Ngawi (, ) is a city in the Ngawi Regency, East Java Province of Indonesia which is the capital and the centre of government and economy of Ngawi Regency. Ngawi is also the name of an administrative district (kecamatan) which is within the Regency. This district is located 183 km west of Surabaya and 610 km east of Jakarta. Geographically, Ngawi District 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.A Brief Review of the City of Ngawi Sub-district – Ngawi Subdistrict Government Database
In mid 2024 the population in Ngawi town was estimated at 85,817 with a density of around 1,058 people per square kilometre. Almost one-tenth of the total population of Ngawi Regency is domiciled in this district, which has an area of 81.08 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.
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.
History Etymology
Ngawi comes from the word "AWI", which means bamboo which then gets the nasal letters "Ng" to become "NGAWI". As is the case with names in other areas, there are lots of place (village) names associated with plant names. As Ngawi pointed out, a place around the edge of Solo River and Madiun River is overgrown with bamboo.
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.
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 Islam as well as the culture brought by the Europeans especially the Dutch who long enough dominate the government in Indonesia.
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. 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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
Geography
Ngawi District is located in the middle of Ngawi Regency which is also the Ngawi part of town. The total area of Ngawi District is 81.08 km. Administratively, this area is divided into 4 urban villages and 12 rural villages, subdivided into 86 hamlets.
Geographically, Ngawi District is located at 7°35'–7°48' South Latitude and 111°38'–111°50' East Longitude. It is also flanked by two major rivers, namely the Solo River and Madiun River rivers which flow directly to the northern part of the Ngawi District.
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.
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.
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.
Government Ngawi is led by a district head who is then assisted by a district secretary or secretariat in carrying out his duties. The current head of the Ngawi District is Arin Royanto, who has served since early 2026 and is assisted by a district secretary named Agung Wahyu Wibowo.
Administrative region Administratively, the Ngawi District area has 12 rural villages (desa) and 4 urban villages (kelurahan) which are divided into 86 hamlets (dusun) or neighborhoods (lingkungan). The following is a list of names of the villages (desa and kelurahan) located in Ngawi District: Name Ward or village Area in km2 Pop'nestimate2022 Number ofhamlets Postal code Ministry of Affairs code Banyuurip Village 6.03 1,798 3 63218 35,21,09,2005 Beran 7.46 12,054 9 63216 35,21,09,2006 Grudo 5.05 7,019 6 63214 35,21,09,2008 Jururejo 3.59 6,321 6 63215 35,21,09,2007 Kandangan 9.01 6,461 6 63218 35,21,09,2002 Karang Asri 4.97 8,001 3 63218 35,21,09,2004 Karangtengah Prandon Village 6.29 5,750 8 63218 35,21,09,2011 Kartoharjo Village 5.86 3,924 4 63218 35,21,09,2003 Kerek Village 2.64 1,139 3 63218 35,21,09,2012 Mangunharjo Village 8.01 6,002 6 63218 35,21,09,2001 Ngawi Village 1.95 2,902 9 63218 35,21,09,2010 Watualang 7.91 5,969 8 63218 35,21,09,2009 Karangtengah town Ward 0.66 3,308 6 63218 35,21,09,1014 Ketanggi Ward 1.01 5,579 6 63211 35,21,09,1015 Margomulyo Ward 2.16 7,033 4 63217 35,21,09,1013 Pelem Ward 0.62 1,643 3 63212 35,21,09,1016
Demographics Religion
As of 30 June 2022,Religion in Ngawi District – Ministry of Home Affairs Population Data for 2022 the majority religion in Ngawi District is Islam, whose total adherents reach 97.09% or as many as 83,368 people of the entire population of Ngawi District, with its total population of 85,862. In Ngawi there is also the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, which is the largest mosque in the district and even in Ngawi Regency. The mosques in this district are almost evenly distributed to the outskirts of the Ngawi District.
Other religions adhered to by the majority of the population include Christianity, with 2,420 people (2.82%) of whom Protestants total 1,689 people (1.97%) and Catholics total 731 people (0.85%). The majority of its adherents come from ethnic Chinese and ethnic East Indonesia and a minority of local Javanese. In Ngawi District there are also several churches including the St. Yosef Ngawi Catholic Church, the Jawi Wetan Ngawi Christian Church, Pentecostal Church in Indonesia Karang Asri, GBIKA Ngawi and so forth.
Other religions adhered to by residents of Ngawi District apart from Islam and Christianity are Buddhism with 45 people (0.05%), Hinduism with 29 people (0.03%) and the rest are Treat of YME of 4 souls (0.01%).
Language
The language that is often spoken by the people of Ngawi town is language Indonesia as the official language. Javanese language is the language which is the dominant main language in Ngawi town.
The Mataraman Javanese dialect is a dialect of the Javanese language that is spoken by many people in Ngawi Regency, especially in the Ngawi District area and the former residency areas of Madiun, Kediri and Bojonegoro. The term "Mataraman" refers to a cultural area which includes the west-south part of East Java because of that area was ruled by the Mataram Sultanate in Central Java. This dialect is also spoken by some people in Lamongan, parts of western Malang, parts of western Jombang, and southern parts of Banyuwangi. Based on the results of the 2020 Population Census, the percentage of speakers of the Javanese dialect of Mataramam reaches 34.62% of the total population of East Java as a whole.