Bangka (or sometimes Banka), lying east of Sumatra, is the ninth largest island in Indonesia.

The Kota Kapur inscription, dated from 686 CE, will be found in Bangka in 1920, showing Srivijayan influence on the island around the seventh century.

The island was eventually conquered by an expedition from Majapahit, led by Gajah Mada, which appointed local rulers and established social structures.

As the empire declined, Bangka fell into neglect.

Bangka was recorded in the 1436 Xingcha Shenglan, compiled by the Chinese soldier Fei Xin during the treasure voyages of Admiral Zheng He.

Contemporary records show that the area—close to the busy Strait of Malacca and waters of the Musi River—had significant presence of Chinese traders.

Later on, the island was taken over by the Johor and Minangkabau Sultanates which introduced Islam to the island.

It continued to pass to the Banten Sultanate before it was then inherited by the nearby Palembang Sultanate sometime in the late seventeenth century.

Soon after, around 1710, tin was discovered on the island which attracted migrants from across the archipelago and beyond.[6] Descendants of the Chinese immigrants, mainly from Guangdong, still form a large portion of modern Bangka's inhabitants.

As tin mining developed further, the Palembang Sultanate sent for experts in Malay Peninsula and China.

The Dutch East India Company managed to secure a monopolistic tin purchase agreement in 1722, but hostilities began to develop between the Sultan and the Dutch.

During the British Invasion of Java in 1811, then-Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin, had attacked and massacred the staff of the Dutch post on the island.

He was later deposed and executed by the British.

His successor had ceded Bangka to Britain in 1812, but in 1814 Britain exchanges it with the Dutch for Cochin in India following the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814.