Date of city's founding changed to May 31, 1293

It turns out that historians have found it difficult to determine the exact origin of Surabaya, one of Indonesia's oldest towns. No wonder then that the city has had two official anniversaries to date.

When the country was still under Dutch colonial rule, the Dutch Indies administration decided that April 1, 1906, was the official date of Surabaya's founding. So for a number of years, the people of Surabaya commemorated their city's anniversary on April 1.

Experts eventually began to doubt the wisdom of the Dutch colonial administration's decision. This led the Surabaya municipality administration to set up a team in 1973 to carry out extensive research to determine just when exactly Surabaya was founded.

After poring over numerous historical texts and artifacts, the historians came up with four dates.

The first was Sept. 11, 1294, the date when Raden Wijaya bestowed a reward to the people and the village chief of Kedadu for their help in fighting against the Tartar soldiers.

The second was July 7, 1358, the date on the ancient inscription of Trowulan I stating that the name of Surabaya was for the first time used as naditira pradeca sthananing anambangi (the village on the bank of river, a crossing site)

The third was Nov. 3, 1486, the date on the ancient Jiu inscription, which stated that the Surabaya regent ruled for the first time in that region.

The fourth was May 31, 1293, the date when Raden Wijaya's soldiers defeated and expelled Kublai Khan's Tartar soldiers from Ujunggaluh.

Of these four possible dates, and taking into consideration all of the historical arguments, the regional legislative assembly of Surabaya and the Surabaya municipality administration selected May 31, 1293, as the official anniversary of the city.

The city that is today called Surabaya developed from a small village located near the trading port of Ujunggaluh, according to historians.

It, however, remains unclear why the name Surabaya was chosen, and the port of Ujunggaluh eventually disappeared from all historical records. But many believe that the entire coastal area was named Surabaya in the 14th century, replacing the name Ujunggaluh.

The trading port of Surabaya experienced massive growth in the 15th century, when it regularly received traders from other parts of the archipelago. At that time, there were about 1,000 families living in the area.

Ever since people have come from far and wide to settle in the city. The Chinese arrived in the 17th century and established communities in the areas of Kembang Jepun, Slompretan, Bongkaran and Semut Utara. Then came the Arabs, who settled near the mosque of Sunan Ampel. --JP