Jakarta, officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia, with administrative status equivalent to a province. It lies on the northwestern coast of Java, borders the provinces of West Java and Banten, and faces the Java Sea to the north. Jakarta itself covers about , but the wider Jakarta metropolitan area—locally known as Jabodetabek—is among the largest urban agglomerations in the world by area. By population, the metro area is the most populous urban area in the world with a population of over 40 million. Jakarta is Indonesia's political, economic, and cultural centre and contains many national institutions, corporate headquarters, and the secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The area that is now Jakarta has been inhabited since at least the early centuries of the Common Era and was long associated with Sunda Kelapa, the port of the Sunda Kingdom. In 1527, the settlement was renamed Jayakarta after being captured by forces of the Demak Sultanate. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) seized the city in 1619 and rebuilt it as Batavia, which served as the centre of VOC power and subsequently of Dutch colonial rule in the Indonesian archipelago for more than three centuries. After the Japanese occupation during the Second World War and Indonesia's declaration of independence in 1945, the city took the name Jakarta and became the capital of the new republic.
The Globalization and World Cities Research Network classifies Jakarta as an alpha world city. It is Indonesia's main financial and commercial centre and one of Southeast Asia's largest urban economies. Its economy is concentrated in finance, trade, business services, media, and international diplomacy. Rapid urbanisation since the mid-20th century expanded Jakarta into a metropolitan region and drew migrants from across Indonesia.
Jakarta has no ethnic majority. Its population includes large communities of Javanese, Betawi, Sundanese, Chinese Indonesians, and migrants from many other parts of Indonesia. Indonesian is the official language and the main language of public life, while Betawi culture grew out of the mixing of local, Chinese, Indian, Arab, and European influences during the colonial period. Jakarta has persistent urban problems, including traffic congestion, air pollution, flooding, and land subsidence, which helped prompt the national government's decision to relocate Indonesia's future capital to Nusantara in East Kalimantan.
Etymology The area now known as Jakarta has had several names. During the period of the Sunda Kingdom, its harbour was known as Kalapa or Sunda Kalapa, one of the kingdom's principal ports on the north coast of western Java. A 16th-century account by Portuguese apothecary Tomé Pires referred to the harbour as Calapa.
The name Jayakarta is traditionally linked to the conquest of Kalapa in 1527 by Islamic forces said to have been led by Fatahillah, but surviving records do not confirm that he renamed the settlement. The name is of Sanskrit roots and translates to "victory" or "victorious deed". Early European sources recorded related forms including Iacarta, Xacatra, and Jacatra.
After the Dutch East India Company (VOC) seized and destroyed Jayakarta in 1619, it rebuilt the settlement as Batavia, named for the Batavi, a Germanic people regarded by the Dutch as their ancestors. Batavia remained the city's name until the Japanese occupation in 1942, when the authorities renamed it Jakarta and used the designation Jakaruta Tokubetsu-shi (). Following Indonesian independence, Jakarta became the city's formal name.
History
Early settlements and Sunda Kelapa
The Buni culture was a prehistoric pottery culture found in the coastal areas of northern and western Java. It is dated to roughly 400 BC–AD 100, with evidence suggesting that it may have continued until about AD 500. Written evidence from this period includes the mid-5th century Tugu inscription, found near Tanjung Priok in present-day North Jakarta. The inscription mentions the Candrabhaga and Gomati waterways and mentions a King Purnawarman dugging the Gomati river, but it is unclear who was responsible for the Candrabhaga or how the two projects were related.
By the 10th century, the Sunda Kingdom had emerged in western Java and ruled the area around present-day Jakarta. The Chinese work Chu-fan-chi describes Sin-t'o as having a harbour and producing pepper, with the work's translators Friedrich Hirth and William Woodville Rockhill identifying the place meant as Sunda in western Java. By the early 16th century, Kalapa was one of the Sunda Kingdom's leading ports. Tomé Pires described it as Sunda's most important trading port, drawing ships from Sumatra, Malacca, Java and elsewhere.
In March 1513, the Portuguese captain at Malacca sent four ships to Java to obtain spices. The Sunda Kingdom concluded a treaty with Portugal on 21 August 1522. It allowed the Portuguese to build a fortress at Kalapa, as Sunda sought Portuguese support amid pressure from the sultanates of Cirebon and Demak. In 1527, Islamic forces captured Kalapa, but sources differ over whether Fatahillah or Sunan Gunung Jati led the conquest. After the conquest, Kalapa became a dependency of the Banten Sultanate and was recorded in foreign sources as Iacarta, Xacatra or Jacatra. Banten later developed into a major maritime power in western Java.
Batavia under Dutch rule
In the early 17th century, Jayakarta was under Banten's control and became an object of rivalry between Dutch (VOC) and English (EIC) trading interests. Following a siege, Dutch naval officer Jan Pieterszoon Coen returned with reinforcements in May 1619, overran Jayakarta and burned the royal residence. The VOC established its Asian headquarters on the site and subsequently named the settlement Batavia.
