Jember, city in central Indonesia, on the eastern end of the island of Java. Located in the province of East Java, Jember is a center of tobacco production. It also has industries that process sugarcane and other farm products and produce chemicals used to make paper and other goods. As home of the University of Jember (founded in 1957), the city has a larger administrative workforce and service sector than similar Indonesian cities. Jember is on the main road linking the island of Bali, just east of Java, with Surabaya, the capital city of East Java to the northwest.
During the colonial period (which ended in 1949), Jember's economy depended largely on Dutch sugar plantations and also on coffee, tobacco, and rubber plantations that took advantage of the area's rich soils and good rainfall. After independence, the new government nationalized Dutch-owned tobacco estates, stimulating a boom in the local tobacco industry in the 1950s and, consequently, growth in Jember. Population (1990) 218,529.
