Serang (Indonesian:Kota Serang,Indonesian pronunciation:[kotasɛraŋ],Sundanese:ᮞᮦᮛᮀ) is a city and the capital ofBanten province and was formerly also the administrative center ofSerang Regency inIndonesia (the Regency's capital is now at Ciruas). The city is located towards the north of Banten province, on the island ofJava; the north part of the city (Kasemen District) contains the coast zone facing ontoBanten Bay, and includes the historical site ofOld Banten, after which the province is named. Before Banten province was formed in 2000, Serang city was part ofWest Java province.
Serang had a population of 576,961 in the 2010 census,[4] making it the third most populous city in the province of Banten. The 2020 Census gave a total of 692,101;[5] the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 735,651.[2] Serang is located approximately 15 km from the border ofJabodetabek (the Jakarta Metropolitan Area), and is sometimes considered as amalgamated withGreater Jakarta.
Seba Baduy festival of the indigenousBaduy people.
The majority of people in Serang and Banten Province embrace Islam, but other religions coexist peacefully. Serang is often known as "kota santri" or the "city of pious people", due to the history as a traditional center of Islamic learning.[6] The city hosts two of the majorcongregational mosques in Banten province,Ats-Tsauroh Great Mosque of Serang andAl-Bantani Grand Mosque, which hold the capacity of 2,500 and 10,000 worshippers respectively.[7][8]
Compared with the majority in Banten Province who speak theSundanese language, some local residents in Serang also speak theJavanese language with a dialect similar to theCirebon dialect of Javanese. The reason for this is that many Javanese migrants arrived in early 1527 to build theBanten Sultanate, and remained to form the base of today's population.
The road to the proposedSunda Strait Bridge would start in Serang, pass through Merak in neighboringCilegon city to cross over the Sunda Strait to Sumatra.
Serang was formerly a part of Serang Regency. On 2 November 2007, the status of Serang was changed into a municipality (kota madya), independent of the Regency. Since that time, Serang City is asemi-enclave within Serang Regency, as the city borders the regency in the south, east, and west, while it borders withJava Sea in the north.
The City of Serang is divided into sixdistricts (kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census[4] and the 2020 Census,[5] together with the official estimates as at mid 2023.[2] The table also includes the number ofadministrative villages (all classed as urbankelurahan) in each district, and its postal codes.
^abcBadan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 6 September 2024,Kota Serang Dalam Angka 2024 (sum of returns in district Katalogs as referenced below)
