This volume presents the most dramatic accounts of travellers from all over the world to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. They range from the Arab merchant Sulayman and Marco Polo to Japanese and British observers in 1945.

They range from Marco Polo and an even earlier Arab merchant, Sulayman, to an Italian who helped start a Batak messianic movement by announcing himself as an emissary of 'the king of Rome' (Raja Rum), and the Japanese and British observers of Sumatra's paroxysm of war and revolution in 1945. Taken together they represent an unprecedented journey through Sumatran history through the eyes of outsiders who were often the sold recorders of the island's upheavals. Many of the accounts have been translated into English here for the first time. Professor Anthony Reid has set each of these accounts in its context, and written an introduction to the history of this fascinating and beautiful island.