History of Jakarta
Encyclopedia
The history of Jakarta begins with its first recorded mention as a Hindu port settlement in the 4th century. Ever since, the city had been variously claimed by the Indianized kingdom of Tarumanegara, Hindu Kingdom of Sunda, Muslim Sultanate of Banten
, Dutch East Indies
, Empire of Japan
, and finally Indonesia
.
Jakarta has been known under several names: Sunda Kelapa during the Kingdom of Sunda period; Jayakarta, Djajakarta or Jacatra during the short period of Banten Sultanate; Batavia, under the Dutch colonial empire; and Djakarta or Jakarta during the Japanese occupation and the modern period
. In AD 397, King Purnawarman established Sunda Pura as a new capital city for the kingdom, located at the northern coast of Java. Purnawarman left seven memorial stones across the area with inscriptions bearing his name, including the present-day Banten
and West Java
provinces.
ruled Sumatra, the Malay peninsula, and western Java (known as Sunda
). The port of Sunda was described as strategic and thriving, pepper
from Sunda being among the best in quality. The people worked in agriculture and their houses were built on wooden piles.
One of the port at the mouth of a river
was renamed Sunda Kelapa
or Kalapa as written in a Hindu
Bujangga Manik
, a monk's lontar manuscripts, one of the precious remnants of Old Sundanese literature. The port served Pakuan Pajajaran (present day Bogor
), the capital of the Sunda Kingdom. By the fourteenth century, Sunda Kelapa became a major trading port for the kingdom.
. Malacca had been conquered in 1511 by Afonso de Albuquerque
. The Portuguese were planning to establish a port in Sunda Kelapa as a relay route to the Moluccas, the famed "Spice Islands", in search of the black pepper
.
Some years later, the Portuguese Enrique Leme visited Kalapa with presents for the King of Sunda. He was well received and on August 21, 1522 and signed a treaty of friendship between the kingdom of Sunda and Portugal through the Luso Sundanese padrão
. The treaty allowed the Portuguese to build a godown and to erect a fort in Kalapa. This was regarded by the Sundanese as a consolidation of their position against the raging Muslim troops from the rising power of the Sultanate of Demak
in Central Java.
In 1527, Muslim
troops coming from Cirebon and Demak attacked the Kingdom of Sunda under the leadership of Fatahillah. The king was expecting the Portuguese to come and help them hold Fatahillah's army because of an agreement that had been in place between Sunda and the Portuguese. However, Fatahillah's army succeeded in conquering the city on June 22, 1557, and Fatahillah changed the name of Sunda Kelapa to Jayakarta (जयकर्; "Great Deed" or "Complete Victory" in Sanskrit
), also written as Djajakarta or Jacatra.
. Prince Jayawikarta, a follower of the Sultan of Banten, established a settlement on the west banks of the Ciliwung River
. He erected a military post there in order to control the port at the mouth of the river.
In 1595, merchants from Amsterdam
set up an expedition to the East Indies
archipelago. Under the command of Cornelis de Houtman
, the expedition arrived in Jayakarta in 1596 with the intention of trading spices; more or less the same as that of the Portuguese.
Meanwhile in 1602, the English East India Company's first voyage, commanded by Sir James Lancaster, arrived in Aceh
and sailed on to Bantam
, the capital of the Sultanate of Banten, where he was allowed to build trading post which becomes the centre of English trade in Indonesia until 1682.
In 1610, the Dutch merchants were granted permission to build a wooden godown and some houses just opposite of Prince Jayawikarta settlement on the east bank of the river. As the Dutch grew more and more powerful, Jayawikarta allowed the British to erect houses on the West Bank of Ciliwung River
and a fort close to his Customs Office post to keep his strength equal to that of the Dutch. Jayawikarta was in support of the British because his palace was under the threat of the Dutch cannons. In December 1618, the tense relationship between Prince Jayawikarta and the Dutch escalated. Jayawikarta soldiers besieged the Dutch fortress that covered two strong godown, namely Nassau and Mauritius. The British fleet made up of 15 ships arrived. The fleet was under the leadership of Sir Thomas Dale, an English naval commander and former governor of the Colony of Virginia (present State of Virginia).
After the sea battle, the newly appointed Dutch governor Jan Pieterszoon Coen
(1618) escaped to the Moluccas to seek support (where the Dutch had already took the first of the Portuguese forts in 1605). Meanwhile, the commander of the Dutch army, Pieter van den Broecke
, along with five other men, was arrested when the negotiation was underway because Jayawikarta felt that he was deceived by the Dutch. Later, Jayawikarta and the British entered into a friendship agreement.
The Dutch army was about to surrender to the British when in 1619, a sultan from Banten sent soldiers and summoned Prince Jayawikarta, asking his responsibility for establishing closed realtionship with the British without first asking an approval from Banten authorities. The conflict between Banten and Prince Jayawikarta as well as the tensed relationship between Banten and the British had given a new opportunity for the Dutch. Relieved by the change in situation, the Dutch army, under the leadership of Jan Pieterszoon Coen, attacked and burned the city of Jayakarta and its Palace on May 30, 1619 without any opposition. The population of Jayakarta was expelled. There were no remains of Jayakarta except for the Padrão of Sunda Kelapa
which were discovered much later in 1918 during an excavation for a new house in Kota area on the corner of Cengkeh street and Nelayan Timur Street, and is now stored at the National Museum in Jakarta. The location of Jayakarta was possibly located in Pulau Gadung. Prince Jayawikarta retired to Tanara
in the interior of Banten and died there. The Dutch established a closer relationship with Banten, took control of the port and so the Dutch East Indies
ruled the entire region.
), but he was not allowed by the central government of the Netherlands East Indies, the Heeren XVII, and instead Batavia was the new name for the fort and the new settlement, after the Germanic tribe of the Batavi
, believed to be the ancestor of the Dutch people during that time. Since then Jayakarta was called Batavia for more than 300 years.
Ever since its foundation in 1619, the Javanese people were unwelcomed in Batavia, because of the feared possibility that they would rise against the Dutch. Coen asked Bontekoe, a skipper for the Dutch East India Company, to bring 1000 Chinese people from Macao
to Batavia. Only a couple dozen survived the trip. In 1621, 15,000 people were deported from Banda Islands
to Batavia, only 600 survived the trip.
On August 27, 1628, Sultan Agung, king of the Mataram Sultanate
(1613–1645), launched his first offensive on Batavia in 1628. He suffered heavy losses, retreated, and launch a second offensive in 1629. The Dutch fleet destroyed his supplies and his ships in the harbours of Cirebon
and Tegal
. Mataram troops, starving and decimated by illness, retreated again. Later, Sultan Agung pursued his conquering ambitions to the east. He attacked Blitar
, Panarukan and the Blambangan principality in Eastern Java, a vassal of the Bali
nese kingdom of Gelgel
.
