Batavia – A Chinese Town Under Dutch Rule

No-one knows when the Chinese first hit what was to become Jakarta. Certainly, when the Dutch first arrived, in 1596, they found Chinese merchants manufacturing arak (rice wine) on the east bank of the river. The land had been granted by Pangeran Wijaya Krama, a local ruler subservient to Banten, the centre of power at the time.

Going back further in time we find court records coming from the royal cities of Demak along with Cirebon hinting which ancestors of the ruling classes had Chinese blood. There will be also evidence of trade between the port cities of north Java, such as Surabaya, Gresik along with Tuban, along with China going back to the 9th Century. 700 years before the Dutch arrived, which’s an awful lot of history waiting to be told.

Like throughout South East Asia, those far-off pioneers set off in search of riches along with often never returned. Single men, hard working, they might settle down along with marry locally. When they became wealthy they might send money home for their families along with always, at the back of their minds, was the notion which one day they might return home. To be buried with their ancestors, their filial duty.

which didn’t always work out which way along with by the time the Dutch along with additional Europeans commenced poking their prows round the eastern seas, the Chinese were at the heart of a vast maritime trading empire coming from the coastal cities of India, down the Straits of Malaka, along the north coast of Java, taking inside riches of Siam along with along the pirate infested seas off the southern coast of China.

The business was trade, the language in those early days Malay, Farsi, Portuguese nevertheless which was the Chinese who opened doors along with who spotted markets.

By the 16th Century, Banten was at the centre of which emporium, fat along with rich coming from the proceeds of pepper along with spices along with the Chinese held the purse strings. Today Banten Lama stands as a silent reminder to those heady, unhealthy days. A Chinese temple stands alongside a cumbersome Dutch fort which once overlooked the busiest port inside east. nevertheless right now, like the traders along with the vagabonds who filled those medieval bazaars, the seas have gone. The ruins of a Sultan’s palace opposite a mosque with its Chinese designed minaret remain a memory of an early Singapore.

At the same time the Chinese settlement by the Ciliwung was a back water, selling arak to sailors who passed through. The area was once where the Pajajaran Empire communicated to the outside world, perhaps the Chinese had seen the river rise along with fall in importance, selling intoxication to hardy men setting out on hazardous missions around the eastern waters.

modest which may have been, nevertheless the Chinese community was organized along with had its own headman, a gent at the time named Watting. The idea of a headman for each community was common throughout the archipelago at which time. Despite what nationalists might try along with tell people today, cities, along with especially port cities, were as cosmopolitan then as they are right now. inside markets of early Banten along with Jakarta, Arabs, Gujerats along with Europeans might trade while Bugis might ready their ships along with Japanese mercenaries stood guard. Each community had its own head man who could settle cases with additional groups along with generally keep the atmosphere calm along with amicable.

As Jakarta grew under Dutch influence, so did the Chinese population, nevertheless even inside early 17th Century there was resentment at what was perceived to be the Chinese special privileges. Europeans who arrived seeking their fortune found which the Dutch authorities protected the interests of the Dutch East India Company monopoly along with they couldn’t get a foot inside mercantile door. The Chinese however, were free to do so along with which upset the newcomers who sought their own piece of the pie. In those early years Jakarta, then of course known as Batavia, was considered a Chinese town under Dutch rule.

Until 1740 the Chinese flourished as never before. Banten faded along with died, trade along with money headed east. Masts filled Jakarta bay as ships came to along with fro along with at the heart of the business were the Chinese. which was their golden era nevertheless times of bounty never last. The riots along with pogrom of 1740 killed many thousands of Chinese along with the rivers ran red. Indeed Angke means just which, Red River, along with the name of the river recalls those grim days 267 years ago.