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Overview
Up
until the turn of the century the East Javanese
capital of Surabaya was the largest and most
important seaport in the archipelago. It still
ranks second (after Jakarta's Tanjung Priok), and
with more than 400 years of colorful history
behind it, one would expect to find much of
interest here, though unfortunately, this is not
so.
 Surabaya's rise to
prominence began around 1525, when her rulers
converted to Islam and then rapidly subdued all
neighboring coastal states. However, in the final
years of the 16th Century, the central Javanese
kingdom of Mataram expanded eastward and joined a
bloody and protracted struggle with Surabaya for
control of the area.
Dutch descriptions of the
city in 1620 paint her as a formidable adversary
surrounded by a canal and heavily fortified
bastions measuring some 37 km (23 miles) in
circumference. And her army is said to have
numbered 30,000. In the end, Surabaya succumbed
(in 1625) only after Sultan Agung's armies had
devastated her rice-lands and diverted her mighty
river.
In the mid-18th
Century, Surabaya was ceded to the Dutch, and soon
developed into the greatest commercial city of the
Indies-the chief sugar port and rail head on Java.
Immortalized in many of Joseph Conrad's novels,
this era was characterized by square-riggers in
full sail, wealthy Chinese and Arab traders,
eccentric German hoteliers and lusty seamen
brawling over the likes of Surabaya Sue (who
really existed).
Today's reality is
mundane by comparison-Surabaya is a hot, sprawling
city of almost 4 million. It is known as the
"City of Heroes" because of the
momentous first battle of the revolution, fought
here in November 1945. Though the ragtag
Indonesian rebels were driven from the city at
this time by better-equipped British troops, they
inflicted heavy casualties and proved to the world
(and themselves) that independence could be and
would be, fought for.
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