The Republic of Indonesia has been independent since 1945, after having been the Dutch East Indies for more than 350 years. It is a huge country, stretching along both sides of the Equator for more than 46 degrees of longitude (roughly 5100 km or 3200 miles). Comprised of some 17,000 islands (more than 6000 inhabited islands), it has hundreds of major aids to navigation. Madura is a large island off the northeastern coast of Java. The island, roughly 130 km (80 mi) long east to west and up to 35 km (22 mi) wide, is separated from Java by the Madura Strait. At its western end the strait is quite narrow and is crossed by the 5.4 km (3.4 mi) long Suramadu Bridge. On the south side of Madura, however, the strait is a broad sound up to 80 km (50 mi) wide. Madura has a population of roughly 4 million. Indonesia is divided into 38 provinces (provinsi) and the provinces are subdivided into county units called regencies (kabupaten). Madura is included as part of East Java (Jawa Timur) Province; the other lighthouses of that province are described on the Northeastern Java and Southeastern Java pages. Madura is divided into four regencies. Sumenep Regency, located at the east end of Madura, includes the outlying Masalembu, Sapudi, and Kangean Islands. More than 700 languages are spoken in Indonesia. The official national language, Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia), was standardized from a form of Malay that served as a lingua franca across the archipelago. In Indonesian a lighthouse is a mercusuar or a menara suar. Tanjung is a cape, ujung is a headland or point of land, bukit is a hill, sungai is a river, kuala or muara is an estuary or river mouth, pulau is an island, karang is a reef, batu is a rock, laut is a sea, selat is a strait, teluk is a bay, pelabuhan is a harbor, and labuhan is a port. The original Dutch names of historic lighthouses, if known, are shown in curly brackets {}. Aids to navigation in Indonesia are operated and maintained by the Directorate of Marine Navigation within the Directorate General of Sea Transportation ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume Q of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 112.
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Bangkalan Regency (Western Madura) Lighthouses
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![]() Pulau Karangjamuang Light, Bangkalan, May 2023 Google Maps photo by Y R Lee |
Sumenep Regency Lighthouses
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![]() Masalembu Besar Southwest Light, Masalembu Islands, October 2022 Google Maps photo by Ahmad Shiddiqi |
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![]() Tanjung Madura Light, Sumenep, October 2018 ex-Google Plus photo by Aulia Hanif |
Pamekasan and Sampang Regencies: South Coast and Central Madura Strait Lighthouses
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: South Kalimantan (Borneo) | South: Southeastern Java | West: Northeastern Java
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted April 13, 2006. Checked and revised September 29, 2024. Lighthouses: 41. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.