
Bojonegoro Regency (older spelling is Kabupaten Bodjanegara, ) is a regency in East Java Province of Indonesia, about 110 km west of Surabaya and 73 km northeast of Ngawi. It covers a land area of 2,307.06 km2 (890.76 miles2) and is located in the inland part of the northern Java plain, mainly on the south bank of the Solo River, the longest river in Java. It had a population of 1,209,973 at the 2010 Census and 1,301,635 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as of mid 2025 was 1,367,980 (comprising 687,186 males and 680,794 females). The administrative centre of the regency is the town of Bojonegoro.
Previously known as a major producer of teak and tobacco, Bojonegoro is a focus of attention in Indonesia as a new oil field has been found in this area. This oil find is the biggest oil discovery in Indonesia in three decades and one of the biggest reserves in Indonesia.
The racial makeup of this regency is mainly Javanese, with a minority of Chinese, Madurese, Balinese, Batak people, and other Indonesian ethnic groups.
Most residents speak Javanese as a daily language and Indonesian on formal and writing activities, though a minority speak Madurese and other languages.
Drying tobacco leaves in Bojonegoro during colonial period. Agriculture has been the regency's main industry. The Solo River provides a fertile farming area for rice. The main crops are rice and tobacco, as well as maize. In 1984, the area of maize harvested reached 67,000 hectares with yields ranging from 1 to 1.28 t/ha. A typical farmer grows rice in the rainy season, when water is abundant, and tobacco or maize in the dry season. There is a high risk in agriculture because of seasonal uncertainty. Rice growing will fail if the rainy season ends before its time, and tobacco growing will fail if rain comes early.
Bojonegoro is one of the biggest producers of tobacco in Indonesia, with a total value of Rp1.2 trillion (around US$100 million) and employing 57 percent of the workforce. The majority of tobacco planted is Virginia varieties. However, Bojonegoro tobacco suffers from a high proportion of chlorine, and uncertain rainfall. Most tobacco is used to make clove cigarettes (kretek).
Ledre is a snack from Bojonegoro. It is rolled and made from bananas, especially from the local banana cultivar called Pisang Raja.
Bojonegoro has two local television network B-One TV and JTV Bojonegoro. Radar Bojonegoro (Jawa Pos Group) is published daily as a bundle of Jawa Pos newspaper. A monthly tabloid, Blok Bojonegoro, is also based in the regency.
Football (soccer) and badminton are the most popular sports in Bojonegoro. The regency football team, Persibo Bojonegoro, is currently playing in the Indonesian Premier League, the highest level of professional competition for football clubs in Indonesia since 2011. Their home stadium is Lt Gen Sudirman Stadium, Bojonegoro.
Badminton was either introduced by Dutch colonists or, more likely, by ethnic Chinese. Ethnic Chinese in Sumatra introduced badminton from Malaya by inviting Chinese players in the early 1930s. In the mid-1930s, a player from Batavia, Oei Kok Tjoan, visited cities in East Java on some occasions, raising the popularity of badminton. The game began to penetrate small towns such as Tuban, Bojonegoro, Malang, and Jember and became one of the most popular sports in Java.
In archery, athletes from Bojonegoro have dominated many national and international archery championships. Rina Dewi Puspitasari and I Gusti Nyoman Puruhito Praditya have competed in national and international archery competitions, including the 2004 Summer Olympics. As of October 2006, Rina Dewi Puspitasari is ranked 39th in the Recurve Women category with 59.95 points. Praditya is ranked 52 in the Compound Man category with 41.2 points.
One of the distinctive communities in Bojonegoro is the Samin people. They were ethnically indistinguishable from other Javanese people. Samin people are follower of Surosentiko Samin, a local farmer who preached pacifist resistance to Dutch colonial rule in the 1890s. Samin was incited by the acquisition of local teak forest by Dutch colonial authority. Dutch officials refused access to the forest for local people, as it was claimed as Dutch property. Rather than rising in a violent uprising, Samin taught peaceful resistance, such as refusing to pay taxes to the colonial authority and continuing to take teak from the forest as they had for generations. Samin people are nominally Muslim but do not practice many Islamic rituals, such as fasting or regular prayer. Rather, they emphasize the spiritual aspect, as well as honesty, modesty, and simplicity. In this, they are similar to Kejawen's followers. Samin people reside in the southwestern part of Bojonegoro (in the heart of its teak forest) and in Blora Regency, Central Java.
