History UsefulNotes / Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital city of UsefulNotes/{{Indonesia}}. Located at the mouth of the Ciliwung River in northwestern Java, the city forms its own administrative division, the Special Capital Region (''Daerah Khusus Ibukota''), separate from any other [[UsefulNotes/ProvincesOfIndonesia province]], though it was a part of West Java until 1959. With 10 million people in its city proper and 33 million people in its metropolitan area, Jakarta is the second-largest urban area in the world (after UsefulNotes/{{Tokyo}}), as well as the largest urban area in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also, by far, the most populous urban area with a [[UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} Muslim]]-majority population.[[note]]By city proper, however, UsefulNotes/{{Karachi}} is more populous.[[/note]] Jakarta is the seat of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which it is the second-largest economic area, after UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}}.

* '''Central Jakarta''' (''Jakarta Pusat'', or ''Jakpus''): Home of the country's central governmental functions, it includes Gambir and Sawah Besar, formerly Weltevreden, the seat of government of the Dutch East Indies from the 19th century. As Indonesian cities traditionally position their seat of government and main mosque near the city square, so does Jakarta; Istana Merdeka (the President's head office)[[note]]There are actually two presidential palaces in this place. Istana Merdeka ("Freedom Palace") faces the National Monument, while the older Istana Negara ("State Palace") faces Jalan Veteran in the back.[[/note]] and Istiqlal Mosque are located to the north and northeast of Merdeka Square, where the National Monument is placed. South of Gambir is Menteng, which is the city's original upscale residential area; it was designated by Dutch authorities in the late 19th century to house government workers who commuted to Weltevreden. Jalan M.H. Thamrin, Jakarta's most famous thoroughfare, adjoins Menteng to its west and extends to the Ciliwung River in the south, where it becomes the equally famous Jalan Sudirman across the bridge. Tanah Abang, the southernmost area of Central Jakarta, houses the Bung Karno Sports Complex (formerly the Senayan Sports Complex), parts of which were repurposed to house the headquarters of the People's Consultative Assembly in the 1960s. Jakarta's commercial airport was formerly located in the working-class district of Kemayoran to the northeast of Sawah Besar, until it was moved to the Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang. It was later demolished, and nothing of it remains save for the ATC tower.
* '''West Jakarta''' (''Jakarta Barat'', or ''Jakbar''): Includes the old seat of government in Kota Tua, which was built on top of the former Sunda town of Kelapa. Taman Sari, where Kota Tua is located, also includes Glodok, Jakarta's principal Chinatown. It borders Banten's Tangerang, and the Soekarno-Hatta Airport was formerly named "Cengkareng Airport" because it is located near ([[NonIndicativeName but not in]]) Cengkareng in West Jakarta.[[note]]The IATA code for the airport is still "CGK", which refers to its old name.[[/note]] West Jakarta is mostly a working-class area, though developments like the Central Park superblock have shaken up things. Also, the city hosts the main campus of Bina Nusantara University, arguably the most prestigious private university in Indonesia.
* '''South Jakarta''' (''Jakarta Selatan'', or ''Jaksel''): A very upmarket area, South Jakarta is the city's main commercial and business center, having the highest concentration of skyscrapers, shopping malls, and elite residential areas in Jakarta. The area is anchored by Kebayoran Baru ("New Kebayoran"), a planned city that was built during the final years of the Dutch colonial period. Today, Kebayoran Baru includes the Sudirman Central Business District (SCBD) and the trendy Melawai, a popular hangout place for youngsters since the late 20th century. To the east of SCBD across Jalan Gatot Subroto is Kuningan, also a business district that contains many skyscrapers and apartments. Further south, the area includes Pondok Indah, an elite residential complex built during the 1970s to complement Kebayoran Baru, and Ragunan Zoo. In Jagakarsa of the far south, the area becomes a college town of sorts, as the University of Indonesia is located just across the border in Depok.
* '''East Jakarta''' (''Jakarta Timur'', or ''Jaktim''): The largest and most populous of Jakarta's six administrative divisions. During the Dutch era, it (specifically, the district of Jatinegara) was a separate city known as Meester Cornelis. It was regarded as a commuter town for ethnic Indonesians, a status that remains true to this day. East Jakarta is the host to Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, an Air Force base that was later coopted for domestic commercial and charter flights to alleviate congestion at Kemayoran Airport.

