Toba

Toba refers to several related terms associated with the Toba Batak people of North Sumatra and the volcanic landscape around Lake Toba. The most prominent geographic feature bearing the name is Lake Toba, a large volcanic caldera lake on the island of Sumatra. The lake occupies roughly 1,100 square kilometers, with a deep caldera formed by a catastrophic eruption. A large island, Pulau Samosir, sits near the center. Lake Toba and its environs are a popular tourist and cultural destination, with forests, waterfalls and artisanal crafts accessible around the lake.

The Toba people, also known as Toba Batak, are an ethnic group in North Sumatra and parts of surrounding provinces. They are one of several Batak peoples and are traditionally associated with the Lake Toba region. The Toba language, a member of the Batak branch of the Austronesian language family, is spoken by many Toba communities; the group maintains distinctive customs, dress and music, though modern religious affiliations vary, with many members belonging to Protestant or Catholic churches along with Muslim and indigenous beliefs.

The name Toba is also linked to the Toba catastrophe theory, a hypothesis that the 74,000-year-old Toba eruption produced a volcanic winter severe enough to cause a genetic bottleneck in Homo sapiens. The theory has influenced discussions of human evolution, but it remains debated, with more recent evidence suggesting a more complex demographic history without a single global bottleneck.