Banten Bay also known as Bantam Bay is a bay

Bay

A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...

 in Banten

Banten

Banten is a province of Indonesia in Java. Formerly part of the Province of West Java, it was made a separate province in 2000.The administrative center is Serang. Preliminary results from the 2010 census counted some 10.6 million people.-Geography:...

 province, near the north west tip of Java, Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. It is part of the Java Sea

Java Sea

The Java Sea is a large shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf. It was formed as sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age. The Java Sea lies between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south; Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east...

 and has a total water surface of approximately 150 square kilometres and an average depth of seven metres. It includes marine ecosystems such as seagrass

Seagrass

Seagrasses are flowering plants from one of four plant families , all in the order Alismatales , which grow in marine, fully saline environments.-Ecology:...

 fields, coral reef

Coral reef

Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...

s and a major international bird sanctuary.http://www.unesco-ihe.org/vmp/articles/Projects/PRO-telukbanten.html The coastal zone, including the nearby cities of Serang

Serang

Serang is a regency of Banten province, Indonesia. The administrative center of the regency and the capital of the province is the independent municipality of Serang...

 and the port of Merak, is undergoing rapid industrialisation.

The bay has been the site of two major naval battle

Naval battle

A naval battle is a battle fought using boats, ships or other waterborne vessels. Most naval battles have occurred at sea, but a few have taken place on lakes or rivers. The earliest recorded naval battle took place in 1210 BC near Cyprus...

s:

• Battle of Bantam
  Battle of Bantam
  The naval Battle of Bantam took place on 27 December 1601 in Bantam Bay, Indonesia, when an exploration fleet of 5 Dutch vessels defeated a larger Portuguese fleet including galleons and fustas.Ships involved:-Netherlands:Gelderland...
  
  , 1601, during the Dutch-Portuguese War
  Dutch-Portuguese War
  The Dutch–Portuguese War was an armed conflict involving Dutch forces, in the form of the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, against the Portuguese Empire. Beginning in 1602, the conflict primarily involved the Dutch companies invading Portuguese colonies in the Americas,...
  
  
• Battle of Sunda Strait
  Battle of Sunda Strait
  The Battle of Sunda Strait was a naval battle which occurred during World War II. On the night of 28 February – 1 March 1942, the Australian light cruiser and the American heavy cruiser faced a major Imperial Japanese Navy task force. After a fierce battle of several hours duration, both Allied...
  
  , 1942, during World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...