Great Aceh Regency ( id, Kabupaten Aceh Besar) is a

regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

of the Indonesian province of

Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a ...

. The regency covers an area of 2,903.49 square kilometres and had a population of 351,418 at the 2010 Census and 405,535 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 409,527. The Regency is located at the northwest tip of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

island and surrounds the provincial capital of

Banda Aceh Banda Aceh ( Acehnese: ''Banda Acèh'', Jawoë: كوتا بند اچيه) is the capital and largest city in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra and has an elevation of . The city covers an area of and had ...

. It includes a number of islands off the northern tip of Sumatra, which comprise Pulo Aceh District within the regency. The seat of the Regency government is the town of

Jantho Kota Jantho (''Jantho town'') is a small town in Aceh province of Indonesia. Jantho is the seat of local government for the Aceh Besar Regency. It covers an area of 592.5 km2 and had a population of 8,443 at the 2010 Census and 9,440 at the 2020 C ...

Economy

Aceh Besar Regency produces

clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, ...

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, an ...

and

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced fr ...

and

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

, and also small quantities of

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American English, North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous ...

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato ('' Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young ...

es and

bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

Landmarks

Museums

Aceh Besar Regency contains several museums. The Museum dan Rumoh Aceh is the State Museum, located in

. The museum's main building is built in the style of a traditional Acehnese house. It was installed by Dutch Governor Van Swart in 1915. Museum Ali Hasymi contains the personal collection of

Ali Hasymi ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

, a former governor of Aceh and artist and include books by the scholars of Acehnese past, ancient ceramics, the typical weapons of Aceh, souvenirs from all over the world, etc. Museum Cut Nyak Dhien was originally the home of the heroine Cut Nyak Dhien. The ancient

Abee Tanoh Library Abee is a hamlet in Alberta, Canada within Thorhild County. It is located on the Canadian National Railway and Highway 63, approximately northeast of Thorhild and south of Boyle. It has an elevation of . History The hamlet was named fo ...

, located at the foot of

Mount Seulawa Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

contains some important manuscripts.

Places of worship

Indra Puri Old Mosque Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes/ref> Ind ...

is located about 20 km south of

Medan Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four mai ...

. Indra Puri was a Hindu kingdom and it was a place of worship before Islam arrived. Later, Sultan

Iskandar Muda Iskandar Muda (1583? – 27 December 1636Yusra Habib Abdul Gani, accessed on 4 January 2007) was the twelfth Sulṭān of Acèh Darussalam, under whom the sultanate achieved its greatest territorial extent, holding sway as the strongest po ...

introduced Islam to the public. After the people embraced Islam, the previous temple was converted into a mosque. The mosque site covers an area of 33,875 m², and is located approximately 150 metres from the edge of the Krueng Aceh River.

Fortress and tombs

Indra Patra Fortress is situated 19 km from Banda Aceh at Krueng Raya. According to history it was built under the Indra Puri Hindu kingdom, although some say that the fort was built during the Sultanate of Aceh Darussalam in an effort to resist the Portuguese. The fort had a very important function at the time of Sultan Iskandar Muda. The Tomb of Admiral Malahayati is located about 32 km from the city of Banda Aceh.

Administrative divisions

The regency is divided administratively into twenty-three

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

( Indonesian: ''kecamatan''), which comprise 604 villages (Indonesian: ''gampong''). The areas of the districts and their populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2021, are listed below. These are grouped below into three sections for convenience, which have no administrative significance. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages (''gampong'') in each district, and its post code. Notes: (a) comprises a group of islands off the north-western tip of Sumatra, of which the largest are Pulau Breuh, Pulau Nasi and Pulau Teunom.
(b) includes some smaller islands off the north-western tip of Sumatra but closer to the mainland than Pulo Aceh District - Pulau Bunta and Pulau Batee.
(c) comprises southern suburbs of Banda Aceh city, with 105,835 inhabitants in mid 2021. Indrapatra Fortress panorawa view

Rusa Island

Rusa Island in Lhoong district was shaped like Rusa (deer) before the

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

struck the island on 26 December 2004, but now that much of it has been washed away, the form of the island has changed and become smaller like a lamb embryo. The island is very important for marking Indonesia's boundaries due to its location as the most westerly island in Indonesia with ''Titik Dasar TD175'' and ''Titik Referensi TR175'' (Base Point TD175 and Reference Point TR175).

Bunta Island

Since the 2004 tsunami struck Bunta island, 45 minutes by traditional motorised boat from Ujong Pancu Village, Peukan Bada, there are no longer any inhabitants living there. Nowadays some people use the island as a coconut plantation, but they live in Banda Aceh. As the tsunami washed out all of the living creatures there, nowadays there are no squirrels, monkeys or snakes on the island. The island has been popularized by the documentary film ''Hikayat di Ujung Pesisir'' and is ideal for camping, but with no facilities at all, and modest snorkeling can be done there.

References

{{Authority control Regencies of Aceh