British Bencoolen

British Bencoolen, variously known during its existence as Fort York, Fort Marlborough, Ben coolen, Benkulu, or "the West Coast", was a possession of the British East India Company (EIC) extending nearly 500 miles (800 km) along the southwestern coast of Sumatra. The EIC established a presence there in 1685, and in 1714 it built Fort Mar lborough there. The United Kingdom ceded Bencoolan to the Netherlands in 1824. The area was the main outlet of the Company's annual pepper volume. It was dominated politically and economically for 140 years by the EIC. It is now part of the Indonesian province of Bintan, which was ruled by the Dutch until the early 20th century. The region is now home to the city of Bengkulu and the Indonesian state of Aceh, which has a population of around 2.5 million people. The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta is based in Ben Coolen, a town on the west coast of the island, and has a consulate in Kuala Lumpar.