If you love to see the old buildings, you should visit
the old city. The city formerly known as Old Batavia is a small town located on
the edge east of the Ciliwung River, Jakarta.
In the 16th century, the Old City of Batavia has become
the main attraction for sailors and merchants from Europe. Legendary British
explorer, James Cook even call this city as The Pearl of the Orient. Batavia
city structure prepared to be a copy of the Dutch capital, Amsterdam so that it
labeled Koningen van Oosten or Queen of the East.
The Old City Batavia has an harbor, named Sunda Kelapa Port, and it become the
forerunner of the city of Jakarta. It has 139 hectares area across North
Jakarta to West Jakarta, this region is dominated by European and Chinese
architectural buildings from the 17th century until the early 20th century.
This area was expanded to 846 acres with a region that includes the port of
Sunda Kelapa. But the core region itself includes the City Hall building or
Fatahillah Museum and surrounding areas.
Before becoming the City of Batavia, this region was
named Jayakarta (1527-1619) near the port of Banten Sultanate named Sunga
Kalapa. This harbor was an inter-island trade area that has been initiated by
the Kingdom of Sunda long before.
In 1610, the Dutch trading company- VOC (VerenigdeOostindische Compagnie) led by Jan Pieterzoon Coen attacked the port of Sunda
Kelapa and Jayakarta. The VOC needed 30 years later to build a new city, named
Batavia with the center is Taman Fatahillah. After the Japanese conquest of the
city in 1942, the city changed the name into Jakarta.
The Old Town is still have areas where the building is
still so genuine and no significant change since the days of the VOC. The
Charming remind us of the history of our ancestors, your ancestors, conquest by successive conquerors countries.