ACEH

äˈchā, special region (1980 pop. 2,875,634), 21,387 sq mi (55,392 sq km), N Sumatra, Indonesia, formerly known as Atjeh or Achin. The capital and largest city is Banda Aceh. The northernmost province of Sumatra, Aceh has rich petroleum and natural gas deposits as well as valuable rubber, oil palm, and timber resources. The Acehnese, like most Indonesians, are Muslim, but are generally more conservative. Gunung Leuser National Park is in SE Aceh.

A kingdom in N Sumatra is recorded by the 6th-cent. a.d. Chinese. By the 8th cent. Islam had arrived, and a number of Muslim kingdoms and sultanates were subsequently established in the region. Aceh (Achin) reached the height of its power in the early 17th cent. The Dutch gained control of the coast in 1873 and engaged in a partly successful effort to subdue the interior until c.1910.

Aceh also resisted Indonesian control and in 1961 was designated a special region with autonomy in religion, culture, and education. In 1977 the Movement for a Free Aceh declared the province independent but was suppressed; guerrilla warfare continued through the rest of the century. A peace agreement providing for greater Acehnese autonomy was signed in 2002, but with neither side willing to compromise, Indonesia ended the subsequent talks in 2003, imposed martial law, and launched new attacks against the rebels.

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