- Sumba
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/soohm"bah/, n.one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, in Indonesia, S of Flores. 4306 sq. mi. (11,153 sq. km). Also called Sandalwood Island. Dutch, Soemba.
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Island, Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia.The island, 140 mi (225 km) long and up to 50 mi (80 km) wide, is mainly a high plateau with good harbours on the northern coast. Its chieftains were brought by treaty under Dutch control in 1756. Sumba became part of independent Indonesia in 1950. It is known for the Sandalwood horse and Ongole cattle, and its woven cloth is famous for its design. Corn is the main crop; copra is exported.* * *
island, one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, southern Nusa Tenggara Timur provinsi (East Nusa Tenggara province), southern Indonesia, in the Indian Ocean across the Sumba Strait from Flores and west of Timor across the Savu Sea. Sumba has an area of 4,306 square miles (11,153 square km) and mountains up to 4,000 feet (1,220 metres) high but no volcanoes; its rivers are largely unnavigable. The annual rainfall of about 64 inches (1,625 mm) results in light forestation and much grassland, which feeds the fine Sandalwood breed of horse and the Ongole cattle, both more common in the east. Sumba's woven cloth is famous for its design. Corn (maize) is the main crop, but rice, coffee, fruit, tobacco, coconuts, and vegetables are grown, and copra is exported; paddy rice is more common in the western half of the island. Most inhabitants are animists, though some are Muslims and Christians. Polygamy is fairly common among the upper classes.Forests of sandalwood, now mostly depleted, attracted attention to the island in the 17th century. Treaties with the Dutch were concluded in 1756 and again between 1845 (when the first Dutch official came to reside on the island) and 1874, but difficulties persisted with the inhabitants because of piracy and slave raids. The chief town is Waingapu, located on the northern coast; it has a good anchorage and an airport. Waikabubak is the administrative centre for the western part of the island, and Waikelo, in the northwest, is the chief port for that area.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
