Batavia, Dutch East Indies

Batavia
Former city (1619–1949)
City Municipality of Batavia Stadsgemeente Batavia
Other transcription(s)
• Chinese	勿礁維 (Traditional) 勿礁维 (Simplified)
Kali Besar in 1938 Stadhuis in Oud Batavia Statue of Jan Pieterszoon Coen in front of Grote Huis building Aerial view of Batavia Zuid railway station Tandjoengpriok port
Flag Coat of arms
Motto(s):  Dispereert Niet (Dutch) "Do Not Surrender"
Map of Batavia, c. 1920
Territory	Dutch East Indies
Governorate	West Java
Residency	Batavia
Establishment	30 May 1619
Japanese occupation; renamed to Jakarta	1942–1945
Dutch re-occupation	1946–1949
Independence	17 August 1945
Government
• Type	Gemeenteraad Batavia
• Mayor	G. J. Bisschop (first) Sastromoeljono (last)
Population  (1920)
• Total	253,800
1619–1949 ←  Jayakarta Jakarta →

Batavia was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The area corresponds to present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. Batavia can refer to the city proper or its suburbs and hinterland, the Ommelanden, which included the much larger area of the Residency of Batavia in the present-day Indonesian provinces of Jakarta, Banten and West Java.

The founding of Batavia by the Dutch in 1619, on the site of the ruins of Jayakarta, led to the establishment of a Dutch colony; Batavia became the center of the Dutch East India Company's trading network in Asia. Monopolies on local produce were augmented by non-indigenous cash crops. To safeguard their commercial interests, the company and the colonial administration absorbed surrounding territory.

Batavia is on the north coast of Java, in a sheltered bay, on a land of marshland and hills crisscrossed with canals. The city had two centers: Oud Batavia (the oldest part of the city) and Weltevreden (the relatively newer city), on higher ground to the south.

It was a European colonial city for about 320 years until 1942, when the Dutch East Indies was occupied by Japan during World War II. During the Japanese occupation and after Indonesian nationalists declared independence on 17 August 1945, the city was known as Jakarta. It remained internationally known by its Dutch name until Indonesia achieved full independence in 1949, when the city was renamed Jakarta.