After the siege, it was decided that Batavia would need a stronger defense system. Simon Stevin
, a Flemish mathematician and a military engineer, were employed to design a walled city. His response it a typical Dutch city criss crossed with a canal and straightening the flow of river Ciliwung. Jacques Specx
further developed the design by creating a moat and city wall which surrounded the city. Extension of the city walls were erected to the west of Batavia, completely enclosing the city. Only the Chinese people and the Mardijkers were allowed to settle within the walled city of Batavia.
In 1656, because of a conflict with Banten, the Javanese were not allowed to reside within the city walls and they decided to settle outside Batavia. In 1659, a temporary peace with Banten enable the city to grew. During this period, more bamboo shacks appeared in Batavia. From 1667, bamboo houses within the city were banned, as well as the keeping of livestock. Because the city attracted many poeple, suburbs began to emerged outside the city walls.
The outside was considered unsafe for the non-native inhabitant of Batavia. Only when a new peace treaty was signed with banten in 1684 then the marsh area around Batavia can be fully cultivated. Country houses were established outside the city walls. The Chinese people made a start with the cultivation of sugarcane
and tuak
, later coffee
was also cultivated.
The large scale cultivation caused destruction on the environment. In addition to that, there was coastal erosion in the northern area of Batavia. Maintenance of the canal was extensive, because the canals were easily closed and need to be continuously dredged. The marshy area around Batavia was a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. In the 18th century, Batavia became increasingly affected by malaria
epidemics. Many Europeans which arrived in Batavia would die because of illness caught in Batavia, giving a nickname to Batavia "Het kerkhof der Europeanen", "the cemetery of the Europeans". Those who could afford moved to higher areas to the south. Eventually, the old city will finally be dismantled in 1810.
Batavia was founded as a trade and administrative center of the Dutch East India Company, and was never intended as a settlement company for the Dutch people. Coen founded Batavia to be a trading company in the form of a city filled with people who would took care of the production and the supply of food. As a result, there were no migration of Dutch families. Instead a mixed society was formed.
There were few Dutch women in Batavia. Dutch men often came into contact with Asian women without marrying them because of the fact that the women could not return to the Republic
. This societal pattern created a group of mestizo
descendants in Batavia. The sons of this mixed group often went to Europe to study, while the daughters had to remain in Batavia. This group of daughters often married a VOC
officials at a very young age. Because the women always stayed in Batavia, they were important in the social networking in Batavia. They were accustomed to deal with slaves and spoke their language, mostly Portuguese and Malay. Many of these women were often widows, especially when their husband decided to leave Batavia to Netherlands and often they had to give up their children. These women were known as snaar (“string”) during those time.
Since the VOC wanted to organized everything on their own, they decided to keep as little as free citizens as possible and employed many slaves. Batavia became an unattractive location for people who wanted to establish their own business.
Most of the residents of Batavia were of Asian descent. There were thousands of slaves brought from India
and Arakan
. Later, slaves were brought from Bali
and Sulawesi
. To avoid uprising, it was decided that the Javanese should not be kept as slaves. Chinese people made up the largest group in Batavia, most of them are merchants and laborers. The Chinese people were the most decisive group in the development of Batavia. There was also a large group of freed slaves, usually Portuguese-speaking Asian Christians who were formerly slaves to the Portuguese. They were made prisoners by the VOC in the many conflicts with the Portuguese. Portuguese was the dominant language in Batavia until late 18th century, when the language was slowly replaced with Dutch and Malay. Additionally, there were also Muslim and Hindu merchants from India and Malays.
Initially, these different ethnic groups live side by side. In 1688, complete segregation was enacted to the indigenous population. Each ethnic group had to live in their own established village outside the city wall. There were Javanese village for Javanese people, Moluccan village for the Moluccans, and so on. Each people were tagged with a lead identity tag to identify them with their own ethnic group. Later, this identity tag was replaced with a parchment. Intermarriage between different ethnic groups had to be reported.
Within Batavia's walls, wealthy Dutch built tall houses and canals. Commercial opportunities attracted Indonesian and especially Chinese immigrants, the increasing numbers creating burdens on the city. Tensions grew as the colonial government tried to restrict Chinese migration through deportations. On 9 October 1740, 5,000 Chinese were massacred
and the following year, Chinese inhabitants were moved to Glodok
outside the city walls.
In the 18th century, more than 60% population of Batavia were slaves working for the VOC. They mostly did the housework. Working and living conditions were generally reasonable. There were laws that protected them against an overly cruel action from their masters. Christian slaves were given freedom after the death of their master. Some slaves were allowed to own a store and made money to free themselves. Sometimes, slaves fled and established gangs roaming the area, creating an unsafe environment around Batavia.
From the beginning of the VOC establishment in Batavia until the colony became a fully fledged town, the population of Batavia grew tremendously. At the beginning, Batavia had around 50,000 inhabitants. In the second half of the 19th century, Batavia had 800,000 inhabitants. By the end of the VOC rule of Batavia, the population of Batavia reached one million.
expanded all the VOC's territorial claims into a fully fledged colony named the Dutch East Indies
. From the company's regional headquarters Batavia now evolved into the capital of the colony. During this era of both urbanisation and industrialisation
Batavia was at the inceptive stage of most modernising developments in the colony.
In 1808 Daendels decided to quit the by then dilapidated and unhealthy Old Town
and build a new town center further to the south, near the estate of Weltevreden
. Batavia had thus become a city with two centers: Kota as the hub of business, where the offices and warehouses of shipping and trading companies were located, while Weltevreded became the new home for the government, military, and shops. These two centers were connected by the Molenvliet Canal and a road (now Gajah Mada Road) which ran alongside it. This period in the 19th century shows many technological advancement and city beautification in Batavia, earning Batavia a nickname "De Koningin van het Oosten", "Queen of the East".
The city began to move further south as epidemics in 1835 and 1870 encouraged more people to move far south of the port.
By the end of the century the capital and regency of Batavia numbered 115,887 people of which 8,893 were Europeans, 26,817 Chinese and 77,700 indigenous islanders. Many schools, hospitals, factories, offices, trading companies, and post offices were established throughout the city. Improvements in transportation, health, and technology in Batavia caused more and more Dutch people to migrate to Batavia, making the society of Batavia becoming more and more Dutch like. These Dutch people who never set their foot on Batavia were known locally Totoks. The term totok was also used to identify a new Chinese arrivals, to differentiate them with the Peranakan
. Many totoks developed a great love for the Indies culture of Indonesia and adopted this culture. They would wear a kebaya
, a sarong, and a summer dress.
In Indonesian National Revival era, Mohammad Husni Thamrin, a member of Volksraad criticized the Colonial Government for ignoring the development of kampung (inlander's area) while focusing the development for the rich people in Menteng. He also talked on the issue of Farming Tax and other taxes which burdened people. Some of his speeches are still relevant in today's Jakarta.
