Current Time in Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Banda Aceh stands at the northern tip of Sumatra, where the island meets the Andaman Sea and the entrance to the Strait of Malacca. It is the capital of the special region of Aceh, the westernmost province of Indonesia, and lies on a low coastal plain crossed by the Aceh River, with green hills rising behind it and the small island of Weh and its diving grounds a short ferry ride offshore. The climate is equatorial, hot and humid throughout the year.

Around two hundred and sixty thousand people live in the city. Government administration, trade, fishing, education and services form the basis of the economy, while the wider province is known for coffee grown in the Gayo highlands, along with rubber, palm oil, spices and natural gas. Banda Aceh remains the commercial and cultural focus of a region with a strong sense of its own identity, where Islamic law is applied in daily life and the local Acehnese language is widely spoken alongside Indonesian.

Its history reaches back to the founding of the Sultanate of Aceh at the beginning of the thirteenth century, and by the reign of Sultan Iskandar Muda in the early seventeenth century the city, then called Kutaraja, was one of the richest and most powerful ports in the Indian Ocean, trading pepper with Ottoman, Indian and European merchants and known as a centre of Islamic scholarship. Long resistance to Dutch conquest defined the later nineteenth century, and after Indonesian independence the province experienced decades of conflict that ended with a peace agreement signed in Helsinki in 2005.

That agreement came months after the catastrophe that shaped the modern city. On 26 December 2004 an enormous earthquake off the coast of Sumatra sent a tsunami into Banda Aceh, destroying whole districts and killing tens of thousands of people. Reconstruction was one of the largest humanitarian efforts ever undertaken, and the rebuilt city carries reminders of the disaster: the Aceh Tsunami Museum designed by Ridwan Kamil, the electricity generator ship carried inland and left where it came to rest, a fishing boat marooned on a rooftop that saved dozens of lives, and the mass graves and memorials on the outskirts.

The Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, with its black domes and white walls, survived the wave and remains the emblem of the city and its spiritual heart. Other landmarks include the Gunongan, a small white pleasure garden built by Iskandar Muda for his queen, the royal cemetery of Kandang XII, the Aceh State Museum with its traditional Acehnese house, and the seafront at Ulee Lheue. Coffee houses are an institution here, and traditional dances such as the Saman and Ratoh Jaroe are performed at celebrations.

Syiah Kuala University and Ar-Raniry State Islamic University make Banda Aceh a major centre of learning in Sumatra. Sultan Iskandar Muda International Airport, ferries to Weh Island and a highway running south along the coast connect it to the rest of the country.

Banda Aceh is important as a historic Islamic capital, a symbol of recovery and a distinctive cultural centre in Indonesia.