KOTA TUA AND CHINA TOWN - JAKARTA

today we are exploring the old Colonial heat of Jakarta and home to the Dutch East India company HQ from its trading days. come take a look and also at China Town. Kota Tua, meaning "Old Town" in Indonesian, is the historic core of Jakarta and the original 17th-century administrative and trading hub of the Dutch East India Company (VOC).Early Pre-Colonial RootsBefore the Dutch arrived, the area at the mouth of the Ciliwung River was a major trading port named Sunda Kelapa. It was controlled by the Hindu kingdom of Sunda. In 1527, Muslim forces led by Fatahillah captured the port and renamed it Jayakarta.The Dutch Era and BataviaIn 1619, the Dutch East India Company under Jan Pieterszoon Coen conquered Jayakarta and built a fortified city named Batavia. As noted by Barceló Experiences, “The neighbourhood now known as Kota Tua was the walled administrative heart of the maritime base the Dutch created on the island of Java.” It served as the Asian headquarters for the VOC and the center of the global spice trade.