Merak (city)
| Pulo Merak Merak |
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| Coordinates | 5 ° 56 ′ S , 106 ° 0 ′ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Indonesia | ||
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Geographical unit |
Jawa | ||
| province | Banten | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | ID-BT | ||
| Kota | Cilegon | ||
 The port of Merak (Pelabuhan Merak)
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Merak ( Indonesian Pulo Merak ) is a port city in the administrative area of the city (Kota) Cilegon in the Indonesian province of Banten . The port, which is located at the western end of the island of Java and is suitable for very large ships, is the starting point for a ferry across the Sunda Strait to Bakauheni in the east of Sumatra and handles a significant part of the cargo handling for the island of Java.
Large petrochemical factories are located in the industrial area of Merak; Java's largest coal-fired power station, called Suralaya Power Station, is also located here . PT Peni , a subsidiary of BP Chemicals , was established in 1993 and is Indonesia's largest producer of polyethylene . Merak is connected to Serang and the Indonesian capital Jakarta by a good road and railway line .
The Dutch ruled the island of Java from the late 16th century . Merak was one of the settlements preferred by the Europeans because of its conveniently located port. During the Napoleonic Wars, the British occupied Java from 1811 to 1816.
In the coastal region in the southwest of the province of Banten, tourism is an important branch of the economy.
During the great eruption of the Krakatau volcano in the Sunda Strait on August 27, 1883, a very strong tsunami with many other settlements also destroyed part of Merak. In the vicinity of the city, the Karang volcano dominates part of the coastal region.
Merak which made Japanese in World War II , during the Pacific War , a bridgehead for the capture of Java. On March 1, 1942, the first troops of the second division , the main force in the Japanese attack, landed here and immediately began the rapid advance over the main roads to Batavia without being disturbed by the weak Dutch coastal defense forces .
With the involvement of investors from Europe, the Indonesian government is planning to build a tunnel connection at Merak under the sea to directly connect the railway networks of Sumatra and Java.
Remarks
- ↑ cf. Indonesian article Pulo Merak, Cilegon