The consequence of these expanding commercial activities was the immigration of large numbers of Dutch employees as well as rural Javanese into Batavia. In 1905, the population of Batavia and around the area reached a tremendous 2.1 million, including 93,000 Chinese people, 14,000 Europeans, and 2,800 Arabs, as well as local population. This resulted in a great demand for housing and land prices soared. New houses were often built closely packed together with kampung settlements filling the spaces in between. This development with little regard for the tropical conditions resulted in too many people living too close together, in houses with poor sanitation and no public amenities. In 1913, the plague broke out in Java. During this period, the Old Batavia, with its abandoned moats and ramparts, experienced a new boom as the commercial companies established themselves along the Kali Besar once more. In a very short period, the area of Old Batavia reestablished itself as a new commercial center with 20the century buildings and 17th century buildings standing side by side.
See also List of colonial buildings and structures in Jakarta
1836 the first Steamboat
arrived at the Batavia shipyard of Island Onrust.
1853 the first exhibition of agricultural products and native arts & crafts was held in Batavia.
1860 the Willem III school was openend.
1869 the Batavia Tramway Company started the horse-tram line nr 1: Old Batavia (now: Jakarta Kota). Route: From Amsterdam Gate at the northern end of Prinsenstraat (now: Jl Cengke) to Molenvliet (now: Jl Gaja Madah) and Harmonie. After 1882 the horse-tram lines were reconstructed into steamtram lines. The electric train that ran from 1899 was the first electric train in the Kingdom of Netherlands.
The abolition of the Cultuurstelsel in 1870 made way for rapid development of private enterprise in the Dutch Indies. Numerous trading companies and financial institutions established themselves in Java, most of them settled in Batavia. Jakarta Old Town's deteriorating structures were replaced with offices, typically along the Kali Besar. These private companies owned or managed plantations, oil fields, and mines. Railway stations were designed during this period, with characteristic style of this period.
1864 the concession for constructing the Batavia-Bogor railway was granted and completed in 1871.
1878 the first centenary of the Batavia Society of Arts & Sciences was celebrated.
International trade with Europe boomed, and the increase of shipping led to the construction of a new harbor at Tanjung Priok between 1877 and 1883.
1881 the first dry docks were opened on Island Amsterdam just off the Batavia roadsteads.
From 1881 to 1884 the railway infrastructure was expanded to connect Batavia to Sukabumi
, Cianjur
and Bandung
. In 1886 the Batavia harbour was connected to the railway system. By 1894 Batavia was connected to Surabaya
.
1883 the Dutch Indies Telephone Company was established in Batavia.
1884 the first exhibition of Javanese arts & crafts at the Zoological gardens.
1888 the Anatomical and Bacterial Institute was established.
1895 the Pasteur Institute was established.
To strengthen its position in Indonesia, the Japanese government issued an Act No. 42 1942 on the "Restoration of the Regional Administration System". This act divided Java into several Syuu (Resident Administration or Karesidenan), each was led by a Bupati (Regent). Each Syuu was divided into several Shi (Municipality or Stad Gemeente), led by a Wedana (District Head). Below a Wedana is a Wedana Assistant (Sub District Head), which in turn headed a Lurah (Village Unit Head), which in turn headed a Kepala Kampung (Kampung Chief).
Jakarta however was made a special status called Jakarta Tokubetsu Shi (Special Municipality of Jakarta) with a Schichoo (Mayor) heading all these officials, following the law created by the Guisenken (Head of the Japanese Troops Administration). The effect of this system was a one-man rule with no councils of representative bodies. The first schichoo of Jakarta is Tsukamoto, and the last is Hasegawa.
In 1943, the Japanese Troops Administration slightly revised the administration of Jakarta by adding a special counseling body. This special counseling body was composed of twelve local (Javanese) leaders who were regarded loyal to the Japanese, among them are Suwiryo and Dahlan Abdullah.
Following the surrender of the Japanese, Indonesia declared its independence on August 17, 1945. The proclamation was enacted at Jalan Pegangsaan Timur No. 56 (now Jalan Proklamasi), Jakarta, with Suwiryo acting as the committee chairman. Suwiryo was recognized as the first mayor of Jakarta Tokubetsu Shi. This name will soon changed into Pemerintah Nasional Kota Jakarta, "Jakarta City National Administration".
On November 21, 1945, Suwiryo and his assistants were arrested by the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration who had returned to their former colony.
Following World War II, Indonesian Republicans withdrew from allied-occupied Jakarta during their fight for Indonesian independence
and established their capital in Yogyakarta.
Urban development continued to stagnate whilst the Dutch tried to reestablish themselves. In 1947, the Dutch succeeded in implementing a set of planning regulations for urban development – the SSO/SVV (Stadsvormings-ordonantie/Stadsvormings-verordening) – which had been drawn up before the war.
On December 27, 1949, the Dutch finally recognized Indonesia as an independent country and a sovereign federal state under the name of Republic of the United States of Indonesia
. At this time, the Jakarta City Administration was led by Mayor Sastro Mulyono.
In 1949, the construction of the urban planning for Kebayoran Baru
, designed by Moh. Soesilo in 1948, was started on March 8, 1949 and was completed in 1955. Kebayoran Baru is considered the first urban planning designed by an Indonesian.
Indonesia's founding president, Sukarno
, envisaged Jakarta as a great international city instigating large, government-funded projects undertaken with openly nationalistic architecture that strived to show the newly independent nation's pride in itself. To promote nationalistic pride amongst Indonesian people, Sukarno interpreted his modernist ideas in his urban planning for the capital (eventually Jakarta).
Many monumental projects of Sukarno are the clover-leaf highway, a broad by-pass in Jakarta (Jalan Jenderal Sudirman), four high-rise hotels including the Hotel Indonesia
, a new parliament building
, a stadium
, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia
, and numerous monuments and memorials including The National Monument.
, the governor of Jakarta (1966 to 1977), was a success. The program had won the 1980 Aga Khan Award for architecture in 1980. Ali Sadikin was also credited with rehabilitating public services, clearing out slum dwellers, banned rickshaws, and street peddlers. Despite the huge success of this policy, they have been discontinued because they were considered to be too biased toward improving the physical infrastructure solely.
The period between the late 1980s and the mid 1990s saw a massive increase in foreign investment as Jakarta became the focus of real estate boom. This enforcement of overseas capital into joing-venture property and construction projects with local developers brought many foreign architects to Indonesia. However, unlikt the Dutch architects of the 1930s, many of these expatriate architects were unfamiliar with the tropics, while their local partners had received a similar Modernist architectural training. As a result, downtown areas in Jakarta gradually came to resemble those of big cities in the West and often at a high environmental cost: massive high-rise buildings consume huge amounts of energy in terms of air-conditioning and other services.
The period of Jakarta's economic boom ended abruptly in the 1997 East Asian Economic crisis
. Many projects were left abandoned. The city became the centre of violence, protest, and political maneuvering as long-time president Suharto began to lose his grip on power. Tensions reached a peak in May 1998 when four students were shot dead
at Trisakti University
by security forces; four days of riots ensued resulting in an estimated 6,000 buildings damaged or destroyed, and the loss of 1,200 lives. The Chinese of the Glodok district were hardest hit and stories of rape and murder later emerged. The following years Jakarta was the centre of popular protest and national political instability, including several terms of ineffective Presidents, and a number Jemaah Islamiah-connected bombings.
