The History of Jakarta dates back to at least the 14th Century with the development of a small port of Hindu Pajajaran Kingdom at the mouth of Ciliwung River. Searching for the fabled “Spice Island”, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive and establish a fortress on the site in the early 16th Century.

The old port attacked by a neighboring sultanate under leadership of Prince Fatahillah. After the assault, the Portuguese navy fleet destroyed. Fatahillah changed the name of the Sunda Kelapa port to Jayakarta, meaning “Total Victory”,

commemorating the defeat of the local Hindu Kingdom and their European allies. According to some historians, this event took place on June 22, 1527, a date that later was officially recognized as the birth of the city of Jakarta.

It was to this town that Dutch spice merchants came in the late 16th Century and began a trading association with Europe that s dictate the story df Jakarta, and Indonesia as a nation, for nearly 350 years. Under the aggressive leadership of Jan Pieterzoon Coen, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) proceeded forcibly to take session to the town of Jayakarta, renaming it Batavia in i619; from here, they ruled Indonesia for more than three centuries. Following the Japanese invasion and rule of the country frôm 1942-1945, on August 17, 1945, Indonesia’s first President Soekarno proclaimed Indonesia independence and Jakarta Became the accepted nation’s capital.