Aside from the city proper, the Jakarta metropolitan area (known as ''Jabodetabek'', a clipping of '''Ja'''karta-'''Bo'''gor-'''De'''pok-'''Ta'''ngerang-'''Bek'''asi) includes five independent cities and three regencies. Parts of Cianjur Regency are also included within the conurbation. Unlike Jakarta, these suburbs are technically still in the Sundanese cultural area, which means that Betawi is generally not spoken (though this is changing, particularly in Depok). All of them were included within West Java prior to, 2000, when Tangerang was separated from the others to form Banten.
* '''Bekasi''': The most populous Jakarta suburb, its city proper is also the seventh largest satellite city in the world. Bekasi was a part of the ancient Tarumanagara and the strongest candidate of hosting its capital. It was named after the Sundanese translation of the Chandrabhaga River (now known as Kali Bekasi), which crosses over the city.[[note]]"Chandrabhaga" means "a piece of the moon" in Sanskrit. The "bhaga" part is retained, while "chandra" is translated as "sasi", the Sundanese word for "moon". Over time, "Bhagasasi" came to be pronounced as "Bekasi".[[/note]] Currently, the suburb is best known for being an industrial heartland; Cikarang's integrated Jababeka Industrial Area is the biggest in all of Southeast Asia.
* '''Depok''': Bordering Jakarta to the south, Depok is considered the most "Jakartanized" of the suburbs, with most people simply seeing it as an extension of South Jakarta. The city was carved from Bogor Regency in 1999 and thus the only one not to have a namesake regency. Depok was built out of a 17th century-era Dutch Protestant mission known as "The First Protestant Christian Organization" (''De Eerste Protestante Organisatie van Christenen'', or DEPOC for short). The University of Indonesia, one of the most prestigious in the country, is based in Beji, on the border with South Jakarta.
* '''Bogor''': A nice little suburb located in a highland area 30 kilometers to the south of Jakarta, making it the farthest of its satellite cities. Prior to independence, it was named Buitenzorg ("without worry" in Dutch), and before the Dutch arrived, it was Pakuan Pajajaran, the capital city of the Sunda Kingdom. The city hosts Istana Bogor, one of the country's six presidential palaces, which adjoins the Bogor Botanical Gardens. The Dramaga district contains the prestigious Bogor Agricultural Institute, while Ciawi, Cisarua and Megamendung form a half of the the Puncak resort area, which always gets swamped with Jakartan tourists during the Eid holidays. Bogor is connected to the rest of the Jakarta metropolitan area via the Jagorawi Toll Road, the first toll road in Indonesia.
* '''Tangerang''': Best known for the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Indonesia's largest and busiest airport, as well as the headquarters of the country's flag carrier, Garuda Indonesia. Also known for hosting a bunch of planned "smart cities", such as Alam Sutera (known for having the country's first IKEA) and Lippo Village.
* '''South Tangerang''' (''Tangerang Selatan'', or ''Tangsel''): Carved from Tangerang in 2008. Although Alam Sutera's CBD is in Tangerang, most of its residential areas are located here. Further south, it also includes the Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD) planned city, which predates Alam Sutera and spans over 6,000 hectares of land.

Aside from the city proper, the Jakarta metropolitan area (known as ''Jabodetabek'', a clipping of '''Ja'''karta-'''Bo'''gor-'''De'''pok'''-'''Ta'''ngerang-'''Bek'''asi) also includes five independent cities and three regencies. Parts of Cianjur Regency are also included within the conurbation. Unlike Jakarta, these suburbs are technically still a part of the Sundanese cultural area, which means that Betawi is not generally spoken (though this is changing, particularly in Depok). All of them were included within West Java prior to, 2000, when Tangerang was separated from the others to form Banten.

