Batavia, Dutch East Indies

Batavia was the name of the capital city of the Dutch East Indies and corresponds to the present-day city of Jakarta. Just as modern Jakarta may refer to either the city itself or to the larger area of the city, with its geographic surroundings, which taken together is one of the provinces of Indonesia, Batavia can refer to the city proper as it existed then, with its various increases over time in urbanized acreage, or can refer to the surrounding hinterland.

The establishment of Batavia at the site of the razed city of Jayakarta by the Dutch in 1619 led to the Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. Batavia became the center of the Dutch East India Company's trading network in Asia. Monopolies on nutmeg, black pepper, cloves and cinnamon were augmented by non-indigenous cash crops like coffee, tea, cacao, tobacco, rubber, sugar and opium. To safeguard their commercial interests, the company and the colonial administration, which replaced it in 1799, progressively absorbed surrounding territory.

Batavia lies on the north coast of Java, in a sheltered bay, over a flat land consisting of marshland and hills, and crisscrossed with canals. The city consisted of two centers: Oud Batavia or Benedenstad ("Lower City"), the oldest, the lowest and the most unhealthy part of the city, and Bovenstad ("Upper City"), the relatively newer city located on the higher ground to the south.

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