Jakarta is now witnessing a period of political stability and prosperity along a boom in construction.
Sultanate of Banten
The Sultanate of Banten was founded in the 16th century and centered in Banten, a port city on the northwest coast of Java; the contemporary English spelling of both was Bantam...
, Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
, Empire of Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
, and finally 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...
.
Jakarta has been known under several names: Sunda Kelapa during the Kingdom of Sunda period; Jayakarta, Djajakarta or Jacatra during the short period of Banten Sultanate; Batavia, under the Dutch colonial empire; and Djakarta or Jakarta during the Japanese occupation and the modern period
Early kingdoms (4th century AD)
The earliest recorded mention of Jakarta is as a port of origin that can be traced to a Hindu settlement as early as the 4th century. The Jakarta area was part of the fourth century Indianized kingdom of TarumanagaraTarumanagara
Tarumanagara or Taruma Kingdom or just Taruma is an early Sundanese Indianized kingdom, whose fifth-century ruler, Purnavarman, produced the earliest known inscriptions on Java island...
. In AD 397, King Purnawarman established Sunda Pura as a new capital city for the kingdom, located at the northern coast of Java. Purnawarman left seven memorial stones across the area with inscriptions bearing his name, including the present-day 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:...
and West Java
West Java
West Java , with a population of over 43 million, is the most populous and most densely populated province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, it is slightly smaller in area than densely populated Taiwan, but with nearly double the population...
provinces.
Kingdom of Sunda (669–1579)
After the power of Tarumanagara declined, its territories became part of the Kingdom of Sunda. According to the Chinese source, Chu-fan-chi, written by Chou Ju-kua in the early 13th Century, SrivijayaSrivijaya
Srivijaya was a powerful ancient thalassocratic Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, modern day Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6...
ruled Sumatra, the Malay peninsula, and western Java (known as Sunda
Sunda Kingdom
The Sunda Kingdom was a Hindu kingdom located on the western part of Java from 669 to around 1579, covering areas of present-day Banten, Jakarta, West Java, and the western part of Central Java...
). The port of Sunda was described as strategic and thriving, pepper
Black pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...
from Sunda being among the best in quality. The people worked in agriculture and their houses were built on wooden piles.
One of the port at the mouth of a river
Ciliwung River
Ciliwung is a river that passes through Jakarta, Indonesia. The river flows from its source near Puncak on the highlands of West Java to the Jakarta Bay....
was renamed Sunda Kelapa
Sunda Kelapa
Sunda Kelapa is the old port of Jakarta located on the estuarine of Ciliwung River. "Sunda Kalapa" is the original name, and it was the main port of Sunda Kingdom of Pajajaran. The port is situated in Penjaringan sub-district, of North Jakarta, Indonesia...
or Kalapa as written in a Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
Bujangga Manik
Bujangga Manik
Bujangga Manik is one of the precious remnants of Old Sundanese literature. It is told in octosyllabic lines – the metrical form of Old Sundanese narrative poetry – in a palm leaf kept in the Bodleian Library in Oxford since 1627 or 1629...
, a monk's lontar manuscripts, one of the precious remnants of Old Sundanese literature. The port served Pakuan Pajajaran (present day Bogor
Bogor
Bogor is a city on the island of Java in the West Java province of Indonesia. The city is located in the center of the Bogor Regency , 60 kilometers south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta...
), the capital of the Sunda Kingdom. By the fourteenth century, Sunda Kelapa became a major trading port for the kingdom.
Portuguese and the Muslim Sultanates (16th century)
In 1513 the first European fleet, four Portuguese ships under the command of Alvin, arrived in Sunda Kelapa from MalaccaMalacca
Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...
. Malacca had been conquered in 1511 by Afonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque[p][n] was a Portuguese fidalgo, or nobleman, an admiral whose military and administrative activities as second governor of Portuguese India conquered and established the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian Ocean...
. The Portuguese were planning to establish a port in Sunda Kelapa as a relay route to the Moluccas, the famed "Spice Islands", in search of the black pepper
Black pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...
.
Some years later, the Portuguese Enrique Leme visited Kalapa with presents for the King of Sunda. He was well received and on August 21, 1522 and signed a treaty of friendship between the kingdom of Sunda and Portugal through the Luso Sundanese padrão
Luso Sundanese padrão
The Luso Sundanese padrão is a stone pillar commemorating the Sunda–Portuguese treaty, better known as the Luso-Sundanese Treaty of Sunda Kalapa.-History:...
. The treaty allowed the Portuguese to build a godown and to erect a fort in Kalapa. This was regarded by the Sundanese as a consolidation of their position against the raging Muslim troops from the rising power of the Sultanate of Demak
Sultanate of Demak
The Sultanate of Demak was Javanese Muslim state located on Java's north coast in Indonesia, at the site of the present day city of Demak. A port fief to the Majapahit kingdom thought to have been founded in the last quarter of the 15th century, it was influenced by Islam brought by Arab and...
in Central Java.
In 1527, Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
troops coming from Cirebon and Demak attacked the Kingdom of Sunda under the leadership of Fatahillah. The king was expecting the Portuguese to come and help them hold Fatahillah's army because of an agreement that had been in place between Sunda and the Portuguese. However, Fatahillah's army succeeded in conquering the city on June 22, 1557, and Fatahillah changed the name of Sunda Kelapa to Jayakarta (जयकर्; "Great Deed" or "Complete Victory" in Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
), also written as Djajakarta or Jacatra.
East India Company (early 17th century)
In late 16th century, Jayakarta was ruled under the Sultanate of BantenSultanate of Banten
The Sultanate of Banten was founded in the 16th century and centered in Banten, a port city on the northwest coast of Java; the contemporary English spelling of both was Bantam...
. Prince Jayawikarta, a follower of the Sultan of Banten, established a settlement on the west banks of the Ciliwung River
Ciliwung River
Ciliwung is a river that passes through Jakarta, Indonesia. The river flows from its source near Puncak on the highlands of West Java to the Jakarta Bay....
. He erected a military post there in order to control the port at the mouth of the river.
In 1595, merchants from Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
set up an expedition to the East Indies
East Indies
East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...
archipelago. Under the command of Cornelis de Houtman
Cornelis de Houtman
Cornelis de Houtman , brother of Frederick de Houtman, was a Dutch explorer who discovered a new sea route from Europe to Indonesia and managed to begin the Dutch spice trade...
, the expedition arrived in Jayakarta in 1596 with the intention of trading spices; more or less the same as that of the Portuguese.
Meanwhile in 1602, the English East India Company's first voyage, commanded by Sir James Lancaster, arrived in Aceh
Aceh
Aceh is a special region of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. Its full name is Daerah Istimewa Aceh , Nanggroë Aceh Darussalam and Aceh . Past spellings of its name include Acheh, Atjeh and Achin...
and sailed on to Bantam
Bantam (city)
Bantam in Banten province near the western end of Java was a strategically important site and formerly a major trading city, with a secure harbor on the Sunda Strait through which all ocean-going traffic passed, at the mouth of Banten River that provided a navigable passage for light craft into...
