Jakarta's origins can be traced back to the port town of Kelapa, which was first mentioned by Portuguese diplomat Tomé Pires in his geographical work Suma Oriental, written in 1515. However, Kelapa had existed for hundreds of years by that point, possibly all the way back to the 4th century, when the region served as the main domain of Tarumanagara, an ancient Hindu kingdom in Java. Based on the Tugu inscription, Tarumanagara was centered around the Chandrabhaga River, putting it between present-day North Jakarta and Bekasi (whose name is etymologically derived from the river). In the 13th century, the Chinese chronicle Zhu Fan Shi mentioned an important port town within the Srivijayan colony of Sunda in northwestern Java, which might have referred to Kelapa.
In any case, by the 16th century, Kelapa was controlled by the Sunda Kingdom, who, in 1522, invited the Portuguese to trade and settle. At this point, Sunda was still a Hindu kingdom, and they were fearful of the growing influence of Muslims, particularly their eastern neighbor, the Demak Sultanate. Sure enough, in 1527, the same year that the former Hindu superpower Majapahit was brought down by Demak, they sent a general, Fatahillah, to drive off the Portuguese and claim Kelapa for the Muslims. Following the campaign, Kelapa was bestowed the new name Jayakarta ("accomplished victory"), while its control was handed over to Demak's Sunda client state, the Banten Sultanate.
The Dutch started arriving in Jayakarta in 1596, followed by the East India Company in 1602. Although responsible for inviting both, Prince Jayawikarta of Banten eventually decided that he favored the English more, something that the Dutch could not accept. Matters came to a head in 1619, when Banten's army attacked the Dutch fortress, who responded by destroying the EIC outpost and burning down Jayakarta. The Dutch took full control of the town and renamed it Batavia, after the ancient Batavi
, whom they regarded as their ancestors.
Under the Dutch, Batavia was rebuilt. The former site of Jayakarta, located to the west of the Ciliwung River in present-day Taman Sari, was initially reused for the Dutch seat of government. As a result of continual epidemics in the 19th century, the government relocated the capital to Weltevreden in the southeast, which had a higher elevation and more space to expand. As they were still wary of natives, the Dutch banned ethnic Javanese and Sundanese from settling the new city, unless they were enslaved. In addition to Java, slaves were sourced in from all along the Indonesian archipelago, and Chinese immigrants were also welcomed in. The result of this was the creation of a new creolized identity known as "Betawi" in an area that is otherwise predominantly either Javanese or Sundanese. Linguists theorized that the Betawi language was originally an 18th-century Malay pidgin that was spoken by descendants of Chinese men and Balinese women who converted to Islam and intermarried, with the resulting creolized language being adopted by later immigrants.
When the Japanese invaded and occupied the Dutch East Indies in 1942, they sought to woo the ethnic Indonesians by restoring Batavia's previous name, albeit shortened to "Jakarta". Soekarno proclaimed Indonesia's independence from a house in the district of Menteng on August 17, 1945, a date that has since been designated the country's independence date. However, the Dutch returned after Japan surrendered and effectively governed the city and the country for four years until they left for good in 1949.
The city expanded rapidly after independence, as it became the destination for Indonesian immigrants who sought better opportunities. The city surpassed 1 million people in 1950 and grew by at least a million more every decade; the biggest jump was between 1970 and 1980, when the population jumped 70% from 3.9 to 6.7 million. Of course, the immigrants have brought in all sorts of influences both good and bad. Traffic jams in Jakarta are infamous throughout the world, it has been voted the world's most polluted city a couple of times already, and scientists have voiced concern that the city is struggling under the weight of so many buildings and people that it is literally sinking every year. In 2019, the Indonesian government announced the construction of a new capital city on Borneo, with a planned operating year of 2024. Jakarta will be demoted to a "Special Region" (Daerah Istimewa, the same one as Yogyakarta), though it will remain the commercial capital.
As Jakarta is a first-level administrative division, it is ruled by a governor (gubernur) instead of a mayor (wali kota) as in other Indonesian cities. Mayors instead rule over the next-level subdivision; Jakarta is divided into 4 independent cities (kota, ruled by mayors) and 1 regency (kabupaten, ruled by a regent). Those, in turn, are further divided into 43 districts (kecamatan) and 267 urban communities (kelurahan).
