Surakarta (
Hanacaraka: , often called
Solo and less commonly
Sala) is a
city in
Central Java, Indonesia of more than 499,337 people with a population density of 10,853 people/km
2. The 46 km
2 city adjoins
Karanganyar Regency and
Boyolali Regency to the north,
Karanganyar Regency and
Sukoharjo Regency to the east and west, and
Sukoharjo Regency to the south. On the eastern side of Solo lies
Solo River (Bengawan Solo). Its built-up (
or metro) area made of Surakarta Municipality and 59 districts spread on 7 regencies was home to 3,649,254 inhabitants as of 2010 census. The city is the seat of
Surakarta Sunanate keraton (palace/court). Together with
Yogyakarta, Surakarta is the heir of the
Mataram Kingdom that was split into two kingdoms in 1755. The two built-up area are actually agglomerating each other building a metropolis of more than 7,660,000 inhabitants.