, the capital of the Sultanate of Banten, where he was allowed to build trading post which becomes the centre of English trade in Indonesia until 1682.
In 1610, the Dutch merchants were granted permission to build a wooden godown and some houses just opposite of Prince Jayawikarta settlement on the east bank of the river. As the Dutch grew more and more powerful, Jayawikarta allowed the British to erect houses on the West Bank of Ciliwung River
Ciliwung River
Ciliwung is a river that passes through Jakarta, Indonesia. The river flows from its source near Puncak on the highlands of West Java to the Jakarta Bay....
and a fort close to his Customs Office post to keep his strength equal to that of the Dutch. Jayawikarta was in support of the British because his palace was under the threat of the Dutch cannons. In December 1618, the tense relationship between Prince Jayawikarta and the Dutch escalated. Jayawikarta soldiers besieged the Dutch fortress that covered two strong godown, namely Nassau and Mauritius. The British fleet made up of 15 ships arrived. The fleet was under the leadership of Sir Thomas Dale, an English naval commander and former governor of the Colony of Virginia (present State of Virginia).
After the sea battle, the newly appointed Dutch governor Jan Pieterszoon Coen
Jan Pieterszoon Coen
Jan Pieterszoon Coen was a officer of the Dutch East India Company in the early seventeenth century, holding two terms as its Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies....
(1618) escaped to the Moluccas to seek support (where the Dutch had already took the first of the Portuguese forts in 1605). Meanwhile, the commander of the Dutch army, Pieter van den Broecke
Pieter van den Broecke
Pieter van den Broecke was a Dutch cloth merchant in the service of the Dutch East India Company , and one of the first Dutchmen to taste coffee. He also went to Angola three times...
, along with five other men, was arrested when the negotiation was underway because Jayawikarta felt that he was deceived by the Dutch. Later, Jayawikarta and the British entered into a friendship agreement.
The Dutch army was about to surrender to the British when in 1619, a sultan from Banten sent soldiers and summoned Prince Jayawikarta, asking his responsibility for establishing closed realtionship with the British without first asking an approval from Banten authorities. The conflict between Banten and Prince Jayawikarta as well as the tensed relationship between Banten and the British had given a new opportunity for the Dutch. Relieved by the change in situation, the Dutch army, under the leadership of Jan Pieterszoon Coen, attacked and burned the city of Jayakarta and its Palace on May 30, 1619 without any opposition. The population of Jayakarta was expelled. There were no remains of Jayakarta except for the Padrão of Sunda Kelapa
Luso Sundanese padrão
The Luso Sundanese padrão is a stone pillar commemorating the Sunda–Portuguese treaty, better known as the Luso-Sundanese Treaty of Sunda Kalapa.-History:...
which were discovered much later in 1918 during an excavation for a new house in Kota area on the corner of Cengkeh street and Nelayan Timur Street, and is now stored at the National Museum in Jakarta. The location of Jayakarta was possibly located in Pulau Gadung. Prince Jayawikarta retired to Tanara
Subdistricts of Banten
The province of Banten in Indonesia is divided into kabupaten or regencies which is turn are divided administratively into districts, known as kecamatan.The districts of Banten with the regency it falls into are as follows:*Angsana, Pandeglang...
in the interior of Banten and died there. The Dutch established a closer relationship with Banten, took control of the port and so the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
ruled the entire region.
Dutch East India Company (17th – 18th century)
The Dutch fortress garrison, along with hired soldiers from Japan, Germany, Scotia, Denmark, and Belgium held a party in commemoration for their triumph. The godowns of Nassau and Mauritius were extended with the erection of a new fort extension to the east by Commander Van Raay on March 12. Coen wished to name the new settlement Nieuw-Hoorn (after his birthplace HoornHoorn
-Cities :* Purmerend * Enkhuizen * Alkmaar * Amsterdam * Lelystad * Den Helder * Leeuwarden -Towns :* Edam...
), but he was not allowed by the central government of the Netherlands East Indies, the Heeren XVII, and instead Batavia was the new name for the fort and the new settlement, after the Germanic tribe of the Batavi
Batavi
Batavi - Latin for Batavians - is an open source webshop under the GNU General Public License. The development of Batavi started in 2007 inspired by a preliminary osCommerce 3.0 version, a version that seemed to be never finished by the osCommerce team...
, believed to be the ancestor of the Dutch people during that time. Since then Jayakarta was called Batavia for more than 300 years.
Ever since its foundation in 1619, the Javanese people were unwelcomed in Batavia, because of the feared possibility that they would rise against the Dutch. Coen asked Bontekoe, a skipper for the Dutch East India Company, to bring 1000 Chinese people from Macao
Mação
Mação is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 400.0 km² and a total population of 7,763 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of eight parishes, and is located in the Santarém District....
to Batavia. Only a couple dozen survived the trip. In 1621, 15,000 people were deported from Banda Islands
Banda Islands
The Banda Islands are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java, and are part of the Indonesian province of Maluku. The main town and administrative centre is Bandanaira, located on the island of the same name. They rise...
to Batavia, only 600 survived the trip.
On August 27, 1628, Sultan Agung, king of the Mataram Sultanate
Mataram Sultanate
The Sultanate of Mataram was the last major independent Javanese empire on Java before the island was colonized by the Dutch. It was the dominant political force in interior Central Java from the late 16th century until the beginning of the 18th century....
(1613–1645), launched his first offensive on Batavia in 1628. He suffered heavy losses, retreated, and launch a second offensive in 1629. The Dutch fleet destroyed his supplies and his ships in the harbours of Cirebon
Cirebon
Cirebon is a port city on the north coast of the Indonesian island of Java. It is located in the province of West Java near the provincial border with Central Java, approximately 297 km east of Jakarta, at .The seat of a former Sultanate, the city's West and Central Java border location have...
and Tegal
Tegal
Tegal is the largest city in the Tegal Regency, Indonesia. It is situated on the north coast of Central Java, about from Semarang, capital of Central Java....
. Mataram troops, starving and decimated by illness, retreated again. Later, Sultan Agung pursued his conquering ambitions to the east. He attacked Blitar
Blitar
Blitar is a city which is the capital of a regency with the same name in East Java, Indonesia, about 73 kilometers from Malang and 167 kilometers from Surabaya. The area lies within longitude 111° 40' - 112° 09' East and its latitude is 8° 06' South...
, Panarukan and the Blambangan principality in Eastern Java, a vassal of the Bali
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
nese kingdom of Gelgel
Gelgel
Gelgel may refer to:*Gelgel, Chad, a city in Chad*Gelgel, Indonesia, a village on the island of Bali, and a former kingdom...
.
After the siege, it was decided that Batavia would need a stronger defense system. Simon Stevin
Simon Stevin
Simon Stevin was a Flemish mathematician and military engineer. He was active in a great many areas of science and engineering, both theoretical and practical...