The area near the Solo River is fertile and has been settled since early history by the Javanese. However, these settlements never developed into major urban center, except for several coastal cities. Rather, villages are dependent on a weekly market which rotates among them and bakul (traveling peddlers) collect and distribute agricultural and manufactured products among the villages.
The Solo River played a major role in the development of these settlements. It acted as a source of water and fertile soil, and a means of transportation. A set of copper plates of the Ferry Charter (1358 C.E.) lists over twenty ferry crossings on the lower stretch of the Solo River, downstream from Bojonegoro. Inland settlements would trade agricultural products via trading centres in the coastal cities, like neighbouring Tuban, for spices from Spice Islands, ceramics from China, and other commodities.
The authority over these settlements, including the territory of modern-day Bojonegoro, was held by the dominant power in Central Java, and later East Java, the kingdoms of Mataram, Kediri, Singhasari, and Majapahit.
As a territory in northern Java, the area of modern-day Bojonegoro was one of the first to accept Islam. The Solo River area and most of Java would become part of the Sultanate of Demak and its successor the Sultanate of Mataram.
The modern regency (kabupaten) was founded on October 20, 1677, with Mas Toemapel as the first regent (bupati), with its capital in Jipang village (currently around Padangan District in the westernmost part of Bojonegoro). It was founded as a response to the loss of Mataram's coastal area to the Dutch East India Company. Bojonegoro then became an important border town. In 1725 the capital was moved to its current location.
Bojonegoro town, East Java, Indonesia. Circa 1950
After the Dutch took over Java in the 18th and 19th centuries, Bojonegoro and the neighbouring regencies of Tuban and Lamongan were administered under Bojonegoro Residency, with a Dutch Resident in Bojonegoro town. The resident acted as an advisor and supervisor to the regents, positions which were held by native Javanese nobility (priyayi).
During Dutch rule, tobacco and maize were introduced from the Americas, which would later become major commodities in Bojonegoro.
In 1894, the trans-Java railroad, which linked Batavia and Surabaya and passed through Bojonegoro, was finished, increasing transportation and improving the teak industry. Urbanisation also progressed under Dutch rule.
Since the Indonesian National Revolution, Bojonegoro regency has been administered as part of East Java province, with R.M.T. Suryo, the grandson of the former Bojonegoro regent as its first governor. In 2008, the Bojonegoro people elected its first directly elected regent, following an amendment in the constitution. Suyoto of the National Mandate Party was elected as regent. In the 2018 Election, Dr Hj. Anna Muawannah (PKB-National Awakening Party) won the election by a majority (30.7%) and was elected as regent.
Across the eastern border of Bojonegoro is the Lamongan Regency, to the north is the Tuban Regency, while to the south are the Ngawi Regency, Madiun Regency, Nganjuk Regency, and Jombang Regency. Blora Regency is located to the west, in Central Java Province.
Bojonegoro occupies an area of 2,307.06 km2. Much of it consists of low plains along the Solo River, with hilly areas in the southern part of the Regency. As with most of Java, the Bojonegoro landscape is dominated by rice paddy fields. In the Bojonegoro area, the Solo River changes its course from northward to eastward.
The climate in Bojonegoro is tropical with six months of rainy and dry seasons. Seasonal conditions are often very contrasting. In the rainy season, rain will fall almost daily while in the dry season, rain will not come for months, causing widespread drought and water shortages. These problems have been compounded with the loss of forests and other green areas. The teak forest once covered much of Bojonegoro, but has since considerably reduced due to over-exploitation.
Floods in the rainy season of 2007 were bigger than in previous years. The water level of the Solo River rose due to heavy rain, especially in the upper valley in Central Java, forcing the Gajah Mungkur Dam to be opened. The resulting flood submerged 15 districts, with water as high as 1.5 m, and displaced 2,700 families. A further 2.5 hectares of rice fields were damaged. No casualties were reported.
Bojonegoro has 42-100% of humidity. Maximum humidity is 100% and average humidity is 81%. Bojonegoro has 0–35 kmh (18.9 knots). The average wind velocity is 30 km/h (16.2 knots). It has an average temperature of 27.1 °C - 28.2 °C.