* '''Bogor''': A nice little suburb located in a highland area 30 kilometers to the south of Jakarta, making it the farthest of its satellite cities. Prior to independence, it was named Buitenzorg ("without worry" in Dutch), and before the Dutch arrived, it was Pakuan Pajajaran, the capital city of the Sunda Kingdom. The city hosts Istana Bogor, one of the country's six presidential palaces, which adjoins the Bogor Botanical Gardens. The Dramaga district contains the prestigious Bogor Agricultural Institute, while Cisarua and Megamendung form the Puncak resort area, which always gets swamped with Jakartan tourists during the Eid holidays. Bogor is connected to the rest of the Jakarta metropolitan area via the Jagorawi Toll Road, the first toll road in Indonesia.

* '''Cianjur''': The district of Cipanas forms the Puncak resort area, together with Bogor's Ciawi and Megamendung, and thus often included in Jabodetabek. One of the country's six presidential palaces, Istana Cipanas, is near Cipanas' border with Pacet district.

* '''Central Jakarta''' (''Jakarta Pusat'', or ''Jakpus''): Home of the country's central governmental functions, it includes Gambir and Sawah Besar, formerly Weltevreden, the seat of government of the Dutch East Indies from the 19th century. As Indonesian cities traditionally position their seat of government and main mosque near the city square, so does Jakarta; the Merdeka Palace (the President's head office) and Istiqlal Mosque are located to the north and northeast of Merdeka Square, where the National Monument is placed. South of Gambir is Menteng, which is the city's original upscale residential area; it was designated by Dutch authorities in the late 19th century to house government workers who commuted to Weltevreden. Jalan M.H. Thamrin, Jakarta's most famous thoroughfare, adjoins Menteng to its west and extends to the Ciliwung River in the south, where it becomes the equally famous Jalan Sudirman across the bridge. Tanah Abang, the southernmost area of Central Jakarta, houses the Bung Karno Sports Complex (formerly the Senayan Sports Complex), parts of which were repurposed to house the headquarters of the People's Consultative Assembly in the 1960s. Jakarta's commercial airport was formerly located in the working-class district of Kemayoran to the northeast of Sawah Besar, until it was moved to the Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang. It was later demolished, and nothing of it remains save for the ATC tower.
* '''West Jakarta''' (''Jakarta Barat'', or ''Jakbar''): Includes the old seat of government in Kota Tua, which was built on top of the former Sunda town of Kelapa. Taman Sari, where Kota Tua is located, also includes Glodok, Jakarta's principal Chinatown. It borders Banten's Tangerang, and the Soekarno-Hatta Airport was formerly named "Cengkareng Airport" because it is located near ([[NonIndicativeName but not in]]) Cengkareng in West Jakarta.[[note]]The IATA code for the airport is still "CGK", which refers to its old name.[[/note]] West Jakarta is mostly a working-class area, though developments like the Central Park superblock have shaken up things.

Aside from the city proper, the Jakarta metropolitan area also includes five independent cities (Bekasi, Bogor, Depok, South Tangerang, Tangerang), and three regencies (Bekasi, Bogor, Tangerang). Parts of Cianjur Regency, specifically, the Puncak resort area, are also included within the conurbation. Unlike Jakarta, these suburbs are technically still a part of the Sundanese cultural area, which means that Betawi is not generally spoken (though this is changing, particularly in Depok). All of them were included within West Java prior to, 2000, when Tangerang was separated from the others to form Banten.

* '''Bogor''': A nice little suburb located in a highland area 30 kilometers to the south of Jakarta, making it the farthest of its satellite cities. Prior to independence, it was named Buitenzorg ("without worry" in Dutch) and before the Dutch arrived, it was Pakuan Pajajaran, the capital city of the Sunda Kingdom. The city hosts Istana Bogor, one of the country's six presidential palaces, which adjoins the the Bogor Botanical Gardens. The Dramaga district contains the prestigious Bogor Agricultural Institute, while Cisarua and Megamendung form the Puncak resort area, which always gets swamped with Jakartan tourists during the Eid holidays. Bogor is connected to the rest of the Jakarta metropolitan area via the Jagorawi Toll Road, the first toll road in Indonesia.

