Bengkulu

 by adriansyah - last update: Aug 26, 2007

General Information

History In the past, a kingdom named Selebar existed in this area. On July 12, 1685, Selebar signed a treaty with the British East India Company, giving the latter the right to establish a warehouse and fortification. First, the British built Fort York. Then, another one arose, located more to the north. Built in 1713-1719, this latter fortification was named Fort Marlborough. It was the seat of the British power and influence in these western parts of the archipelago until 1825, when under the terms of the Treaty of London, England handed over the territory to the Dutch in exchange for others, ending 139 years of British power in Bengkulu. But there are still remains of British influence in the area. An important figure in the history of Bengkulu was Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, who in 1817 was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen (old name for Bengkulu), the only territory in the area which the Dutch had never managed to bring under their control. Sir Raffles was an energetic man of wide-ranging interests. In the year of his arrival he, together with a botanist named Joseph Arnold, discovered the world’s largest flower, Lubuk Tapi, in South Bengkulu. The flower is now known as Rafflesia Arnoldi and is the official symbol of the Bengkulu province. During Dutch colonialism in 1838, they had established their government administration in Bengkulu breaking Bengkulu into Afdellings Government then divided into nine Onderafdellings. Based on the constitution no. 10 and 20 in 1948, Sumatera was divided into three parts: North Sumatera Province, Middle Sumatera Province, and South Sumatera Province in which Bengkulu residency was included. On September 12, 1967 Bengkulu Province was established carried by the action rule based on Peraturan Pemerintah (The Government Law) No. 20/1968 declared on November 18, 1968.

Geography and Climate

Bengkulu Province is located on the southwest coast of Sumatra, in the Southern hemisphere between 2°18′ to 4°20′ latitude and 101° to 103° longitude, and has an area of 19,831 sq km. This region is crossed by the range of Bukit Barisan from north to south in the Sumatera Island. In the west are the narrow plains from north to south with small and big river streams and swamp forests. In the high land soils is fertile which is good for plantation, while the ocean is rich of fish and sea water product. The type of climate in Bengkulu Province is tropical humid. The temperature throughout the year averages 180C (640F) to 29 (840F) in the mountain regions, the higher you go the colder it gets. But the costal plains are usually hotter, up to 340C (940F) during the day in the dry season, and more humid. The wet season with the highest rainfall comes on October through March where the humidity of this condition increased from 75% with the average of annual rainfall of 48% up to 100%. Rainforests of Bengkulu province are home to both the world’s largest flower Rafflesia Arnoldi and the world’s tallest flower, known locally as Kibut or bunga Bangkai (Amorphophalus Titanum).

People

Bengkulu Province has a population of around 1.5 million The varieties of indigenous Bengkulu tribes are: Serawai, Rejang, Malay, Lembak, and Pasemah Pesisir. The others are: Javanese, Minang, Bataks, Bugis, Sundanese and minority Chinese ethnic ancestry. The main subsistence of the people live is farming, fishing, and trading. Most of Bengkulu people are Moslems, followed by Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists. The religion life in the society is smooth for the condition of good relationship among the followers.

Getting There and Away

Bengkulu Province is easily accessible by land, and air transportation. You can catch regular buses from Medan, Padang or Jakarta. There are daily flights from Jakarta only.

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