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This article is about the city of Cirebon. For the regency, see Cirebon Regency.

Cirebon (formerly Cheribon) is a city on north coast of the Indonesian island of Java. It is located in West Java province, approximately 297 km east of Jakarta, at 6°43′S, 108°34′E.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Demographics & Culture 3 Administration 4 History 5 Notable places 6 Reference

Its name is derived from the Sundanese words of "Cai" (or water) and "Rebon" (or "shrimp"). Indeed the main production of the city is fishery including shrimps. Aside from fishery, its harbour, Tanjung Emas, to the Java Sea has been a major hub for timbers from Borneo and also serves as a small landing site for the Indonesian military. The city also lies on the major connection road in the north coast of Java, spans from Anyer passing through Jakarta and ends at Surabaya.

The city population is 223,776.Template:CN Similar with other coastal cities in Indonesia, a large population of ethnic Chinese flocked in the city as a result of long-term China immigrants since the seventeenth century.

For indigenous people, there are two major influences from the Javanese and Sundanese culture, evolved into its own language, the Cirebonese.

Cirebon itself is known as Grage in Cirebonese language, which came from the word garage in the Dutch language. It appears that around 1920–1940 there was a garage for buses used during the construction of the the Daendel's post road. The garage is still available at the crossing between the Yos Sudarso Street and the Kesunean Street.

Cirebon is known for local foods, such as nasi lengko (rice mixed with bean sprouts, fried tofu and fermented soybean cake), nasi jamblang (rice of various side dishes), empal gentong ( a kind of curry ), tahu gejrot (fried tofu with red sugar topping), tahu tek-tek (fried tofu topped with peanut sauce and mixed with vegetables) and ayam panggang (barbeque chicken). Other native food is "Docang" (rice cake with sour vegetable soup).

Cirebon is divided into five subdistricts: Harjamukti, Kejaksan, Kesambi, Lemahwungkuk, and Pekalipan.

A major event in Cirebon's colonial history was the massive famine of 1844, apparently triggered by a combination of drought and the shift from subsistence agriculture to cash crops, particularly indigo and sugarcane, that had begun as a result of Dutch colonial policy in the 1830s.

Wali Songo, especially Sunan Gunung Jati, is known to have influenced the city history. Sunan Gunung Jati's grave is located several kilometres outside the city, in a district called Linggarjati. There are two temples and a cave system built by two Chinese architects around 1880s, decorated by Chinese and Western porcelain. Trusmi village, about five kilometers outside of Cirebon, is famous for batik production.

• Graaf, H. J. de (Hermanus Johannes), 1899-(?), "Chinese Muslims in Java in the 15th and 16th centuries : the Malay Annals of Semarang and Cerbon / translated and provided with comments by H.J. de Graaf and Th.G.Th. Pigeaud ; edited by M.C. Ricklefs. Publisher: [Melbourne] : Monash University, 1984. Description: xiii, 221 p. : folded map ; 21 cm. ISBN:0867464194 : Series: Monash papers on Southeast Asia ; no. 12

Coordinates: 6°43′S, 108°34′E