* '''South Tangerang''': Carved from Tangerang in 2008. Although Alam Sutera's CBD is in Tangerang, most of its residential areas are located here. Further south, it also includes the Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD) planned city, which predates Alam Sutera and spans over 6,000 hectares of land.

The city expanded rapidly after independence, as it became the destination for Indonesian immigrants who sought better opportunities. The city surpassed 1 million people in 1950 and grew by at least a million more every decade; the biggest jump was between 1970 and 1980, when the population jumped 70% from 3.9 to 7.9 million. Of course, the immigrants have brought in all sorts of influences both good and bad. Traffic jams in Jakarta are infamous throughout the world, it has been voted the world's most polluted city a couple of times already, and scientists have voiced concern that the city is struggling under the weight of so many buildings and people that it is literally sinking every year. In 2019, the Indonesian government announced the construction of a new capital city on Borneo, with a planned operating year of 2024. Jakarta will be demoted to a "Special Region" (''Daerah Istimewa'', the same one as Yogyakarta), though it will remain the commercial capital.

* '''South Jakarta''' (''Jakarta Selatan'', or ''Jaksel''): A very upmarket area, South Jakarta is the city's main commercial and business center, having the highest concentration of skyscrapers, shopping malls, and elite residential areas in Jakarta. The area is anchored by Kebayoran Baru, a planned city that was built during the final years of the Dutch colonial period. Today, Kebayoran Baru includes the Sudirman Central Business District (SCBD) and the trendy Melawai, a popular hangout place for youngsters since the late 20th century. To the east of SCBD across Jalan Gatot Subroto is Kuningan, also a business district that contains many skyscrapers and apartments. Further south, the area includes Pondok Pinang, which contains an elite residential complex built during the 1970s to complement Kebayoran Baru, and Ragunan Zoo. In Jagakarsa of the far south, the area becomes a college town of sorts, as the University of Indonesia is located just across the border in Depok.
* '''East Jakarta''' (''Jakarta Timur'', or ''Jaktim''): The largest and most populous of Jakarta's six administrative divisions. During the Dutch era, it (specifically, the district of Jatinegara) was known as Meester Cornelis, and was regarded as a commuter town for ethnic Indonesians, a status that remains true to this day. East Jakarta is the host to Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, an Air Force base that was later coopted for domestic commercial and charter flights to alleviate congestion at Kemayoran Airport.

Aside from the city proper, the Jakarta metropolitan area also includes five independent cities (Bekasi, Bogor, Depok, South Tangerang, Tangerang), and three regencies (Bekasi, Bogor, Tangerang). Parts of Cianjur Regency, specifically, the Puncak resort area, are also included within the conurbation. Bekasi, Depok, South Tangerang, and Tangerang all border Jakarta, while Bogor is located further south in an upland region and connected to the others via the Jagorawi Toll Road, Indonesia's very first toll road.

The city expanded rapidly after independence, as it became the destination for Indonesian immigrants who sought better opportunities. The city surpassed 1 million people in 1950 and grew by at least a million more every decade; the biggest jump was between 1970 and 1980, when the population jumped 70% from 3.9 to 7.9 million. Of course, the immigrants have brought in all sorts of influences both good and bad. Traffic jams in Jakarta are infamous throughout the world, it has been voted the world's most polluted city a couple of times already, and scientists have voiced concern that the city is struggling under the weight of so many buildings and people that it is literally sinking every year. In 2019, the Indonesian government announced the construction of a new capital city on Borneo, with a planned operating year of 2024. Jakarta will be demoted to a "Special Region" (the same one as in Yogyakarta), though it will remain the commercial capital. Interestingly, since the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, Jakarta has registered a negligible amount of population growth; in 2023, the population actually ''shrank'' for the second time since independence.

