Kudus ( Javanese: ꦏꦸꦢꦸꦱ꧀) is the capital and the namesake of the

Kudus Regency Kudus () is a Regencies of Indonesia, regency () in Central Java province in Indonesia. Its capital is the town of Kudus, Kudus, Kudus. It covers 425.15 km2 and is thus the smallest regency on Java Island in area, and it had a population of ...

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 ...

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 name has an Arabic etymology (

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

: القدس al-Quds) connected to its foundation by the legendary figure

Sunan Kudus Sunan Kudus (born Syekh Jafar As-Shodiq bin Utsman Al-Hamadani; 1500-1550), founder of Kudus, is one of the ''Wali Sanga'' (lit. "Nine Saints"), of Java, Indonesia to whom the propagation of Islam amongst the Javanese is attributed. He is sa ...

. It also houses the mosque established by Sunan Kudus named

Menara Kudus Mosque The Menara Kudus Mosque () or Al-Aqsha Mosque is located in Kudus, Kudus, Kudus in the Indonesian province of Central Java. Dating from 1549, it is one of the oldest mosques in Indonesia, built at the time of The spread of Islam in Indonesia, Isl ...

, one of the most important and influential mosques in Indonesia. According to the 2010 census, its population was 92,776, but by mid-2022 this had declined to 88,635. During the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

era, Kudus was the seat of the

which was a part of

Semarang Residency Semarang Residency () was an administrative subdivision (Residency (administrative division), Residency) of the Dutch East Indies located on the northern coast of Central Java and named after its capital city Semarang. It existed from 1818 to 1942, ...

dating back to 1817. From 1928 to 1931, it was the seat of the short-lived

Koedoes Residency Koedoes Residency () was an administrative division ( Residency) of Central Java province of the Dutch East Indies with its capital at Kudus, which existed between 1928 and 1931. It was significantly larger than the present-day Kudus Regency, as ...

, which incorporated the regency as well as the neighboring

Demak Demak is on the north coast of Central Java province, on the island of Java, Indonesia. * Demak, Demak, modern-day large town * Demak Sultanate, sixteenth century sultanate * Demak Regency, modern-day regency around the town {{geodis ...

and

Jepara Jepara is a town in the province of Central Java, Indonesia. Jepara is on the north coast of Java, northeast of Semarang, not far from Mount Muria, with a population of 85,970 in mid 2024.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2025, ''Kabup ...

regencies.

History

On 8 December 1951, a clash between the ex-426 Battalion fighters and the Indonesian Armed Forces occurred in Kudus after the battalion commander refused to surrender. This marked the start of Battalion 426 rebellion. During the battle, the rebels fired mortar shells, and some fell to the town square. The battle lasted until dusk when heavy rain poured on the town, resulting in the ex-426 Battalion members fleeing the town to the south.

Climate

Kudus has a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

(Am) with moderate to little rainfall from May to October and heavy to very heavy rainfall from November to April.

References

Populated places in Central Java Regency seats of Central Java {{CJava-geo-stub Serang basin