The main point of East Jawa is located at the northern coast, in Surabaya: a rising industrial and commercial centre, and the second largest city in Indonesia. With it's three milion residents this factory-, and seaport city has developed into the economical capital of entire Eastern Indonesia.
The seaport ( Tanjung Perak'e.g. Cape Silver ) is a crossing of trade between the eastern islands of the archipelago and the seaports in the west, a role which Surabaya filled for centuries already.
Partly as a result of softening rules the industry as well as the service sector grew tremendously. The famous poor sight of the city is disappearing more rapidly, and is being replaced by that of a metropolis. It even looks like if it will get back it's important status of most important centre of trade and industry in the entire archipelago; a position it lost to Jakarta after the Second World War.
In contrary to Jakarta, with it's mixture of cultures, Surabaya is an real Jawanese city. Other than In Solo and Yogyakarta, the Jawanese in Surabaya mainly originate from the pasisir ( the coast, the bordr area ) and they belong on the whole to the santri, a more orthodox stream in the Islam.
Original inhabitants are called Arèk Suroboyo in Jawanese. They are free, proud and sometimes a little simpleminded. The city has a faster pace and a more cosmopolitan look on life than the hinterland, cultivated by centuries of contacts with traders from overseas.
People have little interest in the fuss and etiquette of the royal cities; Surabays is a commecial centere and it's society reasonable egalitarian. Surabaya has little to offer to tourists, but lovers of the sparkling and busy nightlife can enjoyt this city, especially when they look beneath the surface.
Who really wants to enjoy the city has just to copy the middle class; a small walk to the evening market of the shopping mall. Public happenins are an extremely good moment to meet, at watch, other people.
The story of the shark and the crocodile
The name Surabaya originates from a stoey about a fight between sura ( a shark ) and a baya ( a crocodile ). In that fight they united and formed the character S, which can be found at the back of the Monument of the Heroes, on the city arms.
Another explaination is saya ing baya, a Jawanese proverb; 'brave in the face of fear'. With this the ajèk Suroboyo are meant, which offered strong resistance against the fierce attack of sultan Agung. But just as well this proverb can be used fo the people who fought in the later revolution.
It's not exactly known when Surabaya was founded, but in the seventies the city council declared 31 May 1293 as the big dag.
Historically this was the dat at which the Chinese-Mongolian troops were conquerred by Raden Wijaya and he founded the empire of Majapahit. The harbour developped from a small village at the banks of a brackish side-rivers of the Brantas. Maybe this is a declaration of it's Chinese name, Sishui, which means 'muddy water'. Chinese sources report that the city was 'the gate to the mighty Brantas, the main route which leads to the inlands of Jawa'.
During the good period of Majapahid in the 14th century Surabaya had a lower position compared with the near seaports of Tuban and Gresik. Until the first half of the 19th century, the seaport of Pasuran even was bigger.
The city got more fame when it held strong against the aggresion of Mataram, Madura and the VOC threathened to invade Surabaya, in the 17th and 18th century. Leaders of resistance like Trunojoyo ( a disloyal prince from Madura ), Sawunggaling ( a local hero ) and Untung Surapati ( a rebelling Baltic slave ) brought huge losses to the Dutch and Mataram.
Eventually the city was lost to the VOC, except of the quarters near the harbour where European, Chinese and other Asian traders lived, it was no more than a Jawanese kampung until the turn of the century, houses of wood and bamboo.
As many other cities on Jawa Surabaya got it’s colonial looks only after 1900; big stone buildings besides green and wide lanes, most of the times close to the kampungs, when they didn’t have to dissappear. Even now people speak about ‘the people from the wide lanes’ and from ‘the people from the small alleys’.
City centre
Just like Jakarta, Surabaya developed around the harbour, and gradulately grew southwards. A visit to the city normally starts in the new commercial and governmental centre around Jalan Tunjungan and Jalan Pemuda, a fast developing, smaller version of Jalan Thamrin - Sudirman - Gatot Subroto, the main archer in Jakarta.
Point of recognition dfor Jalan Tunjungan is Hotel Majapahit, the former ‘Oranje Hotel’. At this place the flag-incident took place in September 1945, the spark in the revolutionair barrel of gunpowder of the city. With just across Hotel Sarkies, at Jalan Embong Malang, the corner forms the lost colonial history, with at the eastern side the former private club Deutsche Verein at Jalan Gentengkali, now known as Balai Sahabat.
This place offers a good Chinese restaurant, also accessible for non-members. At this street is also the cultural centre, Taman Budaya for expositions and shows. In the morning students practice classical dances. The complex was used for the bupati ( regent ) until the seventies.
At Jalan Dolog is a statue of king Kertanagara in his incarnation of the Bhuddha Asokbhya. The from Malang originating statue was taken to Surabaya earlier. The feet carried the date 1289. Jawanese still honour the statue, that is locally know as ‘Joko Dolog’ ( fat boy ).
More to the east, at Jalan Pemuda, is Grahadi, the official residence of the governor of East Jawa, once the stately residence house. From the road the back of the building can just be seen; at the front if a small canal. In this quarter transport over water was very common. The statue of Soerju, the first governot of East Jawa, dresses up the park across Grahadi.
