The Simeulue people (other names include Simalur, Simeuloë, Simulul, Long Bano and Devayan) are an
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
group of people inhabiting
Simeulue Island off the west coast of
Sumatra,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. They are mostly found in
Teupah Barat,
Simeulue Timur,
Simeulue Tengah,
Teupah Selatan and
Teluk Dalam
Teluk Dalam (also written as Telukdalam) is a town and district in the South Nias Regency, North Sumatra province, Indonesia. Following the splitting off of parts of the original district to form new districts, it is now mainly confined to the to ...
districts. The Simeulue people speak
Simeulue
Simeulue is an island of Indonesia, off the west coast of Sumatra. It covers an area of 1754 square kilometres (677 square miles), including minor offshore islands. It had a population of 80,674 at the 2010 census and 92,865 at the 2020 census ...
, a
Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands language closely related to
Sikule (which is also spoken in Simeulue island) and
Nias
Nias ( id, Pulau Nias, Nias language: ''Tanö Niha'') (sometimes called Little Sumatra in English) is an island located off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago () of which the island is the centre, ...
(spoken in neighbouring
Nias island
Nias ( id, Pulau Nias, Nias language: ''Tanö Niha'') (sometimes called Little Sumatra in English) is an island located off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago () of which the island is the centre, ...
). The language also has a strong
Acehnese and
Malay influence.
The Simeulue people became more widely known worldwide after the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami because of their high survival rate. Their survival was credited to their tradition of oral history. A previous tsunami in 1908 had affected the island, and stories told about it served as disaster preparation. Only 7 people of the total population (78,000 at the time) died in the December 26, 2004 tsunami.
References
Ethnic groups in Indonesia
Ethnic groups in Sumatra
Muslim communities of Indonesia
Indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia
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