Sumatra (Isla)

"Sumatra o Sumatera es una gran isla del Sureste asiático localizada en aguas del océano Índico y perteneciente a Indonesia. (Continente -asia)Con una superficie de 473 605 km², es la 6ª isla más grande del mundo y la mayor isla de Indonesia. En el año 2010 tenía una población de 50 365 538 habitantes (el 22 % de la población total de Indonesia) y la ciudad más grande era Medan con 2 109 330 de habitantes. El 87 % de la población de Sumatra se cree que son musulmanes. Sumatra tiene una gran variedad de especies vegetales y animales, pero ha perdido casi el 50 % de su selva tropical en los últimos 35 años y tiene muchasespecies en peligro crítico de extinción, como el tigre de Sumatra, el rinoceronte de Sumatra y el orangután de Sumatra. Hay evidencias de asentamientos de colonos en Sumatra del año 500 a. C. y en la isla florecieron varios reinos importantes. I Ching, un monje budista chino, estudió sánscrito y pasó cuatro años de su vida trabajando en Palembang. El viajero Marco Polo visitó la isla en 1292."

"Sumatra (Indonesian: Sumatera) is an island in western Indonesia and part of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island that is entirely in Indonesia (two larger islands, Borneo and New Guinea, are shared between Indonesia and other countries) and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (including adjacent islands such as the Riau Islands and Bangka Belitung Islands). Sumatra is an elongated landmass spanning a diagonal northwest-southeast axis. The Indian Ocean borders the west, northwest, and southwest sides of Sumatra with the island chain of Simeulue, Nias and Mentawai bordering the southwestern coast. On the northeast side the narrow Strait of Malacca separates the island from the Malay Peninsula, an extension of the Eurasian continent. On the southeast the narrow Sunda Strait separates Sumatra from Java. The northern tip of Sumatra borders the Andaman Islands, while on the lower eastern side are the islands of Bangka and Belitung, Karimata Strait and the Java Sea. The Bukit Barisan mountains, which contain several active volcanoes, form the backbone of the island, while the northeast sides are outlying lowlands with swamps, mangrove and complex river systems. The equator crosses the island at its center on West Sumatra and Riau provinces. The climate of the island is tropical, hot and humid with lush tropical rain forest once dominating the landscape. Sumatra has a wide range of plant and animal species but has lost almost 50% of its tropical rainforest in the last 35 years, and many species are critically endangered such as the Sumatran ground cuckoo, Sumatran tiger, Sumatran elephant, Sumatran rhinoceros, and Sumatran orangutan.Deforestation on the island has also resulted in serious haze over neighbouring countries, such as the 2013 Southeast Asian haze causing considerable tensions with affected countries such as Malaysia and Singapore."