- North Jakarta (Jakarta Utara, or Jakut): Occupying the city's entire coastal area, North Jakarta was the location of the Port of Kelapa, which later grew into the modern city. The port still exists, though it is now used for recreational purposes, its original role having been taken over by Tanjung Priok further east. Most of the area was once considered undesirable for settlement due to its low-lying, swampy location, making it prone to waterborne diseases, but its fortunes began to change since the 1960s, when the Ancol Dreamland was constructed to boost tourism. These days, North Jakarta is one of the city's main upscale residential areas, particularly in Kelapa Gading and Penjaringan.
- Central Jakarta (Jakarta Pusat, or Jakpus): Home of the country's central governmental functions, it includes Gambir and Sawah Besar, formerly Weltevreden, the seat of government of the Dutch East Indies from the 19th century. As Indonesian cities traditionally position their seat of government and main mosque near the city square, so does Jakarta; Istana Merdeka (the President's head office)note and Istiqlal Mosque are located to the north and northeast of Merdeka Square, where the National Monument is placed. South of Gambir is Menteng, which is the city's original upscale residential area; it was designated by Dutch authorities in the late 19th century to house government workers who commuted to Weltevreden. Jalan M.H. Thamrin, Jakarta's most famous thoroughfare, adjoins Menteng to its west and is dotted by various landmarks, including Sarinah (the country's first shopping mall), Hotel Indonesia (the country's first luxury hotel), Wisma Nusantara (the country's first skyscraper), and the Selamat Datang Monument (often used for the Eiffel Tower Effect, when they're not using the National Monument). The street extends to the Ciliwung River in the south, where it becomes the equally famous Jalan Sudirman across the bridge. Tanah Abang, the southernmost area of Central Jakarta, houses the Bung Karno Sports Complex (formerly the Senayan Sports Complex) and its very large stadium, once the biggest in Indonesia (it's since been surpassed by Jakarta International Stadium in Tanjung Priok as of 2022). Parts of the complex were repurposed to build the headquarters of the People's Consultative Assembly in the 1960s. Jakarta's commercial airport was formerly located in the working-class district of Kemayoran to the northeast of Sawah Besar, until it was moved to Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang. It was later demolished, and nothing of it remains save for the ATC tower. Another notable area is Senen, a cultural, educational, and health center through the Ismail Marzuki Park, University of Indonesia, and Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (which is embedded within the University of Indonesia), respectively, while still holding its traditional charm with Pasar Senen (Senen Market) and Pasar Senen Train Station.
- West Jakarta (Jakarta Barat, or Jakbar): Includes the old seat of government in Kota Tua, which was built on top of the former Sunda town of Kelapa. Taman Sari, where Kota Tua is located, also includes Glodok, Jakarta's principal Chinatown. It borders Banten's Tangerang, and Soekarno-Hatta Airport was formerly named "Cengkareng Airport" because it is located near (but not in) Cengkareng in West Jakarta.note West Jakarta is mostly a working-class area, though developments like the Central Park superblock have shaken up things. Also, the city hosts the main campus of Bina Nusantara University, arguably the most prestigious private university in Indonesia.
- South Jakarta (Jakarta Selatan, or Jaksel): A very upmarket area, South Jakarta is the city's main commercial and business center, having the highest concentration of skyscrapers, shopping malls, and elite residential areas in Jakarta. The area is anchored by Kebayoran Baru, a planned city that was built during the final years of the Dutch colonial period. Today, Kebayoran Baru includes the Sudirman Central Business District (SCBD) and the trendy Melawai, a popular hangout place for youngsters since the late 20th century, especially around the Blok M area. To the east of SCBD across Jalan Gatot Subroto is Kuningan, also a business district that contains many skyscrapers and apartments. Further south, the area includes Pondok Indah, an elite residential complex built during the 1970s to complement Kebayoran Baru, and Ragunan Zoo. In Jagakarsa of the far south, the area becomes a college town of sorts, as the University of Indonesia is located just across the border in Depok.
