Of the total population, about 5000 are Europeans, 93,000 Chinese, 2500 Arabs, 7000 foreigners of other nations, and the rest natives. In 1905 the total population was given as 4,029,505.
The natives of the mainland of Sumatra are all of Malay stock (those of the north being the most hybrid), but it is doubtful to what extent Malay has here absorbed pre-Malay blood. The different tribes vary in language, customs and civilization. No race of true Negrito type has been found. The Kubus (q.v.), a savage forest people of the highlands, were believed by some to be Negrito owing to the frizzled character of their hair, but it appears certain that they are Malayan. The north of Sumatra is occupied by the Achinese (see Achin). South of Achin and west of Lake Toba is the country of the Battas (q.v.) or Battaks. In the hill-country south of the lake are two forest tribes, Orang-ulu and Orang-lubu, pure savages of whom practically nothing is known, affiliated by most authorities to the Battas. The plains east of this territory are occupied by the Siaks, and farther south on the east coast are the Jambis, both Malays. Above Padang are the several tribes of the prosperous and comparatively civilized Menangkabos (q.v.). The Korinchis live among the mountains south of Padang, and farther south on the borders of Palembang and Benkulen are the Rejangers, a peculiar tribe who employ a distinctive written character which they cut with a kris on bamboo or lontar. The same character is employed by their immediate neighbours to the south, the Pasumas, who bear traces of Javanese influence. In the extreme south are the Lampong people, who claim descent from the Menangkabos, but have also an admixture of Javanese blood. The inhabitants of the islands west of Sumatra are of mixed origin. Simalu is peopled partly by Achinese and partly by Menangkabo settlers. They profess Mahommedanism but are practically savages. Nias (q.v.) has an interesting native population, apparently of pre-Malayan origin; and the Mentawi islands (q.v.) are inhabited by a race generally held to be a Polynesian settlement which has escaped fusion with Malayan stock. As regards education and the spread of Christianity among the natives, the west coast division is far in advance of the rest of the island. Here about 32,000 natives profess Christianity and there are about 300 schools; elsewhere schools are comparatively few and the adhesion to Christianity very slight.
Administrative Divisions and Towns.—In the west coast lands European influence, fertile soil, comparatively good roads, agriculture, timber, and coalfields have created populous settlements on the coast at Padang (the capital of the west coast, with 35,158 inhabitants in 1897, of whom 1640 were Europeans), Priaman, Natal, Ayer Bangis, Siboga, Singkel, and also on the plateaus at Fort de Kock, Payokombo, &c. In the east coast lands it is only at the mouths of rivers—Palembang at the mouth of the Musi, with 53,000 inhabitants, and Medan in Deli, the residence of the highest civil and military officials of the east coast, in which a fine government house has been erected—that considerable centres of population are to be found. Nine-tenths of the natives of Sumatra live by agriculture, the rest by cattle-rearing, fishing, navigation, and, last but not least, from the products of the forests; they are therefore little concentrated in towns.
The Dutch government of the west coast, extending along the shore of the Indian Ocean from 2° 53′ N. to 2° 25′ S., comprises the residencies of the Padang lowlands, Tapanuli and the Padang highlands. The governor has his residence at Padang, which is also the capital of the lowlands residency. Padang Sidempuan, the chief town of Tapanuli, lies inland, south of Mt Lubu Raja. The town of Siboga has considerable commercial importance, the bay on which it stands being one of the finest in all Sumatra. Bukit Tinggi, or, as it is commonly called, Fort de Kock, is the capital of the residency of the Padang highlands. To the government of the west Coast belong the following islands: Simalu; Banyak Islands, a small limestone group, well wooded and sparsely peopled; Nias; Batu Islands (Pulu Pini, Tana Masa, Tana Bala, &c.); Mentawi and Pegeh or Nassau Islands. The residency of Bankulen (i.e. Bang Kulon, “west coast”) lies along the west coast from the southern extremity of the west coast government to the south-western end of the island. The capital, Benkulen, is on the coast near Pulu Tiku, or Rat Island, in a low and swampy locality, and on an open roadstead. This was the chief establishment possessed by the British East India Company in Sumatra. Among other noteworthy places are Mokko-Mokko, with the old British fort Anna; Pasar Bintuhan, and Lais (Laye), the former seat of the British resident.
The residency of the Lampong districts is the -southernmost in the island, being separated from Palembang by the Masuji River. It is partly mountainous, partly so flat as to be under water in the rainy season. The more important places are Telok Betong, chief town of the residency, Menggala (with a good trade), Gunung Sugi, Sukadana, Tanjong Karan, and Kota Agung.
