Phone (+62 370) 647327
Fax (+62 370) 6163160
Email info@gili-lombok.com
Bima City, West Nusa Tenggara
Bima is a city on the eastern coast of the island Sumbawa in central Indonesia's province West Nusa Tenggara. In 2005 the city (kota) held an estimated population of 123,064, separate from (but surrounded by) the adjoining regency of Bima with 407,636 population. The people of Bima and the entire eastern side of Sumbawa speak what is known as Bahasa Bima (Bima language). Modern day Bima is the largest regional and economic hub of Eastern Sumbawa with transmigrants from other parts of Indonesia, especially Java. It has a central downtown commercial zone. It is home to Sultan Salahuddin mosque and a Sultan Salahuddin museum. It is connected by provincial road to Dompu and Sape.
History
Bima was the eponymous capital of the Sultanate of Bima (id:Kesultanan
Bima), which seceded after Islamisation in the early 17h century to
an ancient Hindu kingdom on the eastern seaboard of the island of
Sumbawa.
Only in 1792 the Dutch persuaded Sultan 'Abdu'l Hamid Muhammad Shah
to sign a definitive contract, making Bima a protectorate, first of
the VOC (indirect rule by charter company) and later of the Dutch
Indies, but the colonial hand weighed lighter than in most
Indonesian princely states.
