Gresik Regency ( older spelling: Grissee, ) is a

regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

within

East Java East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean bord ...

Province of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. As well as a large part of the Surabaya northern and western suburbs, it includes the offshore Bawean Island, some 125 km to the north of Java and

Madura Madura Island is an Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of Java. The island comprises an area of approximately (administratively 5,379.33 km2 including various smaller islands to the east, southeast and north that are administrati ...

. The regency's administrative centre is the town of Gresik, about 25 km to the northwest of Surabaya. Gresik Regency (excluding Bawean Island) is also part of

Gerbangkertosusila The Surabaya metropolitan area, or known locally as Gerbangkertosusila ( jv, ꦒꦼꦂꦧꦁꦏꦼꦂꦠꦱꦸꦱꦶꦭ, Gerbangkertasusila, from ''Gresik-Bangkalan-Mojokerto-Surabaya-Sidoarjo-Lamongan''), is a metropolitan area in East Java, ...

, the

metropolitan region A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

of Surabaya.

Etymology

Thomas Stamford Raffles Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816, and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. He is ...

in his book,

The History of Java ''The History of Java'' is a book written by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, and published in 1817. It describes the history of the island of Java from ancient times. It was reprinted from a digital master by the Cambridge University Press in 2010. ...

, reveals that the name of Gresik comes from the word ''Giri Gisik'', which means "mountain near the coast", referring to the hilly topography of the Gresik town center near the coast.

History

Since the 11th century, Gresik has become an international trade center visited by many nations such as, Chinese,

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

, Champa, and

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. Gresik Regency is also the first entry point for Islam in Java, which among others is marked by the existence of ancient Islamic tombs from Sheikh Maulana Malik Ibrahim and Fatimah bint Maimun. Gresik has become one of the main ports and trade cities that are quite important since the 14th century, as well as being a haven for ships from Maluku to Sumatra and mainland Asia (including

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

). This continued until the VOC era. The port of Gresik-Djaratan has functioned as an important commercial center since the eleventh century, trading with merchants from as far away as China,

, and

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...

. Some of these traders helped spread Islam in the area. In 1487

Sunan Giri Sunan Giri (also called Raden Paku or Joko Samudro), Muhammad Ainul Yakin (born 1442 CE in Blambangan (now Banyuwangi) is considered one of the Wali Sanga (revered saints of Islam) of Indonesia. History He was the son of Dewi Sekardadu and ...

, also known as Sultan Ainul Yaqin, began to rule Gresik. In his 1515 book, ''Suma Oriental'', the Portuguese apothecary and traveller

Tomé Pires Tomé Pires (1465?–1524 or 1540)Madureira, 150–151. was a Portuguese apothecary from Lisbon who spent 1512 to 1515 in Malacca immediately after the Portuguese conquest, at a time when Europeans were only first arriving in Southeast As ...

described Gresik as "the jewel of Java in trading ports". Sunan Giri's descendants ruled the area for the following two centuries. Initially the Gresik region was part of the Surabaya Regency. In 1974, the Central Government issued PP No. 38 of 1974. All government activities began to be gradually transferred to Gresik and the name changed to Gresik Regency with a center of activity in Gresik town. Also in 1974 the Indonesian government made Gresik, now a suburb of Surabaya, part of Gerbangkertosusila Metropolitan Area, official metropolitan region by Government.

21st-century Gresik

The city has a reputation for its many coffee shops, called ''warkop'' (from ''warung kopi''). In 2002, Petrokimia Putra (owned by PT Petrokimia Gresik), a soccer club from Gresik, has one national league title.

Administration

The Gresik Regency is divided into eighteen administrative districts (''kecamatan''). The districts are tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 censusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and the 2020 censusBadan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. The table also includes the number of administrative villages (330 rural ''desa'' and 26 urban ''kelurahan'') in each district and its post code. Sangkapura and Tambak districts together constitute the island of

Bawean Bawean ( id, Pulau Bawean) is an island of Indonesia located approximately north of Surabaya in the Java Sea, off the coast of Java. It is administered by Gresik Regency of East Java province. It is approximately in diameter and is circumnav ...

, lying to the north of

but administratively a part of Gresik Regency.

Industry

A large number of industries have established themselves in Gresik, mainly supporting agriculture and agricultural machinery. A lot of home-based industry exists, making caps (

songkok The songkok or peci or kopiah is a cap widely worn in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the southern Philippines, and southern Thailand, most commonly among Muslim males. It has the shape of a truncated cone, usually made of black or emb ...

s), bags, etc. One of the largest factories in Gresik are PT. Semen Gresik (Gresik Portland Cement) and PT Petrokimia Gresik. PT. Semen Gresik, the largest cement factory in Indonesia, supplies 41% of the Indonesian market. While PT Petrokimia Gresik, the most complete fertilizer producer in Indonesia, supplies 50% of national subsidized fertilizers.

Climate

Gresik has 44-88% of humidity. The maximum humidity is 88% and the average humidity is 58%. The wind velocity of Gresik is within the range of 0–18 km/hour. The maximum wind velocity is 18 km/hour and the average is 12.6 km/hour. The temperature of this city is within the range of 23 °C-35 °C with the average temperature is 28.5 °C.

References

External links

Official Information Center of Gresik Regency
{{Authority control