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Bangka is an island lying east of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is administered under the province of the Bangka Belitung Islands, being one of its namesakes alongside the smaller island of Belitung across the Gaspar Strait. The 9th largest island in Indonesia, it had a population of 1,146,581 at the 2020 census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 1,191,300.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2024, Provinsi Kepulauan Bangka Belitung Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.19) It is the location of the provincial capital of Pangkal Pinang, and is administratively divided into four regencies and a city. The island itself and the surrounding sea suffers considerable environmental damage from its thriving tin mining industry which operates on- and offshore.
The island's largest city, Pangkal Pinang, is also the capital and largest city of the province. The town of Sungailiat is its second-largest settlement. Mentok (formerly Muntok) is the principal port in the west. Other important towns are Toboali in the southern region; Koba, an important tin-mining town, also in the southern part of the island; and Belinyu, which is famous for its seafood products. Bangka has four seaports: Mentok, in the far west; Belinyu, in the far north; Sadai, in the far south; and Pangkal Balam, in Pangkal Pinang, where the government is contemplating the construction of a nuclear power station.
The population was 626,955 in 1990,"Bangka." Columbia Gazetteer of the World Online. 2013. Columbia University Press. 01 Nov. 2013. [1] 960,692 at the 2010 census and 1,146,581 at the 2020 census;Badan Pusaty Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 1,191,300. The area is (including smaller offshore islands).
The Kota Kapur inscription, dated from 686 CE, was found in Bangka in 1920, showed influence on the island around the 7th century. Later, the island was conquered by an expedition from Majapahit, led by Gajah Mada, which appointed local rulers and established social structures. As the empire declined, Bangka fell into neglect.
Bangka was recorded as Peng-ka hill (彭加山) in the 1436 Xingcha Shenglan, compiled by the Ming dynasty soldier Fei Xin during the treasure voyages of Admiral Zheng He. Contemporary records show that the area – close to the busy Strait of Malacca and waters of the Musi River – had significant presence of Chinese traders.
Later on, the island was taken over by the Johor Sultanate and Minangkabau Sultanates which introduced Islam to the island. It continued to pass to the Banten Sultanate before it was then inherited by the nearby Palembang Sultanate sometime in the late 17th century. Soon after, around 1710, tin was discovered on the island which attracted migrants from across the archipelago and beyond. Descendants of the Chinese immigrants, mainly from Guangdong, still form a large portion of modern Bangka's inhabitants.
As tin mining developed further, the Palembang Sultanate sent for experts in Malay Peninsula and China. The Dutch East India Company managed to secure a monopolistic tin purchase agreement in 1722, but hostilities began to develop between the Sultan and the Dutch. During the British invasion of Java in 1811, then-Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin attacked and massacred the staff of the Dutch post on the island. He was later deposed by the British. His successor ceded Bangka to Britain in 1812. The British renamed this island to Duke of York Island, but in 1814 Britain exchanged it with the Netherlands for Dutch Malabar in India following the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814.
Around the late years of the 18th century, Bangka was an important production center of tin in Asia, with annual outputs hovering around 1,250 tons. In 1930 Bangka had a population of 205,363.Columbia-Lippincott Gazetter Japan occupied the island from February 1942 to August 1945 during World War II. The Japanese military perpetrated the Bangka Island massacre against nurses and British and Australian servicemen and civilians.
During the Indonesian National Revolution, republican leaders Sukarno and Muhammad Hatta were exiled in Bangka in the aftermath of Operation Kraai. Bangka became part of independent Indonesia in 1949. The island, together with neighboring Belitung, was formerly part of South Sumatra province, but in 2000 the two islands became the new province of Bangka-Belitung. In the recent years, tin mining has declined notedly, although it is still a major part of the island's economy.
Bangka is also home to a number of communist Indonesians who have been under house arrest since the 1960s anti-Communist purge and are not permitted to leave the island.
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