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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, bordering West Java and Banten and facing the Java Sea. Jakarta covers about 664 square kilometres (256 square miles) and had 11 million registered residents in 2025. Its urban area extends well beyond the provincial boundary into the wider Jakarta metropolitan area (locally known as Jabodetabek), which had a population of nearly 42 million in 2025 according to the United Nations.
The area around present-day Jakarta was long associated with Sunda Kelapa, the port of the Sunda Kingdom. Islamic forces captured Kalapa in 1527, after which the settlement became known as Jayakarta and came under the Banten Sultanate. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) seized Jayakarta in 1619 and rebuilt it as Batavia, its main administrative centre in Asia and an important trading port. During the Japanese occupation in World War II, the authorities renamed Batavia to Jakarta. Indonesian independence was proclaimed there in 1945 and after the Indonesian National Revolution, Jakarta became the capital of the unitary republic in 1950.
Jakarta grew rapidly after Indonesian independence. Migration from across Indonesia has shaped its population and culture. Urban growth has spread into Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi, which creates a metropolitan region tied together by large, daily commuter flows. Jakarta is Indonesia's financial and trade centre and the centre of national administration. It is also home to many corporate headquarters, media organisations, universities and the secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Jakarta has no ethnic majority. The largest groups include Javanese, Betawi, Sundanese and Chinese Indonesians. Indonesian is the official language and the main language of public life, while Betawi culture developed from interaction among people of varying origins in colonial Batavia. Jakarta faces persistent issues including traffic congestion, flooding, land subsidence, air pollution, and pressure on water and waste services. In 2022, the Indonesian government began the legal process of moving the country's capital to Nusantara in East Kalimantan, but Jakarta remains the capital until the transfer is formalised by a presidential decree.
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 and was 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 origin 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 (Japanese: ジャカルタ特別市, lit. 'Jakarta Special Municipality'). Following Indonesian independence, Jakarta became the city's formal name.
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 records the excavation of two waterways, the Candrabhaga and Gomati, and attributes the latter to King Purnawarman. However, the relationship between the waterways and the identity of the ruler responsible for the Candrabhaga are uncertain.
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.
In the early 17th century, Jayakarta was under Banten's control and became an object of rivalry between the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the English East India Company. 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. From the 1730s, disease outbreaks made Batavia increasingly dangerous to live in, and wealthy residents increasingly moved away from the old town.
Despite the 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 continued 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.
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.
Jakarta covers about 664 square kilometres (256 sq mi) of land and 6,977 square kilometres (2,694 sq mi) of sea territory, including the waters around the Thousand Islands. The wider metropolitan region, commonly called Jabodetabek, extends into West Java and Banten and covers about 6,799 square kilometres (2,625 sq mi) of land. Daily commuting links Jakarta with surrounding municipalities, including 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 50 metres (160 feet). 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 remains common. Heavy rain and runoff from upstream areas cause flooding, which can be worsened by high tides, land subsidence, blocked drains and limited river capacity.
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.
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 is generally warm throughout the year. At Kemayoran, monthly mean temperatures during 1991–2020 ranged from 27.3 °C (81.1 °F) in February to 28.8 °C (83.8 °F) in October, with an annual mean of 28.2 °C (82.8 °F). The annual averages of daily maximum and minimum temperatures were 32.5 °C (90.5 °F) and 25.5 °C (77.9 °F), respectively. Over the long term, Jakarta has also become warmer, with its annual mean temperature rising by about 1.6 °C (2.9 °F) per century between 1866 and 2012.
In the early 19th century, the Dutch colonial administration moved south from old Batavia to Weltevreden, and development along the road between them formed a north–south urban corridor. Kebayoran Baru was developed to the south as an upper-income satellite town between 1950 and 1965. From the late 1960s, growth spread east and west as well, with industrial development concentrated in the east and residential expansion mainly in the west, along with the continuing southward growth. Today, Jakarta has three distinct centres having different roles. The Old Town retains the historic and cultural core, Medan Merdeka–Gambir is dominated by government and monumental buildings, and Sudirman-Thamrin-Kuningan is the main business centre, with many commercial skyscrapers.
High-rise and luxury development in central Jakarta is often close to dense kampungs and slums, some of which are hidden behind buildings along the main roads. Beyond Jakarta's provincial boundary, urban growth has spread through Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi, with housing, new towns and industrial estates developing along major transport corridors. Within Jakarta, high-rise development has also expanded from individual towers lining major roads to clustered, mixed-use developments such as the Mega Kuningan superblock.
Jakarta's built environment includes Betawi vernacular architecture, colonial-era buildings, post-independence monuments and modern high-rises. Betawi houses are rooted in Malay architectural traditions, with decorative influences from Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese and Arab cultures. Their wide eaves, large openings, and open layouts are also suited to the tropical climate.
Jakarta's colonial architecture developed from the VOC-built core of Batavia through the 19th-century expansion to Weltevreden and further growth in the early 20th century. By the mid-19th century, Weltevreden had become the colonial administrative centre, with government buildings, elite residences, churches, shops and hotels.
In the early 20th century, planned neighbourhoods such as Menteng combined garden-city layouts with houses adapted to tropical conditions. Developed in the 1910s, Menteng was planned as a healthy residential district for the middle class. The early houses combined climate-adapted features such as broad eaves and open ventilation with modernist and Art Deco design.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Jakarta”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.