Bintan is the largest island in the Riau Archipelago, consisting of nearly 3,000 large and small islands, stretching across Singapore and Johor Baru, Malaysia. The island extends from Malacca to the South China Sea. Tanjungpinang is the capital of this province, located on the south west coast of Bintan. Strategically located on the southern peninsula of Malaysia at the mouth of the Malacca Strait, the Riau archipelago, first in the first century AD, is a favorite place for Indian and Chinese merchant vessels.
The top tourist destination here is Bintan Resort, a spectacular beach resort destination in the north of the island, with an area of 23,000 hectares on white sand overlooking the South China Sea. The island also has an interesting history in Tanjungpinang and Penyengat, which offers opportunities for surfing, adventure and ecotourism for students and families, but also ideal for relaxing and health.
Beach at one of the resorts on Bintan Island
Meanwhile, for those who love to dive Anambas islands in the South China Sea offers an unspoiled dive location, reachable from Tanjungpinang airport. Meanwhile, the Natuna islands can be reached from Batam.
No wonder, in the 18th century, merchants from Europe, Portugal, Holland and Britain fought each other for this island. At that time, the island was part of the Malay Peninsula controlled by the Johor-Riau Sultanate, which was occupied alternately between Johor - was in Malaysia today - and the island of Bintan, is in Indonesia today.
In 1884 the British and the Dutch closed their opposition on the island by signing the Treaty of London, then all the northern territory of Singapore was granted to England, while the southern territory of Singapore was left to the Netherlands.
Since that time the destiny and history of the north and south regions of Singapore are separated. Singapore became the center of British trade development, while the Dutch concentrated in Jakarta and Java, leaving the Bintan archipelago.
Within decades, with friendly relations between Indonesia and Singapore, an agreement was signed between the two sides to jointly build the Bintan archipelago that would benefit both countries in the Batam Free Trade Zone, Bintan and Karimun.
The first form of this agreement is the Bintan Resort development, a beach resort destination, covering an area of 23,000 hectares on the beautiful white sands of Bintan overlooking the South China Sea. In addition, One of the tourist destinations in this island is the beach Trikora and Lagoi Beach that has been famous in the world, recorded more than hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists visit Lagoi every year. Lagoi tourism area is located in the Northern part of Bintan Island, and into the territory of Bintan Regency.