(2000 pop. 8 million). Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city and capital of East Java, is situated at the mouth of the Brantas River opposite Madura island. Legend has it that Surabaya derived its name from a ferocious fight between a shark (sura) and a crocodile (baya) in the Mas River. According to official accounts, Surabaya was founded on 31 May 1293. Sunan Ngampel-Denta, one of the nine saints who Islamized Java, is said to have lived in Surabaya in the second half of the fifteenth century. In the sixteenth century the kingdom of Surabaya was the leading power in East Java, being a center of culture, but in 1625 it was forced to surrender to Mataram. It was seized by the Dutch East India Company in 1743. Since the second half of the nineteenth century, Surabaya has been transformed into the metropolis it is today. The area of Greater Surabaya, known as Gerbangkertosusila, "Gate to Prosperity and Decency" (an acronym: Gresik-Bangkalan-Majakerta-Surabaya-Sid oarjo-Lamongan), taking up 12 percent of the province of East Java, is nowadays inhabited by more than 8 million people. The tenth of November 1945, when Surabaya was the scene of heavy fighting between Indonesian nationalist forces and British troops, is commemorated as Heroes' Day.
Further Reading
Broeshart, A. C., J. R. van Diessen, R. G. Gill, and J. P. Zeydner. (1997) Soerabaja: Beeld van een stad. Purmerend, Netherlands: Asia Maior.
Frederick, William Hayward. (1978) "Indonesian Urban Society in Transition: Surabaya, 1926–1946." Ph.D. diss., University of Hawaii.
McCutcheon, L. (1977) "Migrant Adjustment in Surabaya, Indonesia." Ph.D. diss., Brown University.
Silas, J. (1980) "Villages in Transition: A Case Study of Rural to Urban Transformation in Surabaya." Prisma 9, 17: 36–45.
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