Ngawi (town)
Capital of Regency
Kecamatan Ngawi Ibu kota kabupaten
Other transcription(s)
• Javanese script	ꦔꦮꦶ
• Javanese alphabet	Ngâwì
• Pegon	ڠاوي
• Chinese characters	加維
• Pinyin	Jiā wéi
Kartonyono ivory monuments Ngawi square (alun-alun) Kertonegoro bus station Toll road Ngawi 1 Public Senior high school Fort van den Bosch Ngawioboro Street Center Point 0 kilometers of Ngawi city Ketonggo Stadium
Nickname(s):  Kota Ramah (Friendly City), Kota Benteng (Fortress City)
Motto(s):  Ngawi Berakhlak "Ngawi has morals"
Ngawi (town) Location in Java and Indonesia Show map of Java Ngawi (town) Ngawi (town) (Indonesia) Show map of Indonesia
Coordinates: 7°24′38″S 111°27′28″E / 7.41056°S 111.45778°E / -7.41056; 111.45778
Country	Indonesia
Region	Java
Province	East Java
Regency	Ngawi
Established	July, 7th 1358
Government
• District Head	Dodi Aprilasetia
• District Secretary	Agung Wahyu Wibowo
• Head of government section	Eko Syuhrul Fatoni
• General Subdivision	Delta Pranowo
Area
• Total	70.57 km2 (27.25 sq mi)
Elevation	50 m (167 ft)
Population  (end 2023 estimate)
• Total	85,776
• Density	1,200/km2 (3,100/sq mi)
	[1]
Demonym	Ngawians
Demographics
• Ethnic group[2]	Javanese Madura Osing Sundanese Bantenese Arabs Chinese etc.
• Religion[3]	Islam 97.06% Christianity 2.84% Catholicism 0.84% Protestantism 2.00% Buddhism 0.05% Hinduism 0.03% Others 0.01%
Time zone	UTC+07:00 (Indonesia Western Time)
Postcode	63211 – 63218
Area code	(+62) 351
Vehicle registration	AE J**/K*
HDI	78,88 (2023) high[4]
Bus station (main bus station)	Kertonegoro bus station
Train station (main train station)	Ngawi railway station
Website	ngawi.ngawikab.go.id

Ngawi (Indonesian: Kecamatan Ngawi Kota, Indonesian pronunciation: [ŋaˈwi]) is the capital city of the Indonesian regency of Ngawi. It is also the centre of government and economy of Ngawi Regency. Ngawi is also the name of a district (kecamatan) which is in Ngawi Regency. This district is located 183 km west of Surabaya and 610 km east of Jakarta. Geographically, Ngawi is in the middle of the northern part of Ngawi Regency. Infrastructure and settlements from Ngawi Regency are also concentrated in this town, which is the center of education for Ngawi Regency, with almost a quarter of the total school buildings in Ngawi Regency in this district.^[5]

In mid 2023 the population in Ngawi town was estimated at 85,776^[1] people with a density of around 1,215 people per square kilometres, almost one-tenth of the total population Ngawi Regency is domiciled in this urban district. Ngawi has an area of 70.57 km² of which around 48 percent is paddy fields, rivers and plantations, the remainder is in the form of residential land, offices or agencies, shops, industry and other urban infrastructure.^[6]

This District is directly adjacent to Pitu and Margomulyo Districts, Bojonegoro Regency to the north, Kasreman District and Pangkur District to the east, Geneng District, Kwadungan District and Paron District to the south and especially Paron District to the west.^[6]

History

Etymology

Ngawi comes from the word "AWI", which means bamboo which then gets the nasal letters "Ng" to become "NGAWI".^[7] As is the case with names in other areas, there are lots of place (village) names associated with plant names.^[7] As Ngawi pointed out, a place around the edge of Solo River and Madiun River is overgrown with bamboo.^[7]

Kingdoms

In the past, Ngawi came from the word awi/bamboo and at the same time indicated Ngawi's location as a district on the banks of the Bengawan Solo and Madiun rivers. Based on research on ancient objects, it shows that in Ngawi there has been a religious activity since the Airlangga government which still lasted until the end of the reign of the Kingdom of Majapahit.^[8]

This is reinforced by several inscriptions, one of which is the Cangu Inscription which is a legacy of King Hayamwuruk (Sri Rajasanegara) from Majapahit which has the Saka year 1280 (1358) which states that Ngawi is a private area. The enshrinement fragments show a spiritual nature which is closely related to the worship of Mount Lawu (Girindra), but over time there has been a shift due to the influence of the entry of Religion Islam as well as the culture brought by the Europeans especially the Dutch who long enough dominate the government in Indonesia.^[8][9]

