Surabaya

Surabaya is the capital and largest city of East Java province and the second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern corner 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 covers a land area of 334.50 km2, and had a population of 2,874,314 within its city limits at the 2020 census. With 3,003,860 people living in the city as of mid 2025 (comprising 1,487,077 males and 1,516,783 females) and over 10 million in the extended Surabaya metropolitan area, according to the latest official estimate, Surabaya is the second-largest metropolitan area in Indonesia. Surabaya metropolitan area also has ASEAN's 6th largest economy, ahead of Hanoi. In 2023, the city's GRP PPP was estimated at US$150.294 billion. 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 (the other was the Kediri kingdom). 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. 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...