The city expanded rapidly after independence, as it became the destination for Indonesian immigrants who sought better opportunities. The city surpassed 1 million population in 1950 and grew by at least a million more every decade; the biggest jump was between 1970 and 1980, when the population jumped 70% from 3.9 to 7.9 million. Of course, the immigrants have brought in all sorts of influences both good and bad. Traffic jams in Jakarta are infamous throughout the world, it has been voted the world's most polluted city a couple of times already, and scientists have voiced concern that the city is struggling under the weight of so many buildings and people that it is literally sinking every year. In 2019, the Indonesian government announced the construction of a new capital city on Borneo, with a planned operating year of 2024. Jakarta will be demoted to a "Special Region" (the same one as in Yogyakarta), though it will remain the commercial capital. Interestingly, since the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, Jakarta has registered an negligible amount of population growth; in 2023, the population actually ''shrank'' for the second time since independence.

The city expanded rapidly after independence, as it became the destination for Indonesian immigrants who sought better opportunities. The city surpassed 1 million population in 1950 and grew by at least a million more every decade; the biggest jump was between 1970 and 1980, when the population jumped 70% from 3.9 to 7.9 million. Of course, the immigrants have brought in all sorts of influences both good and bad. Traffic jams in Jakarta are infamous throughout the world, it has been voted the world's most polluted city a couple of times already, and scientists have voiced concern that the city is struggling under the weight of so many buildings and people that it is literally sinking every year. In 2019, the Indonesian government announced the construction of a new capital city on Borneo, with a planned operating year of 2024. Jakarta will be demoted to a "Special Region" (the same one as in Yogyakarta), though it will remain the commercial capital. Interestingly, since the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, Jakarta has registered a negligence amount of population growth; in 2023, the population actually ''shrank'' for the second time since independence.

* '''Central Jakarta''' (''Jakarta Pusat'', or ''Jakpus''): Home of the country's central governmental functions, it includes Gambir and Sawah Besar, formerly Weltevreden, the seat of government of the Dutch East Indies from the 19th century. As Indonesian cities traditionally position their seat of government and main mosque near the city square, so does Jakarta; the Merdeka Palace (the President's head office) and Istiqlal Mosque are located to the north and northeast of Merdeka Square, where the National Monument is placed. South of Gambir is Menteng, which is the city's original upscale residential area; it was designated by Dutch authorities in the late 19th century to house government workers who commuted to Weltevreden. Jalan M.H. Thamrin, Jakarta's most famous thoroughfare, adjoins Menteng to its west and extends to the Ciliwung River in the south, where it becomes the equally famous Jalan Sudirman across the bridge. Tanah Abang, the southernmost area of Central Jakarta, houses the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex (formerly the Senayan Sports Complex), parts of which were repurposed to house the headquarters of the People's Consultative Assembly in the 1960s. Jakarta's commercial airport was formerly located in the working-class district of Kemayoran to the northeast of Sawah Besar, until it was moved to the Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang. It was later demolished, and nothing of it remains save for the ATC tower.

Jakarta is the capital city of UsefulNotes/{{Indonesia}}. Located at the mouth of the Ciliwung River in northwestern Java, the city forms its own administrative division, the Special Capital Region (''Daerah Khusus Ibukota''), separate from any other [[UsefulNotes/ProvincesOfIndonesia province]], though it was a part of West Java until 1959. With 10 million people in its city proper and 33 million people in its metropolitan area, Jakarta is the second-largest urban area in the world (after UsefulNotes/{{Tokyo}}), as well as the largest urban area in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also, by far, the most populous urban area with a [[UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} Muslim]]-majority population.[[note]]By city proper, however, UsefulNotes/{{Karachi}} is larger.[[/note]] Jakarta is the seat of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which it is the second-largest economic area, after UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}}.

In any case, by the 16th century, Kelapa was controlled by the Sunda Kingdom, who, in 1522, invited the Portuguese to trade and settle. At this point, Sunda was still a Hindu kingdom, and they were fearful of the growing influence of Muslims, particularly their eastern neighbor, the Demak Sultanate. Sure enough, in 1527, the same year that the former Hindu superpower Majapahit was definitely brought down by Demak, they sent a general, Fatahillah, to drive off the Portuguese and claim Kelapa for the Muslims. Following the campaign, Kelapa was bestowed the new name Jayakarta ("accomplished victory"), while its control was handed over to Demak's Sunda client state, the Banten Sultanate.

