Surabaya

Surabaya   Surabaja, or Soerabaja , city (1990 pop. 2,473,272), capital of East Java prov., NE Java, Indonesia, on the Mas River just above its mouth at the western end of Madura Strait. Chief rival of Jakarta in size and commercial and industrial importance, Surabaya is the country's second largest city and its major naval base, with a huge shipyard, a naval college, and numerous specialized naval schools. An industrial center, it has railroad shops, an automobile-assembly plant, and an oil refinery. Manufactures include textiles, glass, fertilizer, shoes, tobacco products, machinery, metal products, processed foods, tools, and cement. North of the city proper is its port, Tanjungperak, which ships sugar, rubber, coffee, tobacco, petroleum products, and spices. Early in World War II, Surabaya was occupied by the Japanese. Although damaged during the postwar struggle for Indonesian independence, it has been rebuilt. It is the seat of a superior court and of Airlangga Univ. and the Surabaya Institute of Technology.

Surabaya, Java/Indonesia Sura ing Baya, Soerabaja ‘Hero when confronting Danger’ from the Sundanese sura ‘hero’ and baya ‘danger’; it is sometimes referred to as the ‘City of Heroes’ (see Surakarta). In 1292 a local chief and his people beat off Mongol forces sent to capture East Java and the following year the city received its name when the Majapahit Empire was founded. At three other times Surabaya has been the scene of heavy fighting: in 1610–25, 1717–23, and in 1945 and each time its inhabitants suffered severe losses. It is also said locally that the name recognizes the numerous sharks offshore and crocodiles in the rivers from the local sura ‘shark’ and buaya ‘crocodile’. The previous version of the name was Dutch.