, a Flemish mathematician and a military engineer, were employed to design a walled city. His response it a typical Dutch city criss crossed with a canal and straightening the flow of river Ciliwung. Jacques Specx
Jacques Specx
Jacques Specx was a Dutch merchant, who founded the trade on Japan and Korea in 1609. Jacques Specx received the support of William Adams to obtain extensive trading rights from the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu on August 24, 1609, which allowed him to establish a trading factory in Hirado on September...
further developed the design by creating a moat and city wall which surrounded the city. Extension of the city walls were erected to the west of Batavia, completely enclosing the city. Only the Chinese people and the Mardijkers were allowed to settle within the walled city of Batavia.
In 1656, because of a conflict with Banten, the Javanese were not allowed to reside within the city walls and they decided to settle outside Batavia. In 1659, a temporary peace with Banten enable the city to grew. During this period, more bamboo shacks appeared in Batavia. From 1667, bamboo houses within the city were banned, as well as the keeping of livestock. Because the city attracted many poeple, suburbs began to emerged outside the city walls.
The outside was considered unsafe for the non-native inhabitant of Batavia. Only when a new peace treaty was signed with banten in 1684 then the marsh area around Batavia can be fully cultivated. Country houses were established outside the city walls. The Chinese people made a start with the cultivation of sugarcane
Sugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
and tuak
Tuak
Tuak is an alcoholic beverage made of fermented rice, yeast and sugar and drank in parts of Indonesia such as Sumatra, Sulawesi, Penang Islands, Borneo and East Malaysia. In these areas it is often referred to as rice wine...
, later coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
was also cultivated.
The large scale cultivation caused destruction on the environment. In addition to that, there was coastal erosion in the northern area of Batavia. Maintenance of the canal was extensive, because the canals were easily closed and need to be continuously dredged. The marshy area around Batavia was a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. In the 18th century, Batavia became increasingly affected by malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
epidemics. Many Europeans which arrived in Batavia would die because of illness caught in Batavia, giving a nickname to Batavia "Het kerkhof der Europeanen", "the cemetery of the Europeans". Those who could afford moved to higher areas to the south. Eventually, the old city will finally be dismantled in 1810.
Batavia was founded as a trade and administrative center of the Dutch East India Company, and was never intended as a settlement company for the Dutch people. Coen founded Batavia to be a trading company in the form of a city filled with people who would took care of the production and the supply of food. As a result, there were no migration of Dutch families. Instead a mixed society was formed.
There were few Dutch women in Batavia. Dutch men often came into contact with Asian women without marrying them because of the fact that the women could not return to the Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
. This societal pattern created a group of mestizo
Mestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
descendants in Batavia. The sons of this mixed group often went to Europe to study, while the daughters had to remain in Batavia. This group of daughters often married a VOC
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
officials at a very young age. Because the women always stayed in Batavia, they were important in the social networking in Batavia. They were accustomed to deal with slaves and spoke their language, mostly Portuguese and Malay. Many of these women were often widows, especially when their husband decided to leave Batavia to Netherlands and often they had to give up their children. These women were known as snaar (“string”) during those time.
Since the VOC wanted to organized everything on their own, they decided to keep as little as free citizens as possible and employed many slaves. Batavia became an unattractive location for people who wanted to establish their own business.
Most of the residents of Batavia were of Asian descent. There were thousands of slaves brought from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Arakan
Rakhine State
Rakhine State is a Burmese state. Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State in the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region in the east, the Bay of Bengal to the west, and the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh to the northwest. It is located approximately between...
. Later, slaves were brought from Bali
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
and Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
. To avoid uprising, it was decided that the Javanese should not be kept as slaves. Chinese people made up the largest group in Batavia, most of them are merchants and laborers. The Chinese people were the most decisive group in the development of Batavia. There was also a large group of freed slaves, usually Portuguese-speaking Asian Christians who were formerly slaves to the Portuguese. They were made prisoners by the VOC in the many conflicts with the Portuguese. Portuguese was the dominant language in Batavia until late 18th century, when the language was slowly replaced with Dutch and Malay. Additionally, there were also Muslim and Hindu merchants from India and Malays.
Initially, these different ethnic groups live side by side. In 1688, complete segregation was enacted to the indigenous population. Each ethnic group had to live in their own established village outside the city wall. There were Javanese village for Javanese people, Moluccan village for the Moluccans, and so on. Each people were tagged with a lead identity tag to identify them with their own ethnic group. Later, this identity tag was replaced with a parchment. Intermarriage between different ethnic groups had to be reported.
Within Batavia's walls, wealthy Dutch built tall houses and canals. Commercial opportunities attracted Indonesian and especially Chinese immigrants, the increasing numbers creating burdens on the city. Tensions grew as the colonial government tried to restrict Chinese migration through deportations. On 9 October 1740, 5,000 Chinese were massacred
1740 Batavia massacre
The 1740 Batavia massacre was a pogrom against ethnic Chinese living in the port city of Batavia, the Dutch East Indies , that occurred between 9 and 22 October 1740....
and the following year, Chinese inhabitants were moved to Glodok
Glodok
Glodok is a part of the Jakarta, Indonesia. The area is also known as Pecinan or Chinatown since the Dutch colonial era, and is considered the biggest in Indonesia, as a majority of the traders in Glodok are of Chinese descent...
outside the city walls.
In the 18th century, more than 60% population of Batavia were slaves working for the VOC. They mostly did the housework. Working and living conditions were generally reasonable. There were laws that protected them against an overly cruel action from their masters. Christian slaves were given freedom after the death of their master. Some slaves were allowed to own a store and made money to free themselves. Sometimes, slaves fled and established gangs roaming the area, creating an unsafe environment around Batavia.
From the beginning of the VOC establishment in Batavia until the colony became a fully fledged town, the population of Batavia grew tremendously. At the beginning, Batavia had around 50,000 inhabitants. In the second half of the 19th century, Batavia had 800,000 inhabitants. By the end of the VOC rule of Batavia, the population of Batavia reached one million.
Modern colonialism (19th century – 1942)
After the VOC was formally liquidated in 1800 the Batavian RepublicBatavian Republic
The Batavian Republic was the successor of the Republic of the United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on January 19, 1795, and ended on June 5, 1806, with the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the throne of the Kingdom of Holland....
expanded all the VOC's territorial claims into a fully fledged colony named the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
. From the company's regional headquarters Batavia now evolved into the capital of the colony. During this era of both urbanisation and industrialisation
Industrialisation
Industrialization is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one...
Batavia was at the inceptive stage of most modernising developments in the colony.
In 1808 Daendels decided to quit the by then dilapidated and unhealthy Old Town
Jakarta Old Town
Kota , is a small area in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is also known as Old Jakarta, and Old Batavia . It spans 1.3 square kilometres of North Jakarta and West Jakarta...
and build a new town center further to the south, near the estate of Weltevreden
Gambir
Gambir is a subdistrict of Central Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is characterized by many historic buildings from the colonial era. Gambir Subdistrict is the location of many political and administrative center of Jakarta and Indonesia...