Under the Dutch, Batavia was rebuilt. The former site of Jayakarta, located to the west of the Ciliwung River in present-day Taman Sari, was initially reused for the Dutch seat of government. As a result of continual epidemics in the 19th century, the government relocated the capital to Weltevreden in the southeast, which had a higher elevation and more space to expand. As they were still wary of natives, the Dutch banned ethnic Javanese and Sundanese from settling the new city, unless they were enslaved. In addition to Java, slaves were sourced in from all along the Indonesian archipelago, and Chinese immigrants were also welcomed in. The result of this is the creation of a new creolized identity known as "Betawi" in an area that is otherwise predominantly either Javanese or Sundanese. Linguists theorized that the Betawi language was originally a 18th-century Malay pidgin that was spoken by descendants of Chinese men and Balinese women who converted to Islam and intermarried, with the resulting creolized language being adopted by later immigrants.

When the Japanese invaded and occupied the Dutch East Indies in 1942, they sought to woo the ethnic Indonesians by restoring Batavia's previous name, albeit shortened to "Jakarta". Soekarno proclaimed Indonesia's independence from a house in the district of Menteng on August 17, 1945, a date that has since been designated the country's independence day. However, the Dutch would ultimately return once again after Japan surrendered and effectively governed the city and the country for four years until they left for good in 1949.

The city expanded rapidly after independence, as it became the destination for Indonesian immigrants from who sought better opportunities. The city surpassed 1 million population in 1950 and grew by at least a million more every decade; the biggest jump was between 1970 and 1980, when the population jumped up to 70% from 3.9 to 7.9 million. Of course, the immigrants have brought in all sorts of influences both good and bad. Traffic jams in Jakarta are infamous throughout the world, the city has been voted the world's most polluted city a couple of times already, and scientists have voiced concern that the city is struggling under the weight of so many buildings and people that it is literally sinking every year. In 2019, the Indonesian government announced the construction of a new capital city on Borneo, with a planned operating year of 2024. Jakarta will be demoted into a "Special Region" (the same one as in Yogyakarta), though it will remain the commercial capital. Interestingly, since the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, Jakarta has registered a negligence amount of population growth; in 2023, the population actually ''shrank'' for the second time since independence.

* '''North Jakarta''' (''Jakarta Utara'', or ''Jakut''): Occupying the city's entire coastal area, North Jakarta was the location of the Port of Kelapa, which later grew into the modern city. The port still exists, though it is now used for recreational purposes, its original role having been taken over by Tanjung Priok further east. Most of the area was once considered undesirable for settlement due to its low-lying, swampy location, making it prone to waterborne diseases, but its fortunes began to change since the 1960s, when the Ancol Dreamland was constructed to boost tourism. These days, North Jakarta is considered one of the city's main upscale residential areas, particularly in Kelapa Gading and Penjaringan.

* '''East Jakarta''' (''Jakarta Timur'', or ''Jaktim''): The largest and most populous of the Jakarta's six administrative divisions. During the Dutch era, it (specifically, the district of Jatinegara) was known as Meester Cornelis, and was regarded as a commuter town for ethnic Indonesians, a status that remains true to this day. East Jakarta is the host to Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, an Air Force base that was later coopted for domestic commercial and charter flights to alleviate congestion at Kemayoran Airport.
* '''Thousand Islands''' (''Kepulauan Seribu''): The only regency in Jakarta as well as the smallest first-level and least populous administrative division. [[NonIndicativeName Contrary to its name]], the regency consists of 110 islands in the Java Sea, 11 of which are inhabited. Some are closed private islands, others are resorts, and the entire area is designated a national park. The regent's office is located on Pramuka Island, while Onrust Island had a history of being visited by Dutch ships prior to disembarking on Jakarta.

Aside from the city proper, the Jakarta metropolitan area also includes five independent cities (Bekasi, Bogor, Depok, South Tangerang, Tangerang), and three regencies (Bekasi, Bogor, Tangerang). Parts of Cianjur Regency, specifically, the Puncak resort area, is also included within the conurbation. Bekasi, Depok, and the Tangerang cities all border Jakarta, while Bogor is located further south in an upland region and connected to the others via the Jagorawi Toll Road, Indonesia's very first toll road.