- East Jakarta (Jakarta Timur, or Jaktim): The largest and most populous of Jakarta's six administrative divisions. During the Dutch era, it (specifically, the district of Jatinegara) was a separate city known as Meester Cornelis. It was regarded as a commuter town for ethnic Indonesians, a status that remains true to this day. The Makasar district is the host to Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, an Air Force base that was later coopted for domestic commercial and charter flights to alleviate congestion at Kemayoran Airport, and Asrama Haji Pondok Gede, Indonesia's first Hajj lodging (used to prepare pilgrims before departing for Mecca). To the south of Makasar is Cipayung, which contains Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, a New Order-era museum/amusement park built as a monument to Indonesia's unity. The park neighbors Lubang Buaya, which played a role in the infamous September 30 event; the location picked is probably not a coincidence.
- Thousand Islands (Kepulauan Seribu): The only regency in Jakarta as well as the smallest first-level and least populous administrative division. Contrary to its name, the regency consists of 110 islands in the Java Sea, 11 of which are inhabited. Some are closed private islands, others are resorts, and the entire area is designated a national park. The regent's office is located on Pramuka Island, while Onrust Island had a history of being visited by Dutch ships prior to disembarking on Batavia.
Aside from the city proper, the Jakarta metropolitan area (known as Jabodetabek, a clipping of Jakarta-Bogor-Depok-Tangerang-Bekasi) includes five independent cities and three regencies. Parts of Cianjur Regency are also included within the conurbation. Unlike Jakarta, these suburbs are technically still in the Sundanese cultural area, which means that Betawi is generally not spoken (though this is changing, particularly in Depok). All of them were included within West Java prior to 2000, when Tangerang was separated from the others to form Banten.
- Bekasi: The most populous Jakarta suburb, its city proper is also the seventh largest satellite city in the world. Bekasi was a part of the ancient Tarumanagara and the strongest candidate of hosting its capital. It was named after the Sundanese translation of the Chandrabhaga River (now called Kali Bekasi), which crosses over the city.note Currently, the suburb is best known for being an industrial heartland; Cikarang's integrated Jababeka Industrial Area is the biggest in all of Southeast Asia.
- Depok: Bordering Jakarta to the south, Depok is considered the most "Jakartanized" of the suburbs, with most people seeing it as an extension of South Jakarta. The city was carved from Bogor Regency in 1999 and thus the only one not to have a namesake regency. Depok was built out of a 17th century-era Dutch Protestant mission known as "The First Protestant Christian Organization" (De Eerste Protestante Organisatie van Christenen, or DEPOC for short). The University of Indonesia, one of the most prestigious in the country, is based in Beji, on the border with South Jakarta.
- Bogor: A nice little suburb located in a highland area 30 kilometers to the south of Jakarta, making it the farthest of its satellite cities. Prior to independence, it was named Buitenzorg ("without worry" in Dutch), and before the Dutch arrived, it was Pakuan Pajajaran, the capital city of the Sunda Kingdom. The city hosts Istana Bogor, one of the country's six presidential palaces, which adjoins the Bogor Botanical Gardens. The Dramaga district contains the prestigious Bogor Agricultural Institute, while Ciawi, Cisarua and Megamendung form a half of the Puncak resort area, which always gets swamped with Jakartan tourists during the Eid holidays. Bogor is connected to the rest of the Jakarta metropolitan area via the Jagorawi Toll Road, the first toll road in Indonesia.
- Tangerang: Best known for Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Indonesia's largest and busiest airport as well as the headquarters of the country's flag carrier, Garuda Indonesia. It also hosts a bunch of planned "smart cities", such as Alam Sutera (known for having the country's first IKEA) and Lippo Village.
- South Tangerang (Tangerang Selatan, or Tangsel): Carved from Tangerang in 2008. Although Alam Sutera's CBD is in Tangerang, most of its residential areas are located here. Further south, it also includes the Bumi Serpong Damai planned city, which predates Alam Sutera and spans over 6,000 hectares of land.
- Cianjur: The district of Cipanas forms a half of the Puncak resort area and thus often included in Jabodetabek. One of the country's six presidential palaces, Istana Cipanas, is near Cipanas' border with Pacet district.
Jakarta in popular media:
- Most of Indonesia's media are set in Jakarta.
- Blackhat: The titular Blackhat turns out be based in Jakarta, and the heroes travel there to apprehend him.
- Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!: Yuuta Togashi father works abroad in Jakarta. In the second season of the anime, there is a glimpse of the city when Yuuta's mother visits there.