. Batavia had thus become a city with two centers: Kota as the hub of business, where the offices and warehouses of shipping and trading companies were located, while Weltevreded became the new home for the government, military, and shops. These two centers were connected by the Molenvliet Canal and a road (now Gajah Mada Road) which ran alongside it. This period in the 19th century shows many technological advancement and city beautification in Batavia, earning Batavia a nickname "De Koningin van het Oosten", "Queen of the East".
The city began to move further south as epidemics in 1835 and 1870 encouraged more people to move far south of the port.
By the end of the century the capital and regency of Batavia numbered 115,887 people of which 8,893 were Europeans, 26,817 Chinese and 77,700 indigenous islanders. Many schools, hospitals, factories, offices, trading companies, and post offices were established throughout the city. Improvements in transportation, health, and technology in Batavia caused more and more Dutch people to migrate to Batavia, making the society of Batavia becoming more and more Dutch like. These Dutch people who never set their foot on Batavia were known locally Totoks. The term totok was also used to identify a new Chinese arrivals, to differentiate them with the Peranakan
Peranakan
Peranakan Chinese and Baba-Nyonya are terms used for the descendants of late 15th and 16th-century Chinese immigrants to the Indonesian archipelago of Nusantara during the Colonial era....
. Many totoks developed a great love for the Indies culture of Indonesia and adopted this culture. They would wear a kebaya
Kebaya
A Kebaya is a traditional blouse-dress combination worn by women in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Burma, Singapore, southern Thailand. It is sometimes made from sheer material and usually worn with a sarong or batik kain panjang, or other traditional woven garment such as ikat, songket with a...
, a sarong, and a summer dress.
In Indonesian National Revival era, Mohammad Husni Thamrin, a member of Volksraad criticized the Colonial Government for ignoring the development of kampung (inlander's area) while focusing the development for the rich people in Menteng. He also talked on the issue of Farming Tax and other taxes which burdened people. Some of his speeches are still relevant in today's Jakarta.
The consequence of these expanding commercial activities was the immigration of large numbers of Dutch employees as well as rural Javanese into Batavia. In 1905, the population of Batavia and around the area reached a tremendous 2.1 million, including 93,000 Chinese people, 14,000 Europeans, and 2,800 Arabs, as well as local population. This resulted in a great demand for housing and land prices soared. New houses were often built closely packed together with kampung settlements filling the spaces in between. This development with little regard for the tropical conditions resulted in too many people living too close together, in houses with poor sanitation and no public amenities. In 1913, the plague broke out in Java. During this period, the Old Batavia, with its abandoned moats and ramparts, experienced a new boom as the commercial companies established themselves along the Kali Besar once more. In a very short period, the area of Old Batavia reestablished itself as a new commercial center with 20the century buildings and 17th century buildings standing side by side.
See also List of colonial buildings and structures in Jakarta
Timeline in 19th century Batavia
19th century proven as the Golden Age of Batavia, with many technological advancement especially in the transportation and health sector. Below are the list of important points in the history of Batavia.1836 the first Steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
arrived at the Batavia shipyard of Island Onrust.
1853 the first exhibition of agricultural products and native arts & crafts was held in Batavia.
1860 the Willem III school was openend.
1869 the Batavia Tramway Company started the horse-tram line nr 1: Old Batavia (now: Jakarta Kota). Route: From Amsterdam Gate at the northern end of Prinsenstraat (now: Jl Cengke) to Molenvliet (now: Jl Gaja Madah) and Harmonie. After 1882 the horse-tram lines were reconstructed into steamtram lines. The electric train that ran from 1899 was the first electric train in the Kingdom of Netherlands.
The abolition of the Cultuurstelsel in 1870 made way for rapid development of private enterprise in the Dutch Indies. Numerous trading companies and financial institutions established themselves in Java, most of them settled in Batavia. Jakarta Old Town's deteriorating structures were replaced with offices, typically along the Kali Besar. These private companies owned or managed plantations, oil fields, and mines. Railway stations were designed during this period, with characteristic style of this period.
1864 the concession for constructing the Batavia-Bogor railway was granted and completed in 1871.
1878 the first centenary of the Batavia Society of Arts & Sciences was celebrated.
International trade with Europe boomed, and the increase of shipping led to the construction of a new harbor at Tanjung Priok between 1877 and 1883.
1881 the first dry docks were opened on Island Amsterdam just off the Batavia roadsteads.
From 1881 to 1884 the railway infrastructure was expanded to connect Batavia to Sukabumi
Sukabumi
Sukabumi is a city surrounded by the regency of the same name in the highlands of West Java, Indonesia, about south of the national capital, Jakarta....
, Cianjur
Cianjur
Cianjur is a city in the West Java province of Indonesia, the capital of Cianjur Regency. Cianjur is located in the middle of the main road between Jakarta and Bandung . The population is about 146,874...
and Bandung
Bandung
Bandung is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, and the country's third largest city, and 2nd largest metropolitan area in Indonesia, with a population of 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 metres above sea level, approximately 140 km southeast of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler...
. In 1886 the Batavia harbour was connected to the railway system. By 1894 Batavia was connected to Surabaya
Surabaya
Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million , and the capital of the province of East Java...
.
1883 the Dutch Indies Telephone Company was established in Batavia.
1884 the first exhibition of Javanese arts & crafts at the Zoological gardens.
1888 the Anatomical and Bacterial Institute was established.
1895 the Pasteur Institute was established.
Japanese Occupation
On March 5, 1942 Batavia fell to the Japanese troops. The Dutch formally surrendered to the Japanese occupation forces on March 9, 1942 and rule of the colony was transferred to Japan. The city was renamed Jakarta, with official name Jakarta Tokubetsu Shi (Special Municipality of Jakarta). This period was a period of decline in Batavia. During three and a half years of occupation, both the economic situation and the physical conditions of Indonesian cities deteriorated. Many buildings were vandalized as metal was needed for the war, many iron statues from the Dutch colonial period were taken away by the Japanese troops.To strengthen its position in Indonesia, the Japanese government issued an Act No. 42 1942 on the "Restoration of the Regional Administration System". This act divided Java into several Syuu (Resident Administration or Karesidenan), each was led by a Bupati (Regent). Each Syuu was divided into several Shi (Municipality or Stad Gemeente), led by a Wedana (District Head). Below a Wedana is a Wedana Assistant (Sub District Head), which in turn headed a Lurah (Village Unit Head), which in turn headed a Kepala Kampung (Kampung Chief).
Jakarta however was made a special status called Jakarta Tokubetsu Shi (Special Municipality of Jakarta) with a Schichoo (Mayor) heading all these officials, following the law created by the Guisenken (Head of the Japanese Troops Administration). The effect of this system was a one-man rule with no councils of representative bodies. The first schichoo of Jakarta is Tsukamoto, and the last is Hasegawa.
In 1943, the Japanese Troops Administration slightly revised the administration of Jakarta by adding a special counseling body. This special counseling body was composed of twelve local (Javanese) leaders who were regarded loyal to the Japanese, among them are Suwiryo and Dahlan Abdullah.
National revolution era (1945–1950)
On November 21, 1945, Suwiryo and his assistants were arrested by the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration who had returned to their former colony.
