Cirebon, the Shrimp City

Cirebon is a city on the north coast of the Indonesian island of Java. It is located in the province of West Java, approximately 297 km east of Jakarta. Cirebon also known as “Kota Udang (shrimp city).

Its name is often said to be derived from the Sundanese words of "Cai" (or river) and "Rebon" (or "shrimp"). (Indeed the main production of the city is fishery including shrimps.) The alternative Javanese derivation is from "Caruban", meaning "mixture"--a reference to Cirebon's complex mix of Javanese, Malay, Sundanese, Chinese and Arabic cultural elements. While Indonesians from outside Cirebon pronounce the name CHEE-ray-bone, locals say Cher-BONE.

Aside from fishery, its harbour, Tanjung Emas, on the Java Sea has been a major hub for timber from Borneo. A small landing site "Penggung" also serves the TNI-AU. The city lies on Jalur Pantura (Pantai Utara Jawa), a major road on the northern coast of Java that stretches from Anyer, passes through Jakarta, and ends at Surabaya.

Cirebon was part of the Sunda kingdom as stated in the travel records of Prince Bujangga Manik, a Sundanese Hindu monk who visited all the holy Hindu sites in the islands of Java and Bali at the beginning of the 16th century AD. In his lontar manuscripts, which have been saved in the Bodleian Library of Oxford University in England since the 16th century, the borders of the Sunda kingdom in the west are the Sunda Straits and in the east are the Pamali River (present day Brebes River) and the Serayu River in Central Java Province.

Cirebon itself is known as Grage in the Cirebon dialect of Javanese language, which came from the words "Negara Gede", meaning "Great Kingdom."

As a coastal city, Cirebon's main industry is fishery. Its products include terasi (shrimp paste), shrimp crackers and salted fish. 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 (barbecue chicken). Another native food is "Docang" (rice cake with sour vegetable soup).