Serang (, , Sundanese: ) is a city and the capital of Banten province and was formerly also the administrative center of

Serang Regency Serang Regency (Sundanese language, Sundanese: ) is a Regencies of Indonesia, regency of Banten province, Indonesia. It is located in the northwest corner of the island of Java. The administrative center of the regency is at Ciruas, while the capi ...

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, ...

(the Regency's capital is now at Ciruas). The city is located towards the north of Banten province, on the island of

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 ...

; the north part of the city (Kasemen District) contains the coast zone facing onto Banten Bay, and includes the historical site of Old Banten, after which the province is named. Before Banten province was formed in 2000, Serang city was part of

West Java West Java (, ) is an Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to t ...

province. Serang has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...

, with no

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...

month. It faces the

Java Sea The Java Sea (, ) is an extensive shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south, Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east. Karimata Strait to its northwest links it to the South Ch ...

, which is home to the

Thousand Islands The Thousand Islands (, ) constitute a North American archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada–US border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about downstream fr ...

. Serang had a population of 576,961 in the 2010 census,Biro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. making it the third most populous city in the province of Banten. The 2020 Census gave a total of 692,101;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 735,651.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 6 September 2024, ''Kota Serang Dalam Angka 2024'' (sum of returns in district Katalogs as referenced below) Serang is located approximately 15 km from the border of

Jabodetabek The Jakarta metropolitan area or Greater Jakarta, known locally as ''Jabodetabekpunjur'' (an acronym of Jakarta–Bogor– Depok– Tangerang– Bekasi further extended to include Puncak region of Bogor Regency and portions of Cianjur Regency ...

(the Jakarta Metropolitan Area), and is sometimes considered as amalgamated with

Greater Jakarta The Jakarta metropolitan area or Greater Jakarta, known locally as ''Jabodetabekpunjur'' (an acronym of Jakarta– Bogor– Depok– Tangerang– Bekasi further extended to include Puncak region of Bogor Regency and portions of Cianjur Regenc ...

Culture

Religion

The majority of people in Serang and Banten Province embrace Islam, but other religions coexist peacefully. Serang is often known as "''

kota santri ''Kota santri'' ("city of santri" or "city of pious people") is an epithet used in Indonesia, predominantly in Java, given to a region historically important in the context of Education in Islam, Islamic education. The term ''santri'' generally mea ...

''" or the "city of pious people", due to the history as a traditional center of Islamic learning.Mencari Kota Santri
''Times Indonesia''. Retrieved April 2, 2021. The city hosts two of the major

congregational mosque A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''Friday prayer, jumu'ah' ...

s in Banten province, Ats-Tsauroh Great Mosque of Serang and Al-Bantani Grand Mosque, which hold the capacity of 2,500 and 10,000 worshippers respectively.Masjid Agung Ats Tsauroh
''Dunia Masjid''. Retrieved April 29, 2021.MASJID AL-BANTANI
''Sistem Informasi Masjid''. Retrieved April 30, 2021.

Language

Compared with the majority in Banten Province who speak the

Sundanese language Sundanese ( ; , Sundanese script: , ) is an Austronesian language spoken in Java, primarily by the Sundanese. It has approximately 32 million native speakers in the western third of Java; they represent about 15% of Indonesia's total pop ...

, some local residents in Serang also speak the

Javanese language Javanese ( , , ; , Aksara Jawa, Javanese script: , Pegon script, Pegon: , IPA: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language spoken primarily by the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, Indones ...

with a dialect similar to the

Cirebon Cirebon (, formerly rendered Cheribon or Chirebon in English) is a port city on the northern coast of the Indonesian island of Java. It is the only coastal city of West Java, located about 40 km west of the provincial border with Central J ...

dialect of Javanese. The reason for this is that many Javanese migrants arrived in early 1527 to build the

Banten Sultanate The Banten Sultanate (, ) was a Bantenese people, Bantenese Islamic trading sultanate, kingdom founded in the 16th century and centred in Bantam (city), Banten, a port city on the northwest coast of Java; the contemporary English name of both w ...

, and remained to form the base of today's population.

Transportation

The city is served by station, operated by Indonesia's rail operator PT

Kereta Api Indonesia PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) (, abbreviated as PT KAI or simply KAI) is a major railway operator in Indonesia and one of the Public transportation, public railway companies in the country. It is State-owned enterprise, state-owned and pa ...

. The Tangerang–Merak Toll Road, part of the Trans-Java toll road, passes through the city of Serang. The road to the proposed Sunda Strait Bridge would start in Serang, pass through Merak in neighboring

Cilegon Cilegon ( Indonesian: ''Kota Cilegon'', ; Sundanese: ) is a major coastal industrial city in Banten province, Indonesia, covering . It is located on the island of Java. The city had a population of 374,464 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, ...

city to cross over the Sunda Strait to Sumatra.

Administrative districts

Serang was formerly a part of Serang Regency. On 2 November 2007, the status of Serang was changed into a municipality (''kota madya''), independent of the Regency. Since that time, Serang City is a semi-enclave within Serang Regency, as the city borders the regency in the south, east, and west, while it borders with

in the north. The City of Serang is divided into six

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 Census and the 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2023.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 6 September 2024, ''Kota Serang Dalam Angka 2024'' (sum of returns in district Katalogs as referenced below) 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 (all classed as urban ''kelurahan'') in each district, and its postal codes.

Climate

Serang has a

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Af'') with heavy rainfall year-round. Rain gets noticeably heavier from December to March.

Emblem

The emblem of Serang consists of * A hexagon with an image of the ''gerbang Kaibon'' and a star. * The streamer at the foot of the emblem contains the motto of Serang city, ''Kota Serang Madani'' ("Self-reliant Serang").

Notable People

* Arif Cahyono (born 1975) - army general

References

External links

* *
List of Subdistricts, Villages, and Postal Codes of the Serang City
{{Authority control Populated places in Banten Provincial capitals in Indonesia Cibanten basin