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The Sumbawa live on Sumbawa island in West Nusa Tenggara province. The name"Sumbawa"originally referred only to the western part of the island and the Sumbawa sultanate and the eastern part was called Bima. Today the whole island is called Sumbawa, although the Sumbawa people don't inhabit the whole island. The Sumbawa are spread throughout 32 subdistricts, in 2 regencies in western half of Sumbawa. Some Sumbawa people have also moved to Lombok and other parts of Indonesia. The Sumbawa language has 4 main dialects, the Sumbawa Besar dialect being understood by all speakers, while the others are only well understood in their local areas. The Sumbawa language is related to the languages of Bali and Lombok and surprisingly quite different than the Bima language used on the eastern half of Sumbawa. Although most Sumbawa people can use Indonesian for basic conversations, most still prefer to speak Sumbawa among family and friends and for deeper conversations.

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