Rondo Island (; ) is Indonesia's northernmost territory,2007
Atoll Research Bulletin
Issue 544, Page 48] located in the

Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and the west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated f ...

, with a 0.650 km² area 35m above sea level. The island is one of the outlying islands of Indonesia in the

Aceh Aceh ( , ; , Jawi script, Jawoë: ; Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, Old Spelling: ''Atjeh'') is the westernmost Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the northern end of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capit ...

province of the

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 list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

region. It is administratively part of the in Sabang City, whose administration center is on Weh Island, south of Rondo. Rondo is 50 km offshore from Indonesia's Sumatra mainland. This otherwise uninhabited island, accessible only by boat, has an Indonesian military outpost with a heliport and blue-roofed

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

, an adjacent lighthouse complex with a red-roofed lighthouse keeper's house and a white

skeletal A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fram ...

lighthouse topped with a viewing gallery and

lantern A lantern is a source of lighting, often portable. It typically features a protective enclosure for the light sourcehistorically usually a candle, a oil lamp, wick in oil, or a thermoluminescence, thermoluminescent Gas mantle, mesh, and often a ...

. India's southernmost territory (

Indira Point Indira Point, the southernmost point of India's territory, is a village in the Nicobar district at Great Nicobar Island of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India. It is located in the Great Nicobar tehsil. Rondo Island, Indonesia's northernmos ...

) on Great Nicobar Island of the

Nicobar Islands The Nicobar Islands are an archipelago, archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of t ...

is approximately 84 miles or 135 km to the north from the Indonesia's northernmost territory on Rondo Island.James Horsburgh, 1852
The India Directory, Or, Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies
Page 63. Centered 21 km or 13 miles northwest of Rondo, between Indonesia and India, is a submerged sandy and rocky

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body ...

with a minimum depth of 51m. The island is surrounded by a mile (1.7 km) wide

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

which has a steep marine slope on its edges. On the southern edge of island's reef are 14 small rocky

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

s, at distances between 0.9 and 1.7 km. Between these islets and Weh Island is a 16–20 km or 3-3.5 leagues wide safe navigable channel. Before the advent of modern shipping, shipping between Rondo and Weh Islands was considered safer due to calmer seas.James Horsburgh, 1805
Memoirs: Comprising the Navigation to and from China
Page 21. Rondo island, nicknamed ''"Guardian of Indonesia"'', borders exclusive economic zones of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, and lies on a strategically important shipping route where commercial shipping vessels to and from the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

pass north of Rondo. India and Indonesia are upgrading the Sabang deepsea port under the strategic economic and military partnership to enhance the regional connectivity, safety, security, and to protect the Andaman Sea and

Strait of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, long and from wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pa ...

channel between Great Nicobar Island and Rondo Island (c. 2019).Eyeing Southeast Asia, India builds port in Indonesia
Economic Times, March 20, 2019. The area around Rondo Island is known for the threat of piracy.John Burnett, 2003
Dangerous Waters

History

Fei Xin (1385 – after 1436), a military man from the fleet of the Ming admiral

Zheng He Zheng He (also romanized Cheng Ho; 1371–1433/1435) was a Chinese eunuch, admiral and diplomat from the early Ming dynasty, who is often regarded as the greatest admiral in History of China, Chinese history. Born into a Muslims, Muslim famil ...

, in his book on countries visited by Chinese ships described an island in the middle of an important shipping route where north Sumatran natives in

dugout canoe A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed-out tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' (tr ...

s traded precious stones, Spittle Perfume (ambergris), coconuts, bananas and fish organs with sailors in exchange for gold coins. He described the native religion of the region as Buddhist, and mentioned the island's Buddhist temple and rock with a 3 ft-long footprint of

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

. He described the habits and customs of the natives as liberal and simple but rich in form. Both women and men shaved their heads and covered their bodies with leaves instead of clothes. ''"Lung-Hsien-Hsu"'' was the Chinese name of the island, which has been identified with Rondo, Weh and Breueh Island in the ocean of Lambri (an Indianised north Sumatran kingdom from

Srivijaya Srivijaya (), also spelled Sri Vijaya, was a Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia) that influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important ...

era) and

Lemuria Lemuria (), or Limuria, was a continent proposed in 1864 by zoologist Philip Sclater, theorized to have sunk beneath the Indian Ocean, later appropriated by occultists in supposed accounts of human origins. The theory was discredited with the dis ...

(hypothetical lost land with an ancient Tamil civilization).Xin Fei (trabslated by Roderich Ptak), 1996
Hsing-chʻa-sheng-lan: The Overall Survey of the Star Raft
Page 60-66. A 1698–1700 CE journal of the first French embassy to China also documents Rondo island as a stop en route to China.Translated by S. Bannister, 1859
A journal of the first French embassy to China, 1698–1700
Page 63. Danish shipliner

Maersk (), usually known simply as Maersk ( ), is a Danish Freight transport, shipping and logistics company founded in 1904 by Arnold Peter Møller and his father Peter Mærsk Møller. Maersk's business activities include Port operator, port operat ...

's largest cargo ship ran aground off Rondo island on January 6, 1922, and was a total loss.Ove Hornby, 1988
With Constant Care--: A.P. Møller: Shipowner 1876–1965
Page 93.

Ecology

The topography of the half sphere shaped island, with a somewhat flattened top, is wooded and steepest on its north side. The island is completely covered in

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

. The fauna includes many species of snakes.1989, Sailing Directions (enroute) for the Strait of Malacca and Sumatera, Defence Mapping Agency's Hydrographic/Topographic Center,, 5th ed, 31–32.The Most Remote And Small Island In Indonesia
Indonesia Travel Guide. The region around the island is rich in marine habitats.Rondo Island, The Rich Uninhabited Island
/ref>

Tourism

The island is popular with scuba divers.

Sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

s can anchor at a depth of 14 m between northwest to southwest off the island only during northeast monsoon. Strong rip tides around the island extend up to 32 km or 20 miles west to northwest.Pulau Rhondo
Sea-Seek.

References

{{Recreational dive sites, reereg Underwater diving sites in Indonesia Islands of Aceh

History

Ecology

Tourism

See also

References