Sebuku (also spelled Seboekoe or Sebeekee) is an island in the

Sunda Strait The Sunda Strait () is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java island, Java and Sumatra. It connects the Java Sea with the Indian Ocean. Etymology The strait takes its name from the Sunda Kingdom, which ruled the western portion of Ja ...

between

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

and

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. ...

. It is one of the larger islands in the strait and lies just to the north of

Sebesi Sebesi (also Sebeezee, or 'Bleezie') is an Indonesian island in the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra, and part of the province of Lampung. It rises to a height of and lies about north of the Krakatoa Archipelago; it is the closest large ...

and south of

. It is administratively part of

South Lampung Regency South Lampung Regency () is a Regencies of Indonesia, regency of Lampung, Sumatra, Indonesia, a strip of land surrounding the provincial capital of Bandar Lampung on its northern and eastern sides. The regency is bounded to the west by the new Pes ...

Lampung Lampung, officially the Province of Lampung (; ), is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southern tip of the island of Sumatra. It has a short border with the province of Bengkulu to the northwest, and a longer border with the provi ...

History

At the time of the 1883 eruption of

Krakatoa Krakatoa (), also transcribed (), is a caldera in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The caldera is part of a volcanic island group (Krakatoa archipelago) comprising four islands. Tw ...

, Sebuku was uninhabited, but a village on Sebuku Ketjil, a small island to its east, was completely wiped out. Official records give 150 killed, with 70 being non-residents. In the 1920s,

copra Copra (from ; ; ; ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted ...

palms were planted on Sebuku to satisfy the growing market. However, the palms eventually withered and died due to a lack of maintenance. In 1999, a sunken Japanese ship was found near Sebuku by divers preparing for an underwater photography contest. Its age is unknown.

Geography

Sebuku is a low island, located in the eastern part of the mouth of Lampung Bay, north of

and south of

. It covers a total area of . It is administratively part of

. Sebuku has a centre composed of

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

, indicating an early volcanic history. This centre has been dated to the

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

and has been called an early manifestation of

volcanism Volcanism, vulcanism, volcanicity, or volcanic activity is the phenomenon where solids, liquids, gases, and their mixtures erupt to the surface of a solid-surface astronomical body such as a planet or a moon. It is caused by the presence of a he ...

in the Sunda Strait. The substrate on the northern side of the island consists of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

ised coral, mud and sand, while on the eastern side of the island, the substrate consists of mud, sand, gravel, and both live and fossilised coral. The outside is fringed by a

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 ...

Ecology

Sebuku and Sebesi have been noted as a "stepping stone" for butterfly migration between Sumatra and Krakatoa. There are numerous butterfly species from both

and Sumatra on Sebuku. Four species of ants have been found on Sebuku, fewer than Sebesi and Krakatoa. These included ants not found on Krakatoa, thought to be descended from fauna that survived the 1883 eruption. The waters near Sebuku have fewer

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any animal of the phylum Echinodermata (), which includes starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars and sea cucumbers, as well as the sessile sea lilies or "stone lilies". While bilaterally symmetrical as ...

s than those further into Lampung Bay. This is thought to be from exploitation and poor

resource management In organizational studies, resource management is the efficient and effective development of an organization's resources when they are needed. Such resources may include the financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or ...

. Due to cultivation, few natural forests remain on Sebuku. However, along the eastern coast of Sebuku there are many

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

s. There are also tropical plants found throughout the island.

Tourism

Sebuku is a popular destination for

snorkelling Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming face down on or through a body of water while breathing the ambient air through a shaped tube called a snorkel, usually with swimming goggles or a ...

and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

, with tourists generally arriving by boat from Candi village on Sumatra.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{cite book , last1=Vaisutis , first1=Justine, title=Lonely Planet: Indonesia , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eoMYUd6FsSkC&dq=Sebuku&pg=PA916 , year=2007 , publisher=Lonely Planet , isbn=978-1-74104-435-5 Islands of the Sunda Strait Krakatoa Tourist attractions in Lampung Quaternary volcanoes of Indonesia Uninhabited islands of Indonesia