# Sumenep (town)

Kota Sumenep, officially the Kota Sumenep District, was previously known as Fort of Samanap in English, is a town and district which serves as the regency seat of Sumenep Regency, in the East Java province of Indonesia. It is the second smallest and populated district in Sumenep Regency, with an area of 27.84 square kilometres (10.75 sq mi) and the population of 75,367 as of 2023. The administrative capital is Pamolokan. On 29 June 2004, part of the Kota Sumenep District was expanded into a separate district, namely Batuan District.
This district is located 175 km east of Surabaya and 965 km east of Jakarta. Geographically, Kota Sumenep is in the eastern coast of Madura island. Infrastructure and settlements from Sumenep Regency are also concentrated in this district, which is the center of government and economy for regency at the far eastern end of the island of Madura. Hugely prosperous in the eighteenth century, it is now a quiet, peaceful backwater, with its past glory still in evidence.

## Etymology

Kota Sumenep gained it is name from the combination of two words. The word Kota comes from Indonesian word kota which in turn comes from the Sanskrit word कोट्ट (koṭṭa) which means fort, fortress, castle, fortified house, fortification, works, city, town, or place encircled by walls. It is also used formally in a few other Indonesian towns (districts) and cities, for example; Kota Jantho, Kota Tambolaka, and Kota Waisai. It can also be used informally to refer to any towns (districts) or cities. Hence, a direct translation of the name Kota Sumenep into English would be "Town of Sumenep" or "Sumenep Town".
While, the name Sumenep originated from the language of Old Javanese people from the words of Sungeneb (Kawi: ᬲᬸᬗᭂᬦᭂᬩ᭄, romanized: Suṅĕnĕb) which means "the quiet valley", referring to most of the Kota Sumenep area which used to be land used by swamp deposits. Hence, Western writers often refer to Sumenep as Soemanap, Soemenap or Soemenep. In Bijdragen tot de kennis van de residentie Madoera (1858) published in Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indië, J. Hageman stated that since Tirtonegoro replaced Cokronegoro II in 1751, the word Sumenep was used officially as meaning "settled water" – bezonken water (in Dutch).

## Geography

Most of the Kota Sumenep District area is located in the lowlands, which around 46 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. It is bordered by the Manding District to the north, Gapura District with Kalianget District to the east, and the Batuan District to the south and west.

### Climate

Kota Sumenep has a tropical savanna climate (Aw) with May to November and heavy rainfall from December to April.
Climate data for Sumenep (Kalianget) (1991–2020 normals) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 31.3 (88.3) | 31.4 (88.5) | 32.0 (89.6) | 31.7 (89.1) | 31.7 (89.1) | 31.0 (87.8) | 30.8 (87.4) | 31.0 (87.8) | 32.2 (90.0) | 33.1 (91.6) | 32.8 (91.0) | 31.8 (89.2) | 31.7 (89.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 27.8 (82.0) | 27.7 (81.9) | 27.8 (82.0) | 28.1 (82.6) | 28.4 (83.1) | 28.0 (82.4) | 27.5 (81.5) | 27.8 (82.0) | 28.4 (83.1) | 29.1 (84.4) | 29.0 (84.2) | 28.0 (82.4) | 28.1 (82.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 25.0 (77.0) | 24.9 (76.8) | 25.1 (77.2) | 25.3 (77.5) | 25.6 (78.1) | 25.1 (77.2) | 24.7 (76.5) | 24.8 (76.6) | 25.2 (77.4) | 25.9 (78.6) | 26.0 (78.8) | 25.2 (77.4) | 25.2 (77.4) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 253.6 (9.98) | 217.3 (8.56) | 187.1 (7.37) | 144.5 (5.69) | 97.3 (3.83) | 58.8 (2.31) | 27.9 (1.10) | 4.0 (0.16) | 7.6 (0.30) | 39.4 (1.55) | 91.7 (3.61) | 249.0 (9.80) | 1,378.2 (54.26) |
| Average precipitation days | 16.1 | 14.8 | 14.0 | 11.8 | 7.0 | 4.1 | 2.4 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 2.7 | 7.7 | 16.0 | 98.1 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 135.9 | 133.4 | 165.4 | 173.5 | 236.1 | 239.5 | 268.9 | 297.5 | 288.4 | 289.1 | 207.8 | 122.1 | 2,557.6 |
| Source: Starlings Roost Weather ||||||||||||||

## Government

Kota Sumenep is led by a head of district who is then assisted by a district secretary or secretariat in carrying out his duties. The current head of the Kota Sumenep District is Yudi Nursukmadyanto, who has served since 2024 and is assisted by a district secretary named Parman.

### Administrative divisions

Administratively, the Kota Sumenep District area has 12 villages (desa) and 4 urban villages/wards (kelurahan) which are divided into 57 hamlets (dusun) or neighborhoods (lingkungan). The following is a list of names of the villages (desa and kelurahan) located in Kota Sumenep District:
| Name Village or Ward | Area in km$^2$ | Pop'n estimate 2021 | Number of hamlets | Postal code | Ministry of Affairs code |
| Kolor | 3.24 | 12,845 | 5 | 69417 | 35.29.01.2005 |
| Pabian | 4.95 | 6,468 | 4 | 69417 | 35.29.01.2006 |
| Marengan Daya | 0.95 | 2,251 | 4 | 69417 | 35.29.01.2007 |
| Kacongan | 2.24 | 2,173 | 4 | 69417 | 35.29.01.2008 |
| Paberasan | 4.09 | 4,283 | 4 | 69417 | 35.29.01.2009 |
| Parsanga | 3.18 | 5,047 | 3 | 69417 | 35.29.01.2010 |
| Bangkal | 0.41 | 2,348 | 3 | 69417 | 35.29.01.2011 |
| Pangarangan | 0.53 | 5,297 | 3 | 69412 | 35.29.01.2014 |
| Kepanjin* | 0.33 | 3,200 | 4 | 69415 | 35.29.01.2015 |
| Pajagalan* | 0.65 | 3,926 | 2 | 69416 | 35.29.01.2016 |
| Bangselok* | 0.43 | 4,972 | 4 | 69416 | 35.29.01.2017 |
| Karangduak* | 0.30 | 3,724 | 4 | 69417 | 35.29.01.2018 |
| Pandian | 0.73 | 4,418 | 3 | 69414 | 35.29.01.2019 |
| Pamolokan** | 1.74 | 7,934 | 4 | 69412 | 35.29.01.2013 |
| Kebunan | 1.54 | 3,130 | 3 | 69417 | 35.29.01.2012 |
| Kebunagung | 2.52 | 2,773 | 3 | 69413 | 35.29.01.2020 |
Note: (*) urban village/ward (kelurahan). (**) administrative capital.