The archipelago of the Mentawai is a group of 4 islands located at some 150 km at broad of the west coast of the island Indonesia of Sumatra. It belongs to the province of Western Sumatra, of which it constitutes a Kabupaten (department), created in 1999 from what was until there only a district ( kecamatan ).

This statute of kabupaten makes it possible the archipelago to profit from the laws of 1999 bearing regional Autonomie in Indonesia. In particular, it should allow the population indigenous, which also bears the name of Mentawai, to take directly charges its business with them and to take advantage of its rights. Its traditional lifestyle had been called indeed in question as of the years 1950 by the government indonésien in the name of modernization, and straightforwardly disparaged and fought by violence under the dictatorship of Soeharto.

Largest of these islands east Siberut, with a surface of 4.030 km ². The other islands are Sipura, Pagai Utara (" Pagai of Nord") and Pagai Selatan (" Pagai of Sud").

Mentawai shelter many species endemic S, including 4 types of Primates: the gibbon of Mentawai ( Hylobates klossii ), the macaque of Mentawai ( Macaca pagensis ), the Presbytis potenziani and the Simias concolor .

Tourism

The Mentawai islands are a destination considered for the Surf.

One reaches it in boat (10 hours of voyage) since Padang, the provincial capital. Padang itself is connected by plane to Jakarta, with principal of towns of Sumatra like to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and to Singapore.

External bonds

• Anthropology off the Mentawai Islands

• Native Planet: The Mentawai
• Mentawai Islands rain forests (World Wildlife Fund)
• International Aid Surfing