Bengkulu
Former British Bencoolen (1685-1824), now Indonesia's 5th largest coffee producer, famed for Rafflesia arnoldii discovery in 1818.
In 1685, the British East India Company established a pepper-trading garrison on Sumatra's remote southwest coast, far from Dutch-controlled ports. For over a century, Bencoolen—as the British called it—remained Britain's only Southeast Asian foothold outside India. Thomas Stamford Raffles served as lieutenant-governor here before founding Singapore; in 1818, his expedition discovered the Rafflesia arnoldii, the world's largest flower, in Bengkulu's forests near the Manna River.
The British traded Bengkulu to the Dutch in 1824, leaving behind Fort Marlborough and a coffee-growing legacy. Today Bengkulu ranks as Indonesia's 5th largest coffee producer, contributing 55,000 tons (7.23% of national production) in 2023. The province also mines coal for export to Malaysia, Singapore, and East Asia, with GRDP reaching Rp 53 trillion in 2023. South Korean investors now eye shrimp farming opportunities.
The Rafflesia that made Bengkulu famous remains its most distinctive asset—in December 2025, four species bloomed simultaneously, including the endemic Rafflesia kemumu found nowhere else. By 2026, the 'Land of Rafflesia' will test whether eco-tourism around the parasitic flower can complement commodity exports, or whether Bengkulu remains known mainly for what British colonists left behind.