Rondo Island

Rondo
Native name:
Pulo Rondo
Rondo is located in Bay of Bengal
Rondo
Rondo
Rondo is located in Indonesia
Rondo
Rondo
Geography
Coordinates6°4′30″N 95°6′45″E / 6.07500°N 95.11250°E / 6.07500; 95.11250
Administration
Indonesia
RegionSumatra
Province Aceh

Rondo Island (Indonesian: Pulau Rondo; Acehnese: Pulo Rondo) is Indonesia's northernmost territory,[1] located in the Andaman Sea, with a 0.650 km2 area 35m above sea level. The island is one of the outlying islands of Indonesia in the Aceh province of the Sumatra region.[2] It is administratively part of Ujung Bau village in the Sukakarya District of Sabang City, whose administration center is on Weh Island, south of Rondo.[2] Rondo is 50 km offshore from Indonesia's Sumatra mainland.[2] This otherwise uninhabited island, accessible only by boat, has an Indonesian military outpost with a heliport and blue-roofed barracks, an adjacent lighthouse complex with a red-roofed lighthouse keeper's house and a white skeletal lighthouse topped with a viewing gallery and lantern.[2][3][4]

India's southernmost territory (Indira Point) on Great Nicobar Island of the Nicobar Islands is approximately 84 miles or 135 km to the north from the Indonesia's northernmost territory on Rondo Island.[5][2] Centered 21 km or 13 miles northwest of Rondo, between Indonesia and India, is a submerged sandy and rocky coral shoal with a minimum depth of 51m.[3][4] The island is surrounded by a mile (1.7 km) wide reef which has a steep marine slope on its edges.[3][4] On the southern edge of island's reef are 14 small rocky islets,[3][4] 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.[5] Before the advent of modern shipping, shipping between Rondo and Weh Islands was considered safer due to calmer seas.[6]

Rondo island, nicknamed "Guardian of Indonesia",[7] borders exclusive economic zones of India and Thailand, and lies on a strategically important shipping route where commercial shipping vessels to and from the Indian Ocean pass north of Rondo.[2][3][4] 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 channel between Great Nicobar Island and Rondo Island (c. 2019).[8] The area around Rondo Island is known for the threat of piracy.[9]

  1. ^ 2007, Atoll Research Bulletin, Issue 544, Page 48]
  2. ^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference indo1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference rondo3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference rondo1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b James Horsburgh, 1852, The India Directory, Or, Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies, Page 63.
  6. ^ James Horsburgh, 1805, Memoirs: Comprising the Navigation to and from China, Page 21.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference rondo2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Eyeing Southeast Asia, India builds port in Indonesia, Economic Times, March 20, 2019.
  9. ^ John Burnett, 2003, Dangerous Waters.