Bawean

Bawean Island

Native name: Pulau Bawean
Location of Bawean – north of Java island
Bawean Island Bawean (Indonesia)
Geography
Location	South East Asia
Coordinates	5°46′S 112°40′E / 5.767°S 112.667°E / -5.767; 112.667
Archipelago	Greater Sunda Islands
Area	196.27 km2 (75.78 sq mi)
Highest elevation	655 m (2,149 ft)
Highest point	unnamed
Administration
Indonesia
Province	East Java
Demographics
Population	70,230 (2010 Census)

Bawean Island (Indonesian: Pulau Bawean) is an island of Indonesia located approximately 150 km north of Surabaya in the Java Sea, off the coast of Java. It is administered by Gresik Regency of East Java province. It is approximately 15 km in diameter and is circumnavigated by a single narrow road. Bawean is dominated by an extinct volcano at its center that rises to 655 m above sea level. Its population as at the 2010 Census is about 70,000 people, but more than 26,000 of them (that is about 70% of the male population) were temporarily living outside, working in other parts of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia). As a result, females constituted about 77% of the actual population of the island, which is thus often referred to as the Island of Women (Indonesian: Pulau Putri).

The island territory is divided into two administrative districts, Sangkapura and Tambak. More than half the population (about 45,750) lives in the district of Sangkapura, centred on the town of that name located on the southern coast of the island. The island has rich nature with many endemic species, such as Bawean deer which is only found on the island and is included to the IUCN Red List. There are several large underwater petroleum and gas fields around the island.

The island's name is believed to originate from the Kawi (or Sanskrit) phrase ba (light) we (the sun) an (is) - thus: "having the sunlight". According to the legend, Javanese sailors wandering in the mist in 1350 named the island because they saw a glimpse of light around it; previously the island bore the Arabic name of Majidi.

During the Dutch colonization in the 18th to the 20th centuries, the island was renamed Lubok, but the locals and even the Dutch continued to use the name Bawean. The Dutch name fell out of use in the 1940s.