Kudus () is a

regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

() in

Central Java Central Java (, ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogya ...

province in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. Its capital is the town of Kudus. It covers 425.15 km² and is thus the smallest regency on

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Island in area, and it had a population of 777,437 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 849,184 at the 2020 Census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as at mid 2024 was 883,322 (comprising 440,455 males and 442,867 females).Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2025, ''Kabupaten Kudus Dalam Angka 2025'' (Katalog-BPS 1102001.3319) It is located northeast of

Semarang Semarang (Javanese script, Javanese: , ''Kutha Semarang'') is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Netherlands, Dutch Dutch East Indies, colonial era, and is still an important regio ...

, the capital of Central Java.

Geography

Regency Area Boundaries

The administrative boundaries of Kudus Regency include: * North =

Jepara Regency Jepara () is a regency in the northeast of the Indonesian province of Central Java. It covers an area of 1,020.25 km2 and had a population of 1,097,280 at the 2010 censusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 1,184,947 at the 2020 census;B ...

* South = Grobogan Regency and

Demak Regency Demak () is a regency located in the Indonesian province of Central Java, on the northern coast of the island. It is bordered by Jepara Regency and the Java Sea to the north, Kudus and Grobogan Regencies to the east, Grobogan and Semarang Re ...

* West =

* East =

Pati Regency Pati Regency (, ꦥꦛꦶ) is a Regencies of Indonesia, regency () in the northeastern region of Central Java Province, on the island of Java in Indonesia. The regency covers an area of 1,503.68 km2, on the coast of the Java Sea. It had a ...

Most of the Kudus Regency area is

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of a ...

. In part of the northern region stands a mountain, namely Mount Muria, with the peaks Puncak Songolikur (Saptorenggo Peak) (1,602 m above sea level), Puncak Rahtawu (Rahtawu Peak) (1,522 m above sea level), and Puncak Argojembangan (Argojembangan Peak) (1,410 m above sea level). The largest river is the Kali Serang which flows to the west, bordering Kudus Regency with

. Kudus is divided by the Gelis River in the middle, with the two sections being known by the terms Kudus West and Kudus East. Kudus Regency is the regency with the smallest area in Central Java, but is the richest regency in Central Java with per capita income reaching more than IDR 123 million.

History

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Minaret en moskee van Koedoes TMnr 60054755

The town of Kudus was something of an important Islamic holy city in the sixteenth century. It is the only place in Java that has permanently acquired an

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

name ('al-Quds', Jerusalem). Sunan Kudus, one of the nine '' Wali Sanga'', was said to have been the fifth ''imam'' (head) of the mosque of Demak and a major leader of the 1527 campaign against 'Majapahit', before moving to Kudus. The Mosque of Kudus (''Masjid Menara'') which dates from this period, remains a local landmark to this day. It is notable for both its perseverance of pre-Islamic architectural forms such as Old Javanese split doorways and

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

influenced Majapahit-style brickwork, and for its name ''al-Manar'' or ''al-Aqsa''. The date AH 956 (AD 1549) is inscribed over the ''

mihrab ''Mihrab'' (, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "''qibla'' wall". ...

'' (niche indicating the direction of

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

Administrative districts

The Regency comprises nine

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

(''kecamatan''), tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and the 2020 Census,Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. together with the official estimates as at mid 2024.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2025, ''Kabupaten Kudus Dalam Angka 2025'' (Katalog-BPS 1102001.3319) The table also includes the number of

administrative village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

s in each district (totaling 123 rural ''desa'' and 9 urban ''kelurahan'' - the latter all in Kudus town District), and its post code. Note: (a) comprises 9 urban ''kelurahan'' (Kajeksan, Kerjasan, Mlati Kidul, Mlati Norowito, Panjunan, Purwosari, Sunggingan, Wergu Kulon and Wergu Wetan) and 16 rural ''desa''.
(b) Undaan District consists of a large southwards salient away from the rest of the Regency.

Kudus town

The town of Kudus, including those parts of the regency who form part of the urban area (the surrounding Kaliwungu, Jati, Gebog and Bae Districts), had a population of 358,335 at the 1990 Census.Robert Cribb, ''Historical Atlas of Indonesia'' (University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 2000). . Although most residents of Kudus are Javanese, there is an Indonesian Chinese minority in the

town centre A town centre is the commerce, commercial or geographical centre or core area of a town. Town centres are traditionally associated with shopping or retail. They are also the centre of communications with major public transport hubs such as train ...

, as well as an Arab

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

, Kudus Kulon, to the west of the town centre. The town is considered to be the "birthplace" of the '' kretek''

clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or Aroma compound, fragrance in fin ...

cigarette, which is by far the most widely smoked form of

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

in the country, and it remains a major centre for their manufacture. Haji Jamahri, a resident of the town, invented them in the 1880s. A festival named Dandangan is held for about one whole month before Ramadhan, Muslim's fasting month in Kudus Kulon.

Anti-nuclear movement

On June 12, 2007, about 5,000 people gathered peacefully to protest against Jakarta's plan to build 4 nuclear reactors in the region. The movement included local residents, activists, artists, students and public officials, parliament members, military commandants and police chiefs. This movement has been part of a series of responses emerging from all sides of the Indonesian society against the use of nuclear technology for energy production.

Notable people

Hariyanto Arbi Michael Ludwig Hariyanto Arbi (born 21 January 1972) is a former badminton player from Indonesia who rated among the world's top few singles players in the 1990s. He is the younger brother of Eddy Hartono and Hastomo Arbi, Hastomo, who were also ...

, badminton player * Hermawan Susanto, badminton player * Liem Swie King, badminton player *

Eddy Hartono Eddy Hartono Arbie ( zh, c=洪忠中; born 19 July 1964) is an Indonesian former badminton player who excelled in the late 1980s and early 1990s. After a brief stint competing in singles, he soon became a doubles specialist noted for his deft rac ...

, badminton player

References

External links

Minaret at Kudus
- ArchNet.org *Ma
wifi murah di Kudus
? Ya
EZnet Kudus
y Regencies of Central Java {{CJava-geo-stub Serang basin