Surakarta

About Surakarta

Surakarta (Javanese: ꦯꦸꦫꦏꦂꦠ, Pegon: سوراكارتا), known colloquially as Solo (Javanese: ꦱꦭ, romanized: Sålå), is a major city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 46.72 km2 (18.04 sq mi) city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoharjo Regency to the east and west, and Sukoharjo Regency to the south. On the eastern side of Solo flows Solo River (Bengawan Solo). Its metropolitan area, consisting of Surakarta City and the surrounding six regencies ("Greater Solo Area", formerly Special Region of Surakarta), was home to 6,837,753 inhabitants according to the official estimates for mid-2023, 526,870 of whom resideed in the city proper.

Surakarta is the birthplace of former President of Indonesia Joko Widodo, as well as his son and current Vice President of Indonesia, Gibran Rakabuming Raka. The former served as Mayor of Surakarta from 2005 to 2012, as did the latter from 2021 to 2024.

Hominid habitation in the region of Surakarta is evidenced from roughly one million years ago, the age of the "Java Man" skeleton found 80 kilometres upstream. Another famous early hominid from this area is called "Solo Man".

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.