Near Palembang was the capital of the first great kingdom in Indonesia, Sriwijaya. More recently, Palembang was ruled by its own sultan. Jambi, Riau, and Siak were also sultanates in the straits region.
Batam and Bintan are rapidly developing today due to their closeness to Singapore.
Lampung in southernmost Sumatra is famous for pepper. In the 1600s Lampung was ruled by the Sultans of Banten. The original Krakatau volcano was in the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java.
Bengkulu was a British outpost (called Bencoolen) until 1824.
Singapore was founded by the British in 1819. It originally joined Malaysia in 1963, then separated again to form an independent country in 1965.
Some cities in nearby Malaysia have been involved in Indonesian history as well, including Melaka, originally the seat of an Islamic trading empire, taken by the Portuguese in 1511, and then by the Dutch in 1641, and Johore.
In 1950, Sumatra was reorganized into North, Central and South Sumatra provinces. In 1957, Central Sumatra province was further divided into Jambi, Riau, and West Sumatra provinces. Lampung was separated from South Sumatra in 1964, and Bengkulu was separated from South Sumatra in 1967.