History of Jakarta

Jakarta's origin can be traced to a Hindu settlement on Jakarta Bay as early as the 5th century ad.

By the 12th century, Sunda Kelapa served as a port for the Hindu Pajajaran Kingdom in the interior of Java.

A Hindu king granted Portuguese traders permission to build a fort at Sunda Kelapa in the early 16th century, but in 1527 Fatillah, a Muslim leader from the north, conquered Sunda Kelapa and renamed the settlement Jayakarta.

Dutch traders captured the city in 1619 and renamed it Batavia, which became the capital of the Netherlands Indies. They rebuilt the settlement to resemble a Dutch city with canals. Activities centered around a walled fortress and the warehouses of the Dutch East India Company.

The humid climate and the fort's location on a low-lying swampy area contributed to a high incidence of disease.

In the early 1800s the city expanded as the Dutch began moving to the south, where the ground was higher and less prone to breed diseases.

The British captured Java in 1811 and ruled the island until 1816, when it was returned to Dutch control.

Between 1920 and 1940, the city expanded further and gradually became modernized.
Japan took possession of the city in 1942 during World War II and renamed it Jakarta.

Following the Japanese defeat in 1945, the Dutch again took control, despite the demands of Indonesian nationalists who declared independence on August 17, 1945.

The Dutch remained in Jakarta until 1949 when they formally transferred sovereignty to the new Republic of Indonesia.

( President Sukarno )
During the Sukarno presidency (1945-1968), many buildings and monuments were added to the city's skyline.

( President Suharto )
The country's second president, Suharto, restructured the government and energized the economy. As a result, Jakarta became the recipient of considerable investment.

In the mid-1970s Jakarta's physical and economic planners began addressing the needs of the Jabotabek region.

The plans aimed to restrict growth along the coast, consolidate urban expansion into alternative growth centers, and provide better accessibility to employment and services.

Planners have achieved considerable success in expanding the availability of urban services and the Kampung Improvement Program has had a dramatic effect in improving the most depressed neighborhoods of the city.