Riau Archipelago

The Riau Archipelago is an Indonesian island group in the South China Sea, east of Sumatra and south of Singapore. It includes Batam, Bintan, and the Lingga Islands.

Batam: An Indonesian island and city in the Riau Archipelago, near Singapore. The archipelago’s most populous island and a major industrial center.
Riau-Lingga Sultanate: A Malay sultanate centered on the Riau and Lingga islands from the eighteenth century until 1911. Its court made the archipelago a center of Malay political and literary life.
Batamindo Industrial Park: An industrial estate on Batam established to attract export-oriented manufacturing. It exemplifies the industrial development enabled by Batam’s location near Singapore.
Malay language: An Austronesian language spoken across maritime Southeast Asia and in several national standards. It is the region’s principal cultural language and a foundation of local identity.
Riau: An Indonesian province on Sumatra’s eastern coast, distinct from the Riau Islands Province. The shared name often obscures that Riau and the archipelago are separate provinces.
Bintan: An Indonesian island in the Riau Archipelago, southeast of Singapore. Its resorts and historic settlements make it a prominent island in the group.
Johor Sultanate: A Malay sultanate founded in the sixteenth century after the fall of Malacca. Its early realm included islands that later became part of the Riau-Lingga political world.
Free-trade zone: A designated area where customs duties and trade regulations differ from the surrounding jurisdiction. Batam’s special economic arrangements use this model to attract investment and trade.
Gurindam Dua Belas: A nineteenth-century Malay poetic work by Raja Ali Haji, composed in twelve sections. Its author and literary tradition are closely tied to Penyengat Island in the archipelago.
Strait of Malacca: A major maritime passage between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. It connects the archipelago’s western approaches to one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.

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