Tuban

Tuban is a town located on the north coast of Java, in Tuban Regency (of which the town is the administrative capital), approximately west of Surabaya, the capital of East Java. Tuban Regency is surrounded by Lamongan Regency in the east, Bojonegoro Regency in the south and Rembang Regency, Central Java in the west. Tuban town covers and in mid 2022 had an officially estimated population of 84,722. As an ancient town, Tuban is of considerable historical and cultural value. The most prominent feature is the beauty of the scenery such as beaches, caves, and forests, especially the teak forest. Tuban was formerly an important port in the Majapahit era and is mentioned in Chinese records from the eleventh century. An ancient anchor from one of Kublai Khan's ships is preserved in the historical museum. Tuban is believed to have been Islamised before its conquest by Demak c. 1527. Even following its Islamisation, it remained loyal to Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit in the interior. The grave of Sunan Bonang, a sixteenth-century Islamic missionary - one of the Wali Sanga involved in the initial spread of Islam in Java, is located in Tuban. The site is within a few minutes walk of the alun-alun (town square). This site is an important destination for Muslim pilgrims. The Dutch name of the city is 'Toeban'. The town's name has been derived from the following story: a mythical pair of birds flying from Majapahit to Demak dropped a precious heirloom stone on the town thereafter named Tuban based on the Javanese phrase "waTU tiBAN atau meTU BANyu", which means "stone fallen from the sky". Another explanation refers to flooding ("TU BANyu" meaning "water streaming out") that occurred when the aristocratic Islamic scholar Raden Dandang Wacana entered the Papringan Forest, discovering an old well near the seaside that miraculously contained freshwater. The name has furthermore been derived from "Tubo", meaning poison, in keeping with the name of a Tubanese subdistrict named Jenu to this day, which carries the same meaning.