Sumenep Regency

Sumenep Regency (Madurese: Songènèb) is a regency of East Java province, Indonesia. It has an area of 1,998.5 km² and a population of 1,042,312 inhabitants at the 2010 Census (an increase from 985,981 at the previous census in 2000); the latest official estimate (as of January 2014) is 1,071,591. The regency occupies the eastern end of Madura island but also includes numerous islands to the east, north, and south of Madura. It is bordered by Pamekasan Regency to the west, Madura Strait to the south, and Java Sea to the north and east. Its administrative capital is Sumenep.

Etymology

The local Madurese name for the regency, Songènèb, is formed from the Kawi phrases sung, meaning a basin or valley, and ènèb, meaning quiet, thus, the word translates to "quiet valley". The name was already known since the time of the medieval Hindu-Buddhist kingdom of Singhasari, in particular being mentioned in the Pararaton manuscript, which told the exile of Arya Wiraraja, a royal adviser of the last king of Singhasari, Kertanegara, who would eventually become a prominent figure in the creation of the Majapahit empire, to the eastern Madurese dukedom of Sumenep. The text is read as: Hanata Wongira, babatangira buyuting Nangka, Aran Banyak Wide, Sinungan Pasenggahan Arya Wiraraja, Arupa tan kandel denira, dinohaksen, kinun adipati ring Sungeneb, anger ing Madura wetan which translates to It is a servant, a descendant of the chairman of Nangka village, called Banyak Wide, provisionally named Arya Wiraraja, apparently not trusted, was told to be kept in Sumenep duke. Residing in the east of Madura.

Sumenep (city)

Sumenep is a town on Madura Island in Indonesia; it is the administrative capital of Sumenep Regency, in East Java Province. Hugely prosperous in the eighteenth century, it is now a quiet, peaceful backwater, with its past glory still in evidence.