To Duval Family Home Page | Asia |
To Chris Home Page | Indonesia |
To Earth (Geography Home Page) | Jawa |
Yogyakarta is along the southern end of the Lintasan Strait, on the north coast of the East Jawa Province of the island of Jawa (Java), in Indonesia, and at the mouth of one of the distributaries of the Brantas River. The metropolitan area has a population of 4.229 to 6.484 million.1 The city itself has a population of 2.765 million.2 The tallest building as of the fall of 2017 is Tunjungan Plaza 5 (659 feet, 2016).3 A railroad bridge links the city to the island of Madura.
The city grew in prominence under Dutch rule. A city within its metropolitan area, Greshik, achieved eminence earlier.
The city is served by Juanda International Airport, which is located in Sudoarjo Regency.4
Name | Year | Population | Political entity |
Gresik | 1400 CE | 40,0005 | Majapahit Empire |
Gresik | 1800 CE | 20,0005 | République française6 |
Surabaya | 1900 CE | 146,0005 | Nederland |
Surabaya | 2012 CE | 4,229,0001 | Indonesia |
Surabaya skyline, East Jawa Province, Jawa island, Indonesia
1. The lower figure is the 2012 figure from world-gazetteer.com, accessed February 6, 2013. The higher figure is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_in_Indonesia, citing the 2010 census and accessed February 14, 2017. The difference can reasonably be assumed to be caused by what settled areas are included.
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Indonesia, accessed February 14, 2017.
3. Emporis.com, accessed October 26, 2017.
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Indonesia, accessed February 15, 2017; my criterion for inclusion was 1M passengers in 2015.
5. Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987), "Tables of the World's Largest Cities." Greshik was tied with Majapahit for the island's largest city in 1400. The figure for Gresik in 1800 is really the one for 1812 cited on pg. 411; I've assumed it wasn't different (within the uncertainty of the estimate) 12 years earier. Surabaya was the largest city on the island in 1900.
6. Locally Gresik in 1800 was under the Vereenigde Oost-[East]Indische Compagnie (usually shorted to VOC). The VOC was a state run company reporting to what had until recently been an independent Dutch country, but was in 1800 called the Bataafse Republiek and was subordinate to the French. Locally that subordination was nominal.