Gresik Regency ( older spelling: Grissee, ) is a regency within East Java Province of Indonesia. As well as a large part of the

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...

northern and western suburbs, it includes the offshore

Bawean Island 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 circumn ...

, some 125 km to the north of Java and Madura. 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 metropolitan region of

Etymology

Thomas Stamford Raffles in his book, The History of Java, 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 Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

, Arabs,

Champa Champa (Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ; km, ចាម្ប៉ា; vi, Chiêm Thành or ) were a collection of independent Cham polities that extended across the coast of what is contemporary central and southern Vietnam from approximately the 2nd cen ...

, and Gujarat. 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 Malik Ibrahim (died 7 April 1419), also known as Sunan Gresik or Kakek Bantal, was the first of the Wali Songo, the nine men generally thought to have introduced Islam to Java. Biography Ibrahim's origin is unclear, although it is generally ag ...

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 and Persia). This continued until the

VOC VOC, VoC or voc may refer to: Science and technology * Open-circuit voltage (VOC), the voltage between two terminals when there is no external load connected * Variant of concern, a category used during the assessment of a new variant of a virus * ...

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 China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, India, and Arabia. Some of these traders helped spread Islam in the area. In 1487 Sunan Giri, also known as Sultan Ainul Yaqin, began to rule Gresik. In his 1515 book, ''Suma Oriental'', the Portuguese apothecary and traveller Tomé Pires 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

, 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 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 o ...

(''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, lying to the north of Madura 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 ( songkoks), bags, etc. One of the largest factories in Gresik are PT. Semen Gresik (Gresik Portland Cement) and

PT Petrokimia Gresik Petrokimia Gresik is a fertilizer company located in Gresik, East Java, Indonesia, which was initially established under the name 'Project of Petrokimia Surabaya'. The construction agreement was mutually signed on August 10, 1964 with the effect ...

. 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
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