Dutch colonial

Another relic is in the form of the Van den Bosch fortress. Now it is called Pendem fort because the location of the fort is underground so it is not visible from the outside. As for its location at the confluence corner between the 2 rivers Bengawan Solo and Madiun.^[8] Fort van den Bosch was built between 1839 and 1845 by the Dutch East Indies government, at which time Ngawi had an important position in the field of transportation. With quite an important role in the past, so that Ngawi can survive and develop into a subdistrict and even the forerunner of the regencial itself. Besides that, Ngawi has played an important role in traffic since prehistoric times, having an important geostrategic position.^[9]

Position of the Dutch government

Fort Van den Bosh is administratively located in the region Pelem, Ngawi (city), Ngawi. This fort is known to have been built in the mid-19th century.^[10] The reason the Dutch colonial government built Fort van den Bosch began when Ngawi was successfully occupied by the Dutch in 1825. At that time, Ngawi was known as the center of trade and shipping in East Java via Solo river and Madiun river and is one of the gateways to districts and cities in East Java.^[10]

The Dutch colonial government wanted Ngawi's strategic position and function and control of the trans-Java trade route at that time. For this reason, the Dutch finally decided to build a government building in the form of a fort, finally it was named Fort van den Bosch. The Dutch colonial government used this fort as protection when fighting Prince Diponegoro's struggle. In this fort there is the tomb of K.H Muhammad Nursalim, a prominent cleric who was also a fighter and companion of Prince Diponegoro.^[10]

Then he was arrested by the Dutch, then imprisoned and buried alive. Kyai Muhammad Nursalim is also known as the figure who first spread Islam in Ngawi.^[10]

Geography

Ngawi is located in the middle of Ngawi Regency which is also the Ngawi part of town. The total area of Ngawi district town is 70.57 km².^[11][6] Administratively, this area is divided into 4 urban village and 12 villages, 86 hamlets.^[12]

Geographically, Ngawi District town is located at 7°35'–7°48' South Latitude and 111°38'–111°50' East Longitude. Ngawi District is also located and flanked by two major rivers, namely the Solo River and Madiun River rivers which flow directly to the northern part of the Ngawi District.^[6]

Borderline

• Pitu District, Margomulyo Districts to the north (on Bojonegoro Regency)
• Kasreman District, Pangkur District to the east
• Geneng District, Paron District to the south
• Paron District to the west

Geology

The geological condition of Ngawi city consists of Alluvium, Litosol, Mergel and Limestone Lands. Based on geological conditions, Ngawi is categorized as an area that is relatively safe from earthquakes because it is located far from the Kendeng fault line which is located in the Randublatung and most of the area Bojonegoro Regency. This area has unstable soil contours or moves during the dry season in the form of hollow soil or cracked soil so that infrastructure development requires geotechnical engineering.^[6]

Topography

Ngawi is located in the center of the northern part of Ngawi Regency. The area is directly adjacent to Kasreman and Pangkur Districts to the east, Kwadungan and Geneng Districts to the south, Paron District in the west and Pitu and Margomulyo Districts in the north. The majority of the Ngawi District area is lowland, namely 72.08% with an altitude between 43 – 57 meters above sea level, while the rest are hilly areas, namely 27.92% which are in the northern Ngawi region, namely Kerek Village, Ngawi Villy, Banyuurip Village and some areas Karangtengah Prandon Village north with an altitude between 57 – 133 meters above sea level. Soil structure in Ngawi consists of alluvial soil, the result of river deposits Solo river and Madiun river, in the north and northeast there are hills which are included in the Kendeng mountain area which contains high levels of lime because the majority of the land in Ngawi to the north and northeast is in the form of less fertile rocky soil. In Ngawi there are two large rivers namely Solo river and Madiun river. The Madiun River is one of the two main rivers that divide parts of the Ngawi region namely Ngawi District to the west and Ngawi District to the east or what is often called the ancient Ngawi region. Paddy fields and plantations are located in the western, southern and eastern regions of the city's Ngawi District while the forest area is in the north of Ngawi which is directly adjacent to Margomulyo.^[6]

Climate

The climate in Ngawi District is a tropical climate, similar to the climate in Ngawi Regency. The temperature, weather, rainfall and humidity in the Ngawi District are not much different from the climate in Ngawi Regency. But the difference is only a few numbers. Based on Köppen climate classification, Ngawi District is included in the wet and dry tropical climate category (Aw) with two seasons in a year namely rainy season and dry season. Rainfall in Ngawi averages 163 mm per month and 1,951 mm per year. The highest rainfall above 200 mm occurs from January to March and November to December. The average air temperature in Ngawi ranges from 24.7 °C to 29.8 °C.^[13]