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Surabaya

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

NameYearPopulationPolitical entity
Gresik1400 CE40,0005Majapahit Empire
Gresik1800 CE20,0005République française6
Surabaya1900 CE146,0005Nederland
Surabaya2012 CE4,229,0001Indonesia

Historical maps

map of the cities of Surakarta and Madiun and the districts of Gresik, Sidoarjo, Lamongan, Tuban, Boyonegoro, Ngawi, Magetan, Madiun, Njanjuk, Jambung, Bankalan, Sampang, Pamekasan and Sumenep, 1900 CE

map of Jawa, Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) islands, and islands controlled by Jawa's provinces, 2000 CE, with Surabaya

External references

Surabaya skyline, East Jawa Province, Jawa island, Indonesia

Footnotes

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.