East Java

East Java (Jawa Timur, Jawa Wétan) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes the neighbouring islands of Madura, and the Kangean, Sapudi, Bawean, and Masalembu groups.

Its capital is Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia and a major industrial center and port. In 2010, the province's population was estimated at 37,476,000.

It has a land border with the province of Central Java.

History
East Java's history dates back to the famous ancient kingdoms of Kediri and Singosari, which is now a city near Malang. The Majapahit empire, centered at Trowulan, Mojokerto East Java, is celebrated by Indonesians as the golden age of the archipelago. Most of the Eastern Java region was part of the Mataram Kingdom during its peak, apart from the Kingdom of Blambangan at Java's far eastern end nearest to Bali.



Administrative divisions


East Java is administratively divided into 29 regencies (or kabupaten), together with 9 cities (or kotamadya) that are independent of the regency in which they sit.

Demography
According to the 2000 census, East Java has 34,765,993 inhabitants, which had increased to 37,476,011 at the 2010 Census, making it the second most populous Indonesian province after West Java. The inhabitants are predominantly ethnically Javanese. Native minorities include migrants from nearby Madura, and distinct Javanese ethnicities such as the Tengger people in Bromo, the Samin and the Osing people in Banyuwangi. East Java also hosts a significant population of other ethnic groups, such as Chinese, Indians, and Arabs. In addition to the national language, Indonesian, they also speak Javanese. Javanese as spoken in the western East Java is a similar dialect to the one spoken in nearby Central Java, with its hierarchy of high, medium, and low registers. In the eastern cities of Surabaya, Malang, and surrounding areas, a more egalitarian version of Javanese is spoken, with less regard for hierarchy and a richer vocabulary for vulgarity.

Madurese is spoken by around 15 million ethnic Madurese, and is concentrated in Madura Island, Kangean Islands, Masalembu Islands, the eastern parts of East Java, and East Java's larger cities.

Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism once dominated the island, however Islam, gradually supplanted Hinduism in the 14th and 15th centuries (see the spread of Islam in Indonesia). The last nobles and loyalists of the fallen empire of Majapahit fled from this point to Bali. Islam spread from northern cities in Java where traders from Gujarat, India brought with them Islam. The eastern part of East Java, from Surabaya to Pasuruan, and the cities along the coast, and back to Banyuwangi to Jember, are known as the "horseshoe area" in context with earlier Muslim communities living there.

Pockets of Hinduism remain, and syncretic abangan streams of Islam and Hinduism remain strong (see Hinduism in Java).

Natural resources

 * Chalk (Trenggalek & Gresik the city is also famous of its cement industries)
 * Marble (Tulungagung)
 * Oil (Cepu)
 * Salt (Madura Island)
 * Kaolinite (Blitar)
 * Sulfur

Seaports
East Java will build 4 seaports by 2013 in Lamongan, Gresik, Probolinggo and Banyuwangi.

Education
East Java hosts some of the famous universities in Indonesia, both owned by government and private. Three major cities for universities, because they have government's universities, are Surabaya, Malang, and Jember. Among them, Airlangga University and Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember are the most famous, and both are located in Surabaya. See: List of universities in East Java

Another important form of education that is available in most cities in East Java is the pesantren. This kind of education is built and organized by Islamic clerics, and associated with local or national Muslim organizations. Jombang is a famous city for its pesantren.

Media
East Java supports several regional media outlets. Local newspapers with provincial news reach their readers earlier than their competitors from Jakarta. In the spirit of "providing more news from around readers", most newspapers even issue municipal sections which are different among their distribution areas.


 * Jawa Pos Group, one of the major newspaper groups in Indonesia, is based in Surabaya.
 * Surya, is a newspaper based in Surabaya. Surya is now controlled by Kompas, one of the major newspaper groups in Indonesia

National parks

 * Meru Betiri National Park - Between Jember and Banyuwangi districts, this park covers 580 km2. Hard to get to, it contains fantastic coastal rainforest and scenery and is home to abundant wildlife.
 * Alas Purwo National Park - This 434 km2 park is formed by the Blambangan Peninsula (south eastern Java). Comprising mangrove, savanna, lowland monsoon forests and excellent beaches, the park's name means First Forest in Javanese. Javanese legend says that the earth first emerged from the ocean here.
 * Baluran National Park - This 250 km2 national park is located in north east Java, once known as Indonesia's little piece of Africa, the parks formerly extensive savanna has been largely replaced by Acacia.
 * Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park - Located in East Java at the region of Probolinggo and Pasuruan, 70 km from Surabaya the capital city of East Java province. Mount Bromo is one of the great hiking and trekking destinations for overseas tourists. The breathtaking view of Bromo also attracts hundreds of photo enthusiasts to see the views there.

Local economic governance
Based on the survey conducted between August 2010 and January 2011, East Java included 11 of the top 20 cities and regencies of the Local economic governance which measures nine parameters: The top 5 were:
 * infrastructure
 * private enterprises development program
 * access to land
 * interaction between local administrations and businesses
 * business licensing
 * local taxes and fees
 * security and business conflict resolution
 * capacity and integrity of regional heads
 * quality of local regulations
 * Blitar, East Java
 * North Lampung Regency, Lampung
 * Probolinggo, East Java
 * Batu, East Java
 * Sorong Regency, West Papua

Cuisine
East Java cuisine tends to be saltier than that of Central Java.