Following World War II, Indonesian Republicans withdrew from allied-occupied Jakarta during their fight for Indonesian independence
Indonesian National Revolution
The Indonesian National Revolution or Indonesian War of Independence was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between Indonesia and the Dutch Empire, and an internal social revolution...
and established their capital in Yogyakarta.
Urban development continued to stagnate whilst the Dutch tried to reestablish themselves. In 1947, the Dutch succeeded in implementing a set of planning regulations for urban development – the SSO/SVV (Stadsvormings-ordonantie/Stadsvormings-verordening) – which had been drawn up before the war.
On December 27, 1949, the Dutch finally recognized Indonesia as an independent country and a sovereign federal state under the name of Republic of the United States of Indonesia
Republic of the United States of Indonesia
The Republic of the United States of Indonesia , also abbreviated as RUSI, was a federal state to which the Netherlands formally transferred sovereignty of the Dutch East Indies on 27 December 1949 following the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference...
. At this time, the Jakarta City Administration was led by Mayor Sastro Mulyono.
In 1949, the construction of the urban planning for Kebayoran Baru
Kebayoran Baru
Kebayoran Baru is a subdistrict of South Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia. Kebayoran Baru is the last residential area to be developed by the Dutch colonial administration. The urban planning consists of a well-planned residential areas, shopping centers, and business district, complete with its...
, designed by Moh. Soesilo in 1948, was started on March 8, 1949 and was completed in 1955. Kebayoran Baru is considered the first urban planning designed by an Indonesian.
Early independence era (1950s–1960s)
In 1950, the Dutch finally left and their residences and properties were taken over by the Indonesian government in 1957. Once independence was secured, Jakarta was once again made the national capital. The departure of the Dutch caused a massive migration of the rural people into Jakarta in response to a perception that the city is the place for economic opportunities. Kampung areas in Jakarta swelled.Indonesia's founding president, Sukarno
Sukarno
Sukarno, born Kusno Sosrodihardjo was the first President of Indonesia.Sukarno was the leader of his country's struggle for independence from the Netherlands and was Indonesia's first President from 1945 to 1967...
, envisaged Jakarta as a great international city instigating large, government-funded projects undertaken with openly nationalistic architecture that strived to show the newly independent nation's pride in itself. To promote nationalistic pride amongst Indonesian people, Sukarno interpreted his modernist ideas in his urban planning for the capital (eventually Jakarta).
Many monumental projects of Sukarno are the clover-leaf highway, a broad by-pass in Jakarta (Jalan Jenderal Sudirman), four high-rise hotels including the Hotel Indonesia
Hotel Indonesia
Hotel Indonesia - Kempinski, commonly abbreviated as HI, is one of the oldest and best known hotels in Indonesia. Located in Central Jakarta, it is one of the first 5-star hotels in the country. For many years, it has been the city's major landmark. Its fame is often linked to the country's...
, a new parliament building
DPR/MPR Building
The DPR/MPR Building is the seat of government for the Indonesian legislative, which comprises the People's Consultative Assembly the People's Representative Council and the Regional Representatives Council .-History:...
, a stadium
Bung Karno Stadium
Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, officially Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta, Indonesia. It is named after Sukarno, Indonesia's first President...
, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia
Istiqlal Mosque
Istiqlal Mosque, or Masjid Istiqlal, in Jakarta, Indonesia is the largest mosque in Southeast Asia in terms of capacity to accommodate people and building structure. This national mosque of Indonesia was built to commemorate Indonesian independence, as nation's gratitude for Islam's blessings; the...
, and numerous monuments and memorials including The National Monument.
Kampung improvement program (1970s)
Since 1970, the national development policy has been focused primarily on economic growth and achievement. This situation encouraged the emergence of a large number of housing projects in the private sector. Government housing schemes have also been implemented to cope with the growth of urban populations. During this period, kampung improvement programmes have been reintroduced to improve conditions in existing areas. This Kampung Improvement Programme of Jakarta, enacted by Ali SadikinAli Sadikin
Ali Sadikin was an Indonesian politician. He was often called Bang Ali. He served as the governor of Jakarta, the country's capital, from 1966 to 1977. Appointed by a weak Sukarno, he likely had the full approval of Suharto. A former marine, he saw the city as a battlefield...
, the governor of Jakarta (1966 to 1977), was a success. The program had won the 1980 Aga Khan Award for architecture in 1980. Ali Sadikin was also credited with rehabilitating public services, clearing out slum dwellers, banned rickshaws, and street peddlers. Despite the huge success of this policy, they have been discontinued because they were considered to be too biased toward improving the physical infrastructure solely.
Recent urban development (1980s – now)
During the 1980s, smaller sites have been acquired for high-rise projects, while larger parcels of land have been subdivided for low-key projects such as the building of new shophouses. This period also saw the removal of kampongs from the inner city areas and the destruction of many historical buildings. One infamous case is the demolition of the Society of Harmonie to be turned into a parking.The period between the late 1980s and the mid 1990s saw a massive increase in foreign investment as Jakarta became the focus of real estate boom. This enforcement of overseas capital into joing-venture property and construction projects with local developers brought many foreign architects to Indonesia. However, unlikt the Dutch architects of the 1930s, many of these expatriate architects were unfamiliar with the tropics, while their local partners had received a similar Modernist architectural training. As a result, downtown areas in Jakarta gradually came to resemble those of big cities in the West and often at a high environmental cost: massive high-rise buildings consume huge amounts of energy in terms of air-conditioning and other services.
The period of Jakarta's economic boom ended abruptly in the 1997 East Asian Economic crisis
East Asian financial crisis
The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of Asia beginning in July 1997, and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion....
. Many projects were left abandoned. The city became the centre of violence, protest, and political maneuvering as long-time president Suharto began to lose his grip on power. Tensions reached a peak in May 1998 when four students were shot dead
Trisakti shootings
The Trisakti shootings occurred at Trisakti University, Jakarta, Indonesia on 12 May 1998. At a demonstration asking for president Suharto's resignation, soldiers opened fire on unarmed protestors. Four students, Elang Mulia Lesmana, Heri Hertanto, Hafidin Royan, and Hendriawan Sie, were killed;...
at Trisakti University
Trisakti University
Trisakti University is a private university in Jakarta, Indonesia. Founded on 29 November 1965, the university has more than 30,000 students.It has several campuses and nine faculties:*Faculty of Law*Faculty of Medical Sciences*Faculty of Dentistry...
by security forces; four days of riots ensued resulting in an estimated 6,000 buildings damaged or destroyed, and the loss of 1,200 lives. The Chinese of the Glodok district were hardest hit and stories of rape and murder later emerged. The following years Jakarta was the centre of popular protest and national political instability, including several terms of ineffective Presidents, and a number Jemaah Islamiah-connected bombings.
Jakarta is now witnessing a period of political stability and prosperity along a boom in construction.
External links
- Pictures and Map from 1733 (Homannische Erben, Nuernberg-Germany) http://gauss.suub.uni-bremen.de/suub/hist/servlet/servlet.hmap?id=248214