Tuban is a coastal town, with wide airy streets and a Mediterranean fell. From the West, tambak (fish ponds) line the route into this sleepy fishing town and administrative center. Established in the twelveth century, by the sixteenth century Tuban had become an important trading center with a large Chinese population of merchants and other commercial intermediaries servicing the spice trade between the islands of Maluku and India, the Middle East and Europe. Visitors to the Majapahit Kingdom arrived at Tuban, and Kublai Khan's envoy in the thirteenth century landed here.
The former wealth of this town is reflected in the fine Chinese ceramics which have been found in the vicinity, and in the pageantry of the jousts that were held on the alun-alun (or square) which are recorded in European accounts of the period. The Chinese presence is also reflected in the presence of what is reputed to be the largest Chinese temple in East Java.