Place:Surabaya, Surabaya, Jawa Timur, Indonesia

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Surabaya ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of East Java and the second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern border of Java island, on the Madura Strait, it is one of the earliest port cities in Southeast Asia. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Surabaya is one of the four main central cities of Indonesia, alongside Jakarta, Medan, and Makassar. The city has a population of 2.87 million within its city limits at the 2020 census and 9.5 million in the extended Surabaya metropolitan area, making it the second-largest metropolitan area in Indonesia.

The city was settled in the 10th century by the Kingdom of Janggala, one of the two Javanese kingdoms that was formed in 1045 when Airlangga abdicated his throne in favor of his two sons. In the late 15th and 16th centuries, Surabaya grew to be a duchy, a major political and military power as well as a port in eastern Java, probably under the Majapahit empire.^[1] At that time, Surabaya was already a major trading port, owing to its location on the River Brantas delta and the trade route between Malacca and the Spice Islands via the Java Sea. During the decline of Majapahit, the lord of Surabaya resisted the rise of the Demak Sultanate and only submitted to its rule in 1530. Surabaya became independent after the death of Sultan Trenggana of Demak in 1546.

From the 18th century until the mid-20th century, Surabaya was the largest city in the Dutch East Indies, and the center of trading in the Indonesian archipelago, which was then a competitor to Shanghai and Hong Kong. The city is known as Kota Pahlawan (the city of heroes) due to the importance of the Battle of Surabaya during the Indonesian National Revolution. The city is one of the important financial, commercial, industrial, transportation, and entertainment hubs of the archipelago, arguably second only to Jakarta, and the Port of Tanjung Perak is Indonesia's second-busiest seaport located on northern Surabaya. The city is also known for being one of the cleanest and greenest in Indonesia.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Early history

The Kingdom of Janggala was one of the two Javanese kingdoms that were formed in 1045 when Airlangga abdicated his throne in favor of his two sons. The earliest historical record of Surabaya was in the 1225 book Zhu fan zhi written by Zhao Rugua, in which it was called Jung-ya-lu. The name Janggala probably derived from the name "Hujung Galuh" (Old Javanese lit: "Cape Diamond" or "Cape Gemstone"), or "Jung-ya-lu" according to Chinese sources. Hujung Galuh was located on the estuary of Brantas River and today is the part of modern Surabaya city and Sidoarjo Regency. By the 14th to 15th centuries, Surabaya seems to be one of the Majapahit ports or coastal settlements, together with Tuban, Gresik, and Hujung Galuh (Sidoarjo). Ma Huan documented the early 15th-century visit of Zheng He's treasure ships in his 1433 book Yingya Shenglan: "after travelling south for more than 20 li, the ship reached Sulumayi, whose foreign name is Surabaya. At the estuary, the outflowing water is fresh".Tomé Pires mentioned that a Muslim lord was in power in Surabaya in 1513, though likely still a vassal of the Majapahit.

Ma Huan visited Java during Zheng He's fourth expedition in 1413, during the reign of Majapahit king Wikramawardhana. He describes his travel to the Majapahit capital. He first arrived at the port of Tu-pan (Tuban) where he saw large numbers of Chinese settlers migrated from Guangdong and Chou Chang. Then, he sailed east to the thriving new trading town of Ko-erh-hsi (Gresik), Su-pa-erh-ya (Surabaya), and then sailing inland into the river by smaller boat to the southwest until he reached the Brantas river port of Chang-ku (Changgu). Continuing to travel by land to the southwest, he arrived in Man-che-po-I (Majapahit), where the Javanese king stayed.

Pre-colonial era

By the late 15th century, Islam began to take its root in Surabaya. The settlement of Ampel Denta, located around Ampel Mosque in today's Ampel subdistrict, Semampir district, north Surabaya, was established by a charismatic Islamic proselytiser Sunan Ampel.

In the late 15th and 16th centuries, Surabaya grew to be a duchy, a major political and military power in eastern Java. The Portuguese writer Tomé Pires mentioned that a Muslim lord was in power in Surabaya in 1513, though likely still a vassal of the Hindu–Buddhist Majapahit. At that time, Surabaya was already a major trading port, owing to its location on the River Brantas delta and the trade route between Malacca and the Spice Islands via the Java Sea. During the decline of Majapahit, the lord of Surabaya resisted the rise of the Demak Sultanate and only submitted to its rule in 1530. Surabaya became independent after the death of Sultan Trenggana of Demak in 1546.

The Duchy of Surabaya entered a conflict with and was later captured by the more powerful Sultanate of Mataram in 1625 under Sultan Agung. It was one of Mataram's fiercest campaigns, in which they had to conquer Surabaya's allies, Sukadana and Madura, and to lay siege to the city before capturing it. With this conquest, Mataram then controlled almost the whole of Java, except the Sultanate of Banten and the Dutch settlement of Batavia.^[2]

Colonial era

The expanding Dutch East India Company took the city over from a weakened Mataram in November 1743. In consolidating its rule over Surabaya and, in time, the rest of East Java, the Dutch collaborated with leading regional magnates, including Ngabehi Soero Pernollo (1720–1776), his brother Han Bwee Kong, Kapitein der Chinezen (1727–1778), and the latter's son, Han Chan Piet, Majoor der Chinezen (1759–1827), all from the powerful Han family of Lasem.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Surabaya was the largest city in the Dutch East Indies. It became a major trading center under the Dutch colonial government and hosted the most extensive naval base in the colony. Surabaya was also the largest city in the colony serving as the center of Java's plantation economy, industry and was supported by its natural harbor. In 1920, a census recorded that Batavia had become the largest city. In 1917, a revolt occurred among the soldiers and sailors of Surabaya, led by the Indies Social Democratic Association. The revolt was firmly crushed, and the insurgents were given harsh sentences.

Independence era

Japan occupied the city in 1942, as part of the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, and it was bombed by the Allies in 1944. After the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, Surabaya was seized by Indonesian nationalists. The young nation soon came into conflict with the British, who had become caretakers of the Dutch colony after the Japanese surrender.

The Battle of Surabaya, one of the well-known battles of the Indonesian revolution, started after the Arek-Arek Suroboyo (Teenagers of Surabaya) assassinated the British Brigadier Mallaby on 30 October 1945, near Jembatan Merah (the "Red Bridge"), allegedly with a stray bullet. The Allies gave an ultimatum to the Republicans inside the city to surrender, but they refused. The ensuing battle, which cost thousands of lives, took place on 10 November, which Indonesians subsequently celebrate as Hari Pahlawan (Heroes' Day) as a memory for the heroic effort of national heroes who fought that day. The incident of the red-white flag (the Dutch flag at the top of Yamato Hotel's tower that was torn into the Indonesian red-white flag) by Bung Tomo is also recorded as a heroic feat during the struggle of this city.

The city is known as Kota Pahlawan (the city of heroes) due to the importance of the Battle of Surabaya in galvanising Indonesian and international support for Indonesian independence during the Indonesian National Revolution.

Modern history

After the independence era, population growth and rapid urbanization forced Surabaya to develop towards the eastern and western part of the city as it is in the present day. Increasing motorized vehicles, rapid industrial growth and the proliferation of housing carried out by real estate companies that occupy the outskirts of the city have resulted not only in traffic jams in the downtown area, but also in the suburban areas of Surabaya.

In June 2011, Surabaya received the Adipura Kencana Award as number one among 20 cities in Indonesia. Surabaya was reported by a Singaporean as being clean and green.

The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in East Java was in Surabaya, on 17 March 2020. In May 2020, Surabaya became the epicenter of the pandemic in Indonesia.

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