Hominid habitation in the region of Surakarta is evidenced from roughly one million years ago, the age of the "Java Man" skeleton found 80 kilometres upstream.

The official court history claims that Surakarta originally stood on a lake, which was drained by the favor of the mythical queen of the southern sea, Kanjeng Ratu Kidul.

His relationship with the Dutch, his large family, and his popularity contributed to perhaps the largest funeral procession that ever occurred in Surakarta.

After hearing the proclamation of Indonesian Independence, Pakubuwono XII declared Surakarta a part of the Republic of Indonesia.

Because of this support, President Sukarno declared Surakarta a Special Region with the Susuhunan, Pakubuwono XII, continuing as governor.

In October 1945, a republican movement was established in Surakarta led by Tan Malaka, a member of the Indonesian Communist Party.

The new vizier, KRMT Yudonagoro, and 9 other court officials were also kidnapped by the same movement in March 1946, including the heir to the viziership KRMTH Wuryaningrat.

[10] In response, Prime Minister of Indonesia Sutan Syahrir met with Wuryaningrat and other Surakarta leaders in May and agreed to abolish the established government entirely.

[11] On 16 June 1946, the Surakarta "special region" was abolished and replaced with a regency (kabupaten), administered by a republican government outside the control of the Susuhunan and his court.

[9] On 26 June Prime Minister Sutan Syahrir was kidnapped in Surakarta by a rebel movement led by Major General Soedarsono, the commander of the 3rd division.

Sukarno asked the local military commander in Surakarta, Lieutenant Colonel Suharto to arrest Major General Soedarsono and the rebel group.

[12] Suharto refused to follow this command unless it was given directly by the Military Chief of Staff, General Soedirman.

Sukarno was angry at this rejection of his commanding authority and called Suharto a stubborn (koppig) officer.

[12] Suharto pretended to support the rebellion and persuaded Soedarsono and his group to stay at his headquarters at Wiyoro, Surakarta for their safety.

In November 1946, the communists kidnapped the regent and vice-regent and seized power for themselves, a coup quickly legitimated after the fact by Sukarno.

[14] In December 1948, the Dutch attacked and occupied the cities of Yogyakarta and Surakarta as part of Operation Kraai.

The Indonesian Army, led by General Soedirman, started a guerrilla war in surrounding areas.

To disprove this, the Indonesian army conducted large-scale raids into the cities of Yogyakarta and Surakarta, called Serangan Oemoem.

On average Surakarta receives just under 2,200 mm (87 in) of rainfall annually, with its wettest months being December, January, and February.

Surakarta City and its surrounding regencies, Karanganyar, Sragen, Wonogiri, Sukoharjo, Klaten, and Boyolali, are collectively called the ex-Surakarta Residency (Dutch: Residentie Soerakarta).

Furthermore, the government of Indonesia officially defines a broader region as Surakarta's extended metropolitan zone, with the acronym "Subosukawonosraten" (for SUrakarta, BOyolaki, SUkoharjo, KAranganyar, WONOgiri, SRAgen, KlaTEN) as the city and the entire 6 surrounding regencies,[24] which reflects a broader planning region, though not a core metropolitan area as some of its regencies are not particularly suburbanized.

At that time, with an area of about 5,677 km2 (2,192 sq mi), there were 1,053,985 people in Surakarta Residency, including 2,694 Europeans and 7,543 Indonesian-Chinese.

[31] Based on the industry, most people in Solo worked in trade (106,426), services (59,780), manufacturing (42,065), communication (16,815), construction (9,217), financing (9,157), or agriculture (2,608), and the rest in mining, electricity, gas, and water companies (700).

[37] The per capita GDP of Surakarta in 2009 was 16,813,058.62 IDR, the fourth highest in Central Java after Kudus, Cilacap, and Semarang.

[40] Religion in Surakarta (2021)[41][42] Most people in the city are Muslims, followed by Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Confucians.

[48][49][50] Adisumarmo International Airport (IATA code: SOC) has direct flights to Kuala Lumpur by Malaysia Airlines and during the hajj season, Saudi Arabia, as well as regular flights to Jakarta by Garuda Indonesia, Sriwijaya Air, Lion Air and Citilink.

On July 26, 2011, the Bathara Kresna Rail Bus has been launched to serve Purwosari–Wonogiri route, but for the moment only Purwosari-Sukoharjo trackage was ready due to there are 99 bridges should be strengthen between Sukoharjo-Wonogiri.

[53] Until April 2012, Surakarta-Wonogiri railbus is still in a big question mark due to the 12 tons railbuses are considered too heavy for existing railroad track that only has the capacity of accommodating 10-ton vehicles, furthermore PT KAI have proposed a fare between Rp30,000 ($3.27) and Rp40,000 ($4.36) per passenger, while Surakarta administration wants tickets to be priced much lower between Rp5,000 ($0.54) and Rp7,000 ($0,76).

Built at a cost of $20 million, it is a smaller replica of the grand mosque in Abu Dhabi,[59] and is named in honour of the UAE's founder, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.