Aceh : a special region of Indonesia
Aceh Aceh ; Atjeh (Dutch); or Acheh is a special region of Indonesia. The province is located at the northern end of Sumatra. Its capital is Banda Aceh and its population is approximately 5,046,000. It is close to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India and separated from them by the Andaman Sea. Aceh is thought to have been the place where the spread of Islam in Indonesia started, and was a key part of the spread of Islam in Southeast Asia. In the early seventeenth century the Sultanate of Aceh was the most wealthy, powerful and cultivated state in the Malacca Straits region. Aceh has a history of political independence and resistance to control by outsiders, including the former Dutch colonists and the Indonesian government. Aceh has substantial natural resources, including oil and natural gasâ€"some estimates put Aceh gas reserves as being the largest in the world. Relative to most of Indonesia, it is a religiously conservative area. It has the highest proportion of M...