Bengkulu in the context of "West Sumatra"

Kent, launched in 1799, was an East Indiaman of the British East India Company. On her first voyage in 1800, she was on her way to Bengal and Bencoolen when the French privateer Robert Surcouf captured her near the mouth of the Ganges.

Lampung (English: /ˈlæmpʌŋ/; Indonesian: [ˈlampʊŋ]), officially the Province of Lampung (Indonesian: Provinsi Lampung; Indonesian pronunciation: [proˌfinsi ˈlampʊŋ]), is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southern tip of the island of Sumatra. It has a short border with the province of Bengkulu to the northwest, and a longer border with the province of South Sumatra to the north, as well as a maritime border with the provinces of Banten and Jakarta to the east. It is the home of the Lampung people, who speak their own language and possess their own written script. Its capital city is Bandar Lampung.

The province covers a land area of 33,570.26 km and had a population of 7,608,405 at the 2010 census, 9,007,848 at the 2020 census, and 9,419,580 (comprising 4,809,540 males and 4,610,040 females) according to the official estimates for mid-2024, with three-quarters of that being descendants of Javanese, Sundanese and Balinese migrants from Java and Bali islands. These migrants came from more densely populated islands in search of available land, as well as being part of the national government's Indonesian transmigration program, of which Lampung was one of the earliest and most significant transmigration destinations. The provincial population continues to rise by over 100,000 per year.

Jambi is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the east coast of central Sumatra and stretches to the Barisan Mountains in the west. Its capital and largest city is also called Jambi. It is bordered by the provinces of Riau to the north, West Sumatra to the west, Bengkulu to the southwest, South Sumatra to the south, and shares a maritime border with the Riau Islands to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the east. The province has a land area of 49,026.58 km, and a sea area of 3,274.95 km. Its area is comparable to the European country of Slovakia or Smolensk Oblast. It had a population of 3,092,265 according to the 2010 census and 3,548,228 according to the 2020 census; the official estimate of population as of mid-2024 was 3,745,746 (comprising 1,893,490 males and 1,830,790 females).

Rafflesia (/rəˈfliːz(i)ə, -ˈfliːʒ(i)ə, ræ-/), or stinking corpse lily, is a genus of parasitic flowering plants in the family Rafflesiaceae. The species have enormous flowers, the buds rising from the ground or directly from the lower stems of their host plants; one species has the largest flower in the world. Plants of the World Online lists up to 41 species from this genus; all of them are found in Southeast Asia.

Western Europeans first learned about plants of this genus from French surgeon and naturalist Louis Deschamps when he was in Java between 1791 and 1794; but his notes and illustrations were seized by the British in 1798 and were not available to Western scientists until 1861. The first British person to see one was Joseph Arnold in 1818, in the Indonesia rainforest in Bengkulu, Sumatra, after a Malay servant working for him discovered a flower and pointed it out to him. The flower, and the genus, was later named after Stamford Raffles, the leader of the expedition and the founder of the British colony of Singapore.

South Sumatra (Indonesian: Sumatera Selatan) is a province of Indonesia, located in the southeast of the island of Sumatra. The capital and largest city of the province is the city of Palembang, and the province covers territory historically administered by the Palembang Sultanate. The province borders the provinces of Jambi to the north, Bengkulu to the west and Lampung to the south, as well a maritime border with the Bangka Belitung Islands to the east. It is the largest province in the island of Sumatra, and it is slightly smaller than Portugal, the department of Boquerón in Paraguay, the Altai Republic in Russia or the U.S. state of Maine. The Bangka Strait in the east separates South Sumatra and the island of Bangka, which is part of the Bangka Belitung Islands province.

The province has an area of 86,771.68 km (33,503 sq mi) and had a population of 8,467,432 at the 2020 census; the official estimate as at mid-2024 was 8,837,301 (comprising 4,499,011 males and 4,338,290 females). The province is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum, natural gas and coal. The province is inhabited by many different Malay sub ethnic groups, with Palembangese being largest ethnic group. Most speak the Palembang language, which is mutually intelligible to both Indonesian and local Palembang Malay. Other ethnic groups include the Javanese, Sundanese, Minangkabau and Chinese. Most are concentrated in urban areas and are largely immigrants from other parts of Indonesia.

Minangkabau (/ˌmēnäŋkəˈbau̇/ MEE-nahng-kah-bow; Baso Minangkabau, Jawi: بهاس منڠكربو‎, IPA: [ˈbaso mi.naŋˈka.bau]), simply known as Minang, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, the western part of Riau, the southern and western coast of Aceh, the northern part of Bengkulu and Jambi, also in several cities throughout Indonesia by migrated Minangkabau. The language is also a lingua franca along the western coastal region of the province of North Sumatra, and is even used in parts of Aceh, where it is known as the Aneuk Jamee dialect.

Minangkabau is similar to Malay. The relationship between the languages is characterized in different ways. Some see Minangkabau as an early variety of Malay, while others think of Minangkabau as a distinct (Malayic) language.

Kerinci (basê Kinci or basê Kincai) is an Austronesian language primarily spoken by the Kerinci people in Sungai Penuh and Kerinci Regency, as well as parts of Merangin and Bungo Regency in western Jambi. It is also spoken in several hamlets of Mukomuko Regency in Bengkulu, and by Kerinci diaspora communities in other regions of Indonesia, such as West Sumatra and Java. Outside Indonesia, it is spoken in parts of Negeri Sembilan and Selangor in Malaysia.

As of 2000, the number of Kerinci speakers was estimated at around 250,000. As a Malayo‑Polynesian Malayic language, Kerinci is closely related to Minangkabau and Jambi Malay.

Kerinci Seblat National Park is the largest national park on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. It has a total area of 13,791 km and spans four provinces: West Sumatra, Jambi, Bengkulu, and South Sumatra.