History of Central Java
Since the VII century, there have been many royal governments established in Central Java (Central Java), namely: the Buddhist Kingdom of Kalinga, Jepara which was ruled by Queen Sima in 674. According to the Canggah manuscript/inscription in 732, the Hindu kingdom was born in Medang Kamulan, Java Middle with the name Raja Sanjaya or Rakai Mataram. Under the reign of Rakai Pikatan from the Sanjaya Dynasty, he built Rorojonggrang Temple or Prambanan Temple. The Buddhist Mataram Kingdom was also born in Central Java during the era of the Syailendra Dynasty, they built temples such as Borobudur Temple, Sewu Temple, Kalasan Temple, etc.
In the 16th century after the collapse of the Hindu Majapahit kingdom, the Islamic kingdom emerged in Demak, since then Islam spread in Central Java. After the Demak kingdom collapsed, Djoko Tingkir, son-in-law of the King of Demak (Sultan Trenggono) moved the Demak kingdom to Pajang (near Solo). And declared himself the King of the Pajang Kingdom and had the title Sultan Adiwijaya. During his reign there were riots and rebellions. The biggest war was between Sultan Adiwijaya and Aryo Penangsang. Sultan Adiwijaya assigned Danang Sutowijaya to crush Aryo Penangsang’s rebellion and succeeded in killing Aryo Penangsang. Due to his great services to the Pajang Kingdom, Sultan Adiwijaya gave a gift of Mataram land to Sutowijaya. After Pajang collapsed he became the first Islamic King of Mataram in Central Java and had the title Panembahan Senopati.
In the mid-16th century the Portuguese and Spanish came to Indonesia in an effort to find spices to trade in Europe. At the same time, the British and then the Dutch came to Indonesia too. With the VOC, the Dutch oppressed the Indonesian people, including the people of Central Java, both in the political and economic fields.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the Mataram Kingdom was ruled by Sri Sunan Pakubuwono II, after he died, a dispute arose between the royal family who wanted to choose/appoint a new king. The dispute became even more murky after the Dutch colonial government intervened in the royal family dispute. This dispute was finally resolved with the Gianti Agreement in 1755. The Mataram Kingdom was divided into two smaller kingdoms, namely Surakarta Hadiningrat or Kasunanan Palace in Surakarta and Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat or Sultanate Palace in Yogyakarta.
Until now, the Central Java region is administratively a province established by Law no. 10/1950 dated 4 July 1950.
Central Java, as one of the provinces in Java, is located between two large provinces, namely West Java and East Java. It is located between 5º40′ and 8º30′ South Latitude and between 108º30′ and 111º30′ East Longitude (including Karimunjawa Island). The farthest distance from West to East is 263 Km and from North to South 226 Km (excluding Karimunjawa island).
Administratively, Central Java Province is divided into 29 regencies and 6 cities. The area of Central Java is 3.25 million hectares or around 25.04 percent of the area of the island of Java (1.70 percent of the area of Indonesia). The existing area consists of 1.00 million hectares (30.80 percent) of rice fields and 2.25 million hectares (69.20 percent) of non-rice fields.
According to its use, the largest area of rice fields is technically irrigated (38.26 percent), the others are semi-technical irrigated, rain fed and others. With good irrigation techniques, the potential for rice fields that can be planted with rice is more than twice as high as 69.56 percent.
Next, dry land used for dry land/gardens/fields/huma is 34.36 percent of the total non-rice field. This percentage is the largest, compared to other non-paddy land use percentages.
According to the Semarang Class 1 Climatology Station, the average air temperature in Central Java ranges from 18ºC to 28ºC. Places located near the coast have relatively high average air temperatures. Meanwhile, the average temperature of grassy soil (5 cm deep) ranges from 17ºC to 35ºC. The average water temperature ranges from 21ºC to 28ºC. Meanwhile, average air humidity varies, from 73 percent to 94 percent. The most rainfall is at the Agricultural Meteorological Station specifically for the Salatiga border, amounting to 3,990 mm, with 195 rainy days.