Reog Ponorogo
Custom Clothing
The seaport ( Tanjung Perak'e.g. Cape Silver ) is a crossing of trade between the eastern islands of the archipelago and the seaports in the west, a role which Surabaya filled for centuries already.
Partly as a result of softening rules the industry as well as the service sector grew tremendously. The famous poor sight of the city is disappearing more rapidly, and is being replaced by that of a metropolis. It even looks like if it will get back it's important status of most important centre of trade and industry in the entire archipelago; a position it lost to Jakarta after the Second World War.
In contrary to Jakarta, with it's mixture of cultures, Surabaya is an real Jawanese city. Other than In Solo and Yogyakarta, the Jawanese in Surabaya mainly originate from the pasisir ( the coast, the bordr area ) and they belong on the whole to the santri, a more orthodox stream in the Islam.
Original inhabitants are called Arèk Suroboyo in Jawanese. They are free, proud and sometimes a little simpleminded. The city has a faster pace and a more cosmopolitan look on life than the hinterland, cultivated by centuries of contacts with traders from overseas.
People have little interest in the fuss and etiquette of the royal cities; Surabays is a commecial centere and it's society reasonable egalitarian. Surabaya has little to offer to tourists, but lovers of the sparkling and busy nightlife can enjoyt this city, especially when they look beneath the surface.
Who really wants to enjoy the city has just to copy the middle class; a small walk to the evening market of the shopping mall. Public happenins are an extremely good moment to meet, at watch, other people.
The story of the shark and the crocodile
The name Surabaya originates from a stoey about a fight between sura ( a shark ) and a baya ( a crocodile ). In that fight they united and formed the character S, which can be found at the back of the Monument of the Heroes, on the city arms.
Another explaination is saya ing baya, a Jawanese proverb; 'brave in the face of fear'. With this the ajèk Suroboyo are meant, which offered strong resistance against the fierce attack of sultan Agung. But just as well this proverb can be used fo the people who fought in the later revolution.
It's not exactly known when Surabaya was founded, but in the seventies the city council declared 31 May 1293 as the big dag.
Historically this was the dat at which the Chinese-Mongolian troops were conquerred by Raden Wijaya and he founded the empire of Majapahit. The harbour developped from a small village at the banks of a brackish side-rivers of the Brantas. Maybe this is a declaration of it's Chinese name, Sishui, which means 'muddy water'. Chinese sources report that the city was 'the gate to the mighty Brantas, the main route which leads to the inlands of Jawa'.
During the good period of Majapahid in the 14th century Surabaya had a lower position compared with the near seaports of Tuban and Gresik. Until the first half of the 19th century, the seaport of Pasuran even was bigger.
The city got more fame when it held strong against the aggresion of Mataram, Madura and the VOC threathened to invade Surabaya, in the 17th and 18th century. Leaders of resistance like Trunojoyo ( a disloyal prince from Madura ), Sawunggaling ( a local hero ) and Untung Surapati ( a rebelling Baltic slave ) brought huge losses to the Dutch and Mataram.
Eventually the city was lost to the VOC, except of the quarters near the harbour where European, Chinese and other Asian traders lived, it was no more than a Jawanese kampung until the turn of the century, houses of wood and bamboo.
As many other cities on Jawa Surabaya got it’s colonial looks only after 1900; big stone buildings besides green and wide lanes, most of the times close to the kampungs, when they didn’t have to dissappear. Even now people speak about ‘the people from the wide lanes’ and from ‘the people from the small alleys’.
City centre
Just like Jakarta, Surabaya developed around the harbour, and gradulately grew southwards. A visit to the city normally starts in the new commercial and governmental centre around Jalan Tunjungan and Jalan Pemuda, a fast developing, smaller version of Jalan Thamrin - Sudirman - Gatot Subroto, the main archer in Jakarta.
Point of recognition dfor Jalan Tunjungan is Hotel Majapahit, the former ‘Oranje Hotel’. At this place the flag-incident took place in September 1945, the spark in the revolutionair barrel of gunpowder of the city. With just across Hotel Sarkies, at Jalan Embong Malang, the corner forms the lost colonial history, with at the eastern side the former private club Deutsche Verein at Jalan Gentengkali, now known as Balai Sahabat.
This place offers a good Chinese restaurant, also accessible for non-members. At this street is also the cultural centre, Taman Budaya for expositions and shows. In the morning students practice classical dances. The complex was used for the bupati ( regent ) until the seventies.
At Jalan Dolog is a statue of king Kertanagara in his incarnation of the Bhuddha Asokbhya. The from Malang originating statue was taken to Surabaya earlier. The feet carried the date 1289. Jawanese still honour the statue, that is locally know as ‘Joko Dolog’ ( fat boy ).
More to the east, at Jalan Pemuda, is Grahadi, the official residence of the governor of East Jawa, once the stately residence house. From the road the back of the building can just be seen; at the front if a small canal. In this quarter transport over water was very common. The statue of Soerju, the first governot of East Jawa, dresses up the park across Grahadi.
Reog Ponorogo
Custom Clothing