The residency of Palembang consists of the former kingdom of this name and various districts more or less dependent on that monarchy. Between the mainland dependency of the Riouw-Lingga residency and the residency of Palembang lies Jambi, an extensive sultanate, of which a portion belongs to the residency of Palembang as a protectorate, the sultan having in his capital (also called Jambi) a Dutch “comptroller,” who represents the resident of Palembang; another portion is claimed by a quasi-independent sultan who reigns in the interior. Of this interior very little was known until the scientific expedition dispatched by the Dutch Royal Geographical Society towards the end of the 'seventies, but in 1901 an armed Dutch expedition, necessitated by frequent disturbances, penetrated right into the Jambi hinterland, the Gajo districts, where until then no European had ever trod. The town of Palembang is a large place on the river Musi, with 50,000 inhabitants (2500 Chinese), extensive barracks, hospitals, &c., a mosque (1740), considered the finest in the Dutch Indies, and a traditional tomb of Alexander the Great. The residency of Riouw, which embraces many hundreds of islands, great and small, also includes a portion of the Sumatra mainland, between the residencies of Palembang to the south and the east coast of Sumatra to the north. This is the old kingdom of Indragiri, and lies on either hand of the river of that name.
The residency of the east coast was formed in 1873 of the territory of Siak and its dependencies and the state of Kampar. In includes perhaps the richest and best-developed districts of northern Sumatra, namely, Deli (with an assistant-resident), Langkat, Serdang, &c.—districts little known in 1873, but by the beginning of the 20th century famous among the chief tobacco-producing countries in the world. Belawan is the harbour to Deli, but the capital is Medan, where the sultan and the Dutch resident reside. Belawan is connected with Medan by a railway, constructed before 1890 by a private company, almost entirely dependent for its earnings upon the numerous tobacco plantations, several of which belong to British corporations. The plantation labourers are almost entirely alien coolies, largely Chinese, and the Malays are comparatively few in number. The tobacco plantations of British North Borneo were nearly all started by planters from Deli.
The government of Achin (q.v.) occupies the northern part of the island. No little progress has been made by the Dutch even in this war-ridden territory. There is a railway in the lower valley of the Achin River, connecting the capital, Kotaraja, and neighbourhood with Olehleh, a good, free port, with an active trade, carried on by numerous steamers, both Dutch and foreign. Edi on the north-east coast, with another harbour, is capital of a sultanate which formerly owed allegiance to the sultan of Achin, but has formed a political division of the government of Achin since 1889, when an armed expedition restored order. Edi is a centre of the still extensive pepper trade, carried on mainly with the Chinese at Singapore and Penang, which island faces Edi.
Products and Industry.—Forests and natural vegetation cover a much larger part of Sumatra than of Java. Whereas in Java tall timber on the mountains keeps to altitudes of not less than 3000 ft., the tall timber on the mountains of Sumatra commonly descends below 1000 ft., and in many cases right down to the coast. In Sumatra, as in Java, the vegetation of the lowlands up to nearly 1000 ft. is distinct from the vegetation of the mountain slopes and plateaus from that elevation up to 4000 ft. and over. The principal exports from all the regencies alike are black and white pepper, bamboo (rotan), gums, caoutchouc, copra, nutmegs, mace and gambir. From the west coast and Palembang coffee is also exported, and from Deli, tobacco. The system of compulsory cultivation of coffee was abolished in Sumatra in 1908.
Sumatra possesses various kinds of mineral wealth. Gold occurs in the central region, where it is worked at a profit, and it has also been worked in the Menangkabo district and the interior of Padang. Tin is known, especially in Siak. Copper has been worked in the Padang highlands (most largely in the district of Lake Singkara) and at Muki in Achin. Iron is not infrequent. The most important mineral economically, however, is coal. Coal seams exist in the Malabuh valley (Achin), in the Sinamu valley, and on both sides of the Ombilin River; the Ombilin field was brought into especial notice by D. D. Veth of the 1877-79 expedition. The production of this field increased from 1730 tons in 1892 to 78,500 metric tons in 1899. The profit on the working, which is carried on by the state, is slight. Lignite of good quality is found in several localities. The production of petroleum began to be strongly developed towards the close of the 19th century; on the Lepan River in Langkat it mounted from 362,880 gallons in 1891 to 20,141,000 gallons in 1899. Muara Enim in Palembang also produces petroleum. Perlak, formerly a tributary state of Achin and now a political division of the Achin government, has become one of the chief centres of the petroleum industry. The crude oil is conveyed in pipes to Aru Bay,
