Jakarta Brief History

Friday, 09 October 2009 16:05 administrator Hits: 11355
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Jakarta was at first a small harbour called Sunda Kelapa Governed by Pajajaran Dynasty, namely the last Hinduism Empire in West Java. Sunda Kelapa was than a trading town and international trading center. Portuguese was the first country to step on Sunda Kelapa in 1522 as the delegate of the Governor of Malaka. After entering into an agreement, they built a Castle near Ciliwung River delta at the consent of Sunda Kelapa's authority.

In 1527 some Portugueseans came again in a small armada without knowing that Sunda Kelapa had fallen into Fatahillah's hands, so a battle was inevitable a round Jakarta Gulf which was then won by Fatahillah. And at his initiative, on June 22, 1527 Sunda Kelapa's name was changed into Jayakarta, means perfect victory.

Sunda Kelapa's appeal as trading harbour attracted Dutch and English to come Jayakarta for trading mission by taking opportunity from every conflict arising among local authorities in order to gain profit.

Dutch arrived for the first time in Jakarta in 1596 led by Cornelis de Houtman after esthablising Vereenigde Oost-indische Compagnie (VOC). Until the beginning  of the 16th Century, the Dutch merchants establishes trading office in Jayakarta. By the end of 1618, Englishmen took over the winning local people sympathy. Under the leadership of Jan Pieterzoon Coen, the Dutch trading company or VOC snatched away Jayakarta and changed its name into Batavia in 1619. From then, the dutch started their colonialism in Indonesia for more than 3,5 centuries until the arrival of Javanese armies in 1942.

After falling into Japan's hands in 1942, Batavia changed its name again into Jakarta. When Japan surrendered to the Allied Force in 1945, Indonesia people proclamed its Independence.

After the 1945 Independence proclamation, Jakarta is stipulated as the capital of Republic Indonesia. In 1950,  Jakarta became a municipality led by a Major. The status was promoted in 1964 into a region of province level and called Special District of Capital City (DKI) Jakarta led by a Governor. Following  the enforcement of regional autonomy , in 1999 Jakarta was inaugurated as Jakarta Province.

Source: Enjoy Jakarta, Jakarta Tourism Board

 

Last Updated on Sunday, 06 November 2011 12:27