Surabaya

Surabaya, kota (city), capital of East Java (Jawa Timur) propinsi (or provinsi; province), Indonesia. Situated on the northeastern coast of Java, it lies along the Surabaya Strait opposite the island of Madura. The canalized Mas River, which is a branch of the Brantas River, flows through the centre of the city.

Surabaya has been the chief trading centre of eastern Java since the 14th century. It was controlled by the Dutch from the mid-18th through the mid-20th century, except for a brief period under the British in the early 19th century. During World War II Surabaya was occupied by Japan (1942–45) and heavily bombed by the Allies. In November 1945 a fierce battle was fought in Surabaya between Indonesian nationalists and British troops who were attempting to assert Allied control, which was interpreted by the nationalists to mean a prelude to the return of the Dutch. The city was damaged again during Indonesia’s war for independence (1945–49) from the Netherlands.

Surabaya’s port, Tanjungperak, lies just north of the city and next to Ujung, Indonesia’s main naval station. Of Indonesian cities, Surabaya is surpassed in size only by Jakarta and has remained the chief commercial centre of eastern Java. From its port is shipped the bulk of Java’s chief agricultural products, including sugar, as well as coffee, tobacco, teak, cassava, rubber, spices, vegetable oils, and petroleum products. The city also has a large fishing fleet. The city’s industries include shipbuilding and ship-repair yards, locomotive workshops, and the manufacture of textiles, glass, chemicals, beer, cigarettes, and shoes. A suburb has a petroleum refinery. The surrounding area is a flat, rich agricultural region.

Surabaya is linked by rail and road to the eastern and western coasts of Java and is thus in communication with the other chief cities of the island. It also has major shipping communications with the chief ports of the Indo-Pacific region because it lies along the main sea route from Singapore and Jakarta to the Pacific and eastern Asia. There is an international airport at Tanjungperak.

Notable sites in the city of Surabaya include the large Al-Akbar mosque (1868); Airlangga University (1954), with undergraduate and graduate programs in law, medicine, economics, technology, social and political sciences, and other fields; the Tenth of November Institute of Technology (1960), which also offers programs in various fields through the doctoral level; a naval college; and the old Dutch colonial Fort Prins Hendrik (1837). Pop. (2010) 2,765,487.