Batavia developed as a walled canal city on the low coastal plain at the mouth of the Ciliwung river. However, the canals flowed poorly and accumulated sediment, and rapid coastal silting contributed to unhealthy conditions. After the 1730s, Batavia became markedly less healthy, and wealthy residents increasingly moved away from the old town.
Despite these health problems, Batavia remained the VOC's main administrative centre in Asia and an important trading port. Chinese residents were involved in Batavia's trade, agriculture, crafts, and construction, and lived both within the city and in the surrounding countryside (Ommelanden). In 1740, unrest among Chinese labourers in the Ommelanden and the VOC's response escalated into a massacre of Chinese residents in Batavia. After the massacre, Chinese settlement began settling outside the city walls. In March 1741, the VOC designated a Chinese quarter at Diestpoort, south of Batavia, in an area later known as Glodok.
By the early 19th century, residents were moving away from the unhealthy old town, and the move to Weltevreden (present-day Central Jakarta) sped up Batavia's southward growth. Weltevreden developed around government buildings and spacious residences with gardens, while the lower old town remained a commercial district that included the Chinese quarter. Subsequent growth extended Batavia southward to Menteng and incorporated Meester Cornelis (present-day Jatinegara). In March 1942, Dutch forces surrendered Batavia to Japan, and the Japanese occupation authorities renamed the city Jakarta.
Jakarta in independent Indonesia
Indonesia's independence was proclaimed in Jakarta on 17 August 1945. During the first months of the Indonesian National Revolution, authority in Jakarta was contested among Indonesian, Japanese and Dutch officials. British forces intervened to restore order and a Dutch political takeover was initially blocked by the Allies. As the British consolidated control of Jakarta, the Republican government moved to Yogyakarta, which became its capital in early 1946. Jakarta was made the capital again in 1950 after the federal United States of Indonesia was replaced by the unitary republic of Indonesia.
Under first President Sukarno, Jakarta became the focus of major nation-building projects, some of which were part of preparations for the Asian Games in 1962. These projects included the National Monument, Hotel Indonesia, Sarinah, the Senayan sports complex, and the Thamrin–Sudirman axis. In 1964, new legislation formally reaffirmed the Special Capital Region of Jakarta as Indonesia's capital.
The violence and political upheaval of 1965–66 marked General Suharto's rise to power and the beginning of the New Order. Under Governor Ali Sadikin (1966–77), Jakarta expanded the Kampung Improvement Program to improve basic services in dense kampungs, but modernisation also displaced some poor neighbourhoods. From the 1980s, deregulation and greater private and foreign investment accelerated high-rise construction along Thamrin–Sudirman and large industrial, commercial and residential projects on the metropolitan outskirts.
The Asian financial crisis in 1997–98 intensified student protests and widespread violence in Jakarta. After mounting political pressure, President Suharto resigned on 21 May 1998. In the Reformasi era, decentralisation changed Jakarta's local governance, and residents directly elected the governor for the first time in 2007. In 2022, the central government laid the legal groundwork for moving the national capital to Nusantara. The capital's legal functions remain in Jakarta until a presidential decree formally transfers them to Nusantara.
Geography
Jakarta covers about of land and of sea area. Jakarta's urban area extends beyond the provincial boundary into the wider metropolitan region, commonly called Jabodetabek, which includes surrounding cities and regencies in West Java and Banten. Daily commuting links Jakarta with surrounding municipalities, which are Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi.
The city lies on Java's northwestern coast at the mouth of the Ciliwung river, facing Jakarta Bay. Except for some hilly areas in the south, Jakarta spreads across low, flat terrain. Much of Jakarta lies on an alluvial plain, with elevations ranging from below sea level to about . Thirteen rivers flow through the city from the south toward Jakarta Bay, including the Ciliwung, Angke, Sunter, and Grogol rivers. The alluvial plain was historically swampy, and seasonal flooding is common, which is caused by heavy rain and runoff from upstream areas. In addition, high tides, land subsidence, waste-clogged drainage and limited river capacity can worsen inundation.
Jakarta's flood-control policy has long favoured engineered measures, including canals, dredging, pumping stations and coastal defences. Land subsidence is a major driver of coastal-flood risk in northern Jakarta. Groundwater extraction and the weight of buildings and infrastructure are among the human causes of subsidence. Beyond flooding, Jakarta also faces severe river-water and air pollution, with air pollution imposing substantial health burdens.
Climate
Jakarta has a tropical monsoon climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. Rainfall is much heavier from December to March, while June to September is relatively dry. Flooding is common during the rainy season. Heavy rain and upstream runoff can overwhelm rivers and drains, while high tides, land subsidence and urban development can further increase flood risk.
Jakarta remains warm throughout the year, with monthly means between and and the yearly average around . Average daily highs are about , while average daily lows are about . Over the long term, Jakarta has also become warmer, with its annual mean temperature rising by about per century between 1866 and 2012.