This volume provides the first comprehensive account of the geology of Sumatra since the masterly synthesis of van Bemmelen (1949). Following the establishment of the Geological Survey of Indonesia, after WW II, the whole island has been mapped geologically at the reconnaissance level, with the collaboration of the geological surveys of the United States and the United Kingdom. The mapping programme, completed in the mid-1990s, together with supplementary data obtained by academic institutions and petroleum and mineral exploration companies, has resulted in a vast increase in geological information, which is summarized in this volume. The synthesis of structural controls on sedimentation and magmatism during the tectonic evolution of Sumatra since the late Palaeozoic has provided a background for the formation of economic deposits of metallic minerals, coal, oil and gas. The volume provides a sound basis for future geological research and for the exploration of the energy and mineral resources of the island.

This book is the fruit of 40 years study of Sumatran history, from the 16th century to the present. While seeking patterns of coherence in the vast island frontier, this book focuses on Aceh, which has both the most illustrious state history and the most troubled present.

There is a common belief that until recently Americans have preferred isolation to interest in remote areas such as Southeast Asia. This thesis can be tested by examining the history of American relations with a place on the opposite side of the globe from the United States. Such a land is Sumatra. It is one of the largest islands in the world. Its I66,789 square mile area exceeds that of the third largest American state, California, and is larger than Italy. Lying halfway around the world from the United States, its I050 mile length is almost divided by the equator, which runs across it for 285 miles. Sumatra's strategic importance is two-fold. Firstly, it is the first island stepping stone from the Asiatic mainland into the Australasian archipelago. This was demonstrated in I942 when the United States stationed planes on Sumatra in an attempt to stem the Japanese advance southward. Secondly, it lies athwart the shortest sea routes from Eastern Asia to Europe and the Eastern United States. Sumatra's southern tip forms one side of the Straits of Sunda which guards the access to the Java, China and Philippine Seas. At the island's northern tip is the entrance to the Straits of Malacca, the shortest sea lane be tween the Near and Far East. The opening of the Suez Canal in I869 shifted the shortest route between the Far East and the Western World from the Sunda to the Malacca Straits.

Featuring unique photographs and original drawings from Kartomi's field observations of instruments and performances, Musical Journeys in Sumatra provides a comprehensive musical introduction to this neglected, very large island, with its hundreds of ethno-linguistic-musical groups. Kartomi is a professor of music at Monash University in Australia.

Explores the relations of power and production that structured the course of plantation agriculture and the lives of those drawn into its field of force

A comprehensive anthropological history of the Batak several groups with distinct, albeit related, languages and customs ethnic groups from the highlands of North Sumatra, Indonesia.