Bengkulu (city)

Bengkulu is a city on the southwest coast of Sumatra, Indonesia and capital of the province of Bengkulu. Until the 1970s the place was known as one of the most remote places in Indonesia. No streets he was only accessible by coastal vessels. From the harbor ships go to the island Enggano.

The city has 340,000 inhabitants ( 2007) to 144.5 km ².

History

End of the 13th century, the region came under the rule of the Hindu kingdom of Majapahit. The British East India Company founded 1685 in Bengkulu a commercial establishment ( named Bengcoolen ) after they had been expelled in 1682 from Bantam on the island of Java. 1824, the colony was traded by the British against Malacca to the Dutch.

From 1938 to 1941 Bengkulu was determined by the Dutch East India colonial administration as a place of exile for Indonesia's first president Sukarno later.