Considering their area size, Sumatra is the sixth biggest island of the Earth, it also the largest one in Indonesia among those which are not shared by any other country, belonging entirely to the country of Indonesia.
The island of Sumatra lies between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, bounded by several smaller and mid-sized islands. Simeulue, Nias and Siberut are the most notable ones on the southern coast, and Bangka Island on the northern coast. The island is separated by the Strait of Malacca from the Asian mainland and the Malay Peninsula, and by the Sunda Strait from the Island of Java.
The major geographical feature of the Sumatra map is the Barisan Mountains, which run parallel to the spine of the island from northwest to southeast. The highest summit is Mount Kerinci reaching approximately 3800 meters.
The largest cities on the island are Medan (fourth largest in the country, with over 2 million population), Palembang (capital of the province of South Sumatra), Pekanbaru, Bandar Lampung and Padang, which together with the others make Sumatra the fourth most populous island in the world with around 50 million inhabitants.
