Banca, an island of the Malay archipelago, between lat. 1° 30' and 3° 8' S., and lon. 105° 9' and 106° 51' E., bounded N. and E. by the China sea, S. by the Java sea, and on the W. separated from Sumatra by the strait of Banca, 135 m. long, one of the chief highways of European commerce in the eastern seas; area, about 5,000 sq. m.; pop. in 1869, 59,000, including about 22,000 Chinese and 150 Europeans. Banca is chiefly known by its inexhaustible tin mines, the annual product of which was estimated in 1872 at about 9,000,000 pounds, chiefly exported from Batavia. The digging, washing, and smelting of the alluvial tin ore are entirely in the hands of the Chinese population, who receive advances from the Dutch government, which exercises a monopoly of the produce. Of the indigenous population, 'about one third are the orang gunung, mountain men, savages whom the Dutch have not been able to civilize to any extent. They are scattered about in separate families, and subsist chiefly upon the spontaneous products of the forest and the meat of wild hogs. On the coast are the Sikas tribes, similar to the Bajaus or sea gypsies in habits, though differing from them in language. They dwell in boats and live by fishing and piracy.

The Chinese are subjected to severe restrictions by the government, and none are allowed to remain beyond a certain period. The Chinese fleet arrives with the N. W. monsoon, with sometimes 2,000 and 3,000 coolies. They are directly governed by their lea pallets, or captains, as in other parts of the archipelago, who are appointed by the government. The island is crossed by a chain of mountains, the highest peak of which is about 2,800 ft. high. This chain has the same direction as that of the Malay peninsula, and of the plutonic part of Sumatra, running from N. W. to S. E., and the same geological formation. The main component of the mountains is granite, containing tin, gold, and iron. Next to the granite, and in situations of less elevation, there occurs an extensive formation of red ironstone, the laterite of geologists, and in the lowest lands an alluvial formation, intermixed with sandstone and breccias, among which occur the washings of tin and gold The soil of Banca is decidedly sterile. Besides tin mining, the only industry consists in the limited cultivation of rice and of a few fruits and vegetables. The whole island is covered with forests, the marshy parts being impenetrable. The most valuable products of the forest for trade are eaglewood, ebony, and chiefly beeswax.

Of animals, there are two species of wild hog, the same as those of Java, which are very numerous, a stag, the pigmy deer or kanchil, and the Malayan bear. The principal port is Minto or Muntok, formerly the seat of the Dutch governor (who now resides at Banca Kota), and of a small garrison; it is situated on the shore of the safest roadstead on the straits of Banca, in lat. 2° S., lon. 105° 5' E., and contains about 3,000 inhabitants, chiefly Chinese. - This island attracted no attention till the discovery of its tin in 1709. The sultan of Palembang endeavored to establish a monopoly of it; but the Dutch sent an expedition to force a treaty upon him, securing to themselves the right of preemption at a very small price. The island was occupied by the English during the Napoleonic reign in Holland, but restored to the Dutch after the restoration of the house of Orange. The Dutch in 1818 restored the old sultan Badr-Oodin, whose treachery brought on a bloody war of two years, ending in 1821 with the triumph of the Dutch, who have since held the island.