns of Tanjunglabu, Tanjungsangkar and Penutuk being the main population centers. It is governed as its own district of Lepar Pongok, which used to include a nearby, medium-sized island of Pongok until 2012 when it separated as its own district of Pongok Islands.

Pongok (Indonesian: Pulau Pongok; pronounced [ˌpulau̯ ˈpɔŋɔʔ]), also known as Liat, is an Indonesian island which is part of the Pongok Islands District of the South Bangka Regency, Bangka Belitung Province. It comprises over 95% of the district's area and most of its population, with an area of 48.3 square km. It is the 5th largest island in the province, being far smaller than Bangka and Belitung in addition to the islands of Lepar and Mendanau.

The smaller island of Celagen, off the western coast of the island, holds the remaining population of the district. Before its division in 2012, the island was part of the Lepar Pongok District.

Mendanau is an island in the Bangka Belitung province of Indonesia. Located about 6 km off the west coast of Belitung and 20 km from the town of Tanjung Pandan, it is the fourth largest island in the province after Bangka, Belitung and Lepar with an area of approximately 113 square kilometers. Administratively it forms - with about 27 satellite islands - the Selat Nasik District of Belitung Regency, and it is home to 5,674 people at the 2020 Census, mostly spread in 3 settlements.

Buddhism has a long history in Indonesia, and it is one of the six recognized religions in the country, along with Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism and Confucianism. According to 2023 estimates roughly 0.71% of the total citizens of Indonesia were Buddhists, numbering around 2 million. Most Buddhists are concentrated in Jakarta, Riau, Riau Islands, Bangka Belitung, North Sumatra, and West Kalimantan. These totals, however, are probably inflated, as practitioners of Taoism, Tridharma, Yiguandao, and other Chinese folk religions, which are not considered official religions of Indonesia, likely declared themselves as Buddhists on the most recent census. Today, the majority of Buddhists in Indonesia are Chinese Indonesians, but communities of native Buddhists (such as Javanese, Tenggerese, Sasak, Balinese, Dayak, Alifuru, Batak, and Karo) also exist.