It occupies the whole island of Simeulue (Pulau Simeulue), 150 km off the west coast of Sumatra, which with its many small offshore islands covers a land area of 1,838.1 square kilometres (709.69 square miles).

Administrative villages (kampong) listed for each district:[14] The people of Simeulue are similar to the people in the neighboring Nias Island, speaking 3 languages (Devayan, Sigulai and Leukon) which are distinctly different from the languages spoken in mainland Aceh.

It is largely because of this oral history that many in Simeulue say that they knew what to do when the 26 December 2004 earthquake and tsunami struck.

[19] During the earthquake, Simeulue rose at least six feet on the western coast; this left the flat top of its coral reefs above high tide level leaving it dry and dead.

[18] In Sinabang the 28 March 2005 earthquake and subsequent fire destroyed 50 to 60 percent of the downtown area and significantly damaged the port facility.

[18] On 20 February 2008 at 03:08 PM local time, Simeulue suffered a 7.4 magnitude earthquake.

[22] Much of the north-western half of the island has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.