The Sumatra Island was located at the west of the group of the Indonesian Island. The Sumatran Island bordering with the Benggala Gulf on the north, with the Sunda Strait on the south, with the Malacca Strait on the east and with the Indian Ocean on the west. Widely 443.065,8 km2, Sumatra Island was the biggest island of the six in the world.

Before being known by the name of Sumatra, this island was known by the name of the Andalas Island or also Suwarnadwipa. Suwarnadwipa came from the Sansekerta (the old Javanese language) language that meant “Golden Island”, whereas the Arabian travelers mentioned it by the name of Suwarandib. The Sumatran name personally came from the name Samudera, a kingdom that was located in the Aceh Province in the 13th and 14th age. The European travelers since the 15th age used the name of the kingdom to mention the entire island, until being created the Sumatran name.

The inhabitants in the Sumatran Island most were the Melayu nation that was divided into several ethnic groups. Biggest ethnics groups were Aceh Gayo, Batak, Melayu, Minangkabau, Lampung, Palembang and the Rejang. On the east of the Sumatran Island often was gotten the swamp that pass through by big rivers, in part: the Asahan River (North Sumatra), the Kampar River, Siak River and the Indragiri River (Riau), the Batang Hari River (Jambi), the Ketahun River (Bengkulu), the Musi River, Ogan, Lematang, Enim and Komering (South Sumatra). As long as the line's hill was gotten volcanoes that were still active till at this time, like Merapi Mount (West Sumatra), the Bukit Kaba (Bengkulu), and Kerinci (Jambi). The Sumatran Island also often had the lake, among them the Laut Tawar Lake (Aceh), the Toba Lake (North Sumatra), the Singkarak Lake, Maninjau Lake, Diatas Dan Dibawah Lake (West Sumatra), the Ranau Lake (South Sumatra), the Dendam Tak Sudah Lake and the Tes Lake (Bengkulu).

Because of the number of forests, the mountain and the lake, then the Sumatran Island had many tourist attractions that were not inferior interesting with the other islands in Indonesia. One of them was the Toba Lake that was gotten in the North Sumatra Province and was the biggest lake in Indonesia. Moreover, the Government of the West Sumatra Province also opened the route of the tour carriage between Padang - the Sawah Lunto field. If tourists wanted to visit to the Sumatra Island, this island had the International Airport in Medan (North Sumatra) and Padang (West Sumatra). Tourists could also access the Sumatra Island through the International Airport in the Batam Island. (hen)