Pekalongan

Pekalongan is a coastal city in Central Java, Indonesia, on the northern coast of the province. It was once the seat of Pekalongan Regency and is now an independent municipality that covers 45.25 square kilometres. The official estimate for mid-2025 was 324,564 people, up from 281,434 at the 2010 census. It is the most important port of Central Java and is known for batik; since December 2014 it has belonged to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, the first Southeast Asian city on the list. Its history reaches back to a Chinese record of 1178 that mentions a seaport called Pukalong, and an ancient inscription of the seventh century found nearby is linked to the Kalingga kingdom. By the early seventeenth century the area was part of the Sultanate of Mataram, and the Dutch called the city Pacalongan.