Atcheen (also Acheen or Atchin; called by the Dutch Atjeh), until 1873 an independent state in the north-west part of Sumatra, now a province of the Dutch Indies, with an area of 20,501 sq. m., and a population of 290,700. The surface is divided into an eastern and a western half by the mountain-chain which traverses the whole island, and which rises in Abong-Abong to 11,000 feet. On both sides are numerous stretches of level or undulating soil, watered by small but deep streams, and admirably adapted for arboriculture, gardening, and the cultivation of rice. The flora and fauna agree with those of Sumatra: pepper and areca-nuts are peculiar to Atcheen. The natives employ themselves in agriculture, cattle-rearing, trade, fisheries, weaving cloth, and working in gold, silver, and iron. In appearance, dress, character, and manners, they are distinct from the rest of the inhabitants of Sumatra. Of darker colour and lower stature than the latter, they are also more active and industrious, good seamen and soldiers; but they are treacherous, revengeful, bloodthirsty, immoral, and inordinately addicted to opium. Their ethnological place is not yet settled; their speech, according to Van der Berg, belongs to the Polynesian family.
The capital of the government is Kota Radja or Atcheen, in the north-western extremity, situated on a stream navigable by boats, about miles from its port Oleh-leh, with which, since 1876, it has been connected by a railway. Formerly a large and flourishing city, it was almost entirely destroyed during the war, but is now beginning to revive. It contains a Dutch garrison of 2000 men.
During the earlier half of the 17th century Atcheen was a powerful sultanate, with supremacy over several islands and a part of the Malay Peninsula. Its power gradually declined; but an attempt was made by the treaty between the English and the Dutch in 1824 to reserve its independence. The inevitable war, however, broke out in 1873, and ended as inevitably, though not without a desperate resistance, in the conquest and annexation of the sultanate. Yet in 1895 the resistance was not wholly overcome: and it was calculated that the enterprise had cost £20,000,000 and 80,000 lives.