
Banten, also written as Bantam, is a port town near the western end of
Java
Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
, Indonesia. It has a secure harbour at the mouth of
Banten River, a navigable passage for light craft into the island's interior. The town is close to the
Sunda Strait
The Sunda Strait () is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java island, Java and Sumatra. It connects the Java Sea with the Indian Ocean.
Etymology
The strait takes its name from the Sunda Kingdom, which ruled the western portion of Ja ...
through which important ocean-going traffic passes between Java and
Sumatra
Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
.
Old Banten, the capital of the
Banten Sultanate
The Banten Sultanate (, ) was a Bantenese people, Bantenese Islamic trading sultanate, kingdom founded in the 16th century and centred in Bantam (city), Banten, a port city on the northwest coast of Java; the contemporary English name of both w ...
, was strategically important and a major centre for trade.
History
In the 5th century Banten was part of the
Tarumanagara
Tarumanagara or Taruma Kingdom or just Taruma was an early Sundanese Indianised kingdom, located in western Java, whose 5th-century ruler, Purnawarman, produced the earliest known inscriptions in Java, which are estimated to date from aro ...
kingdom. The
Lebak relic inscription, found in lowland villages on the edge of Ci Danghiyang, Munjul, Pandeglang, Banten, wad discovered in 1947 and contains two lines of poetry in
Pallawa script and
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
. The inscription mention the courage of king Purnawarman. After the collapse of the kingdom Tarumanagara following an attack by the
Srivijaya
Srivijaya (), also spelled Sri Vijaya, was a Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia) that influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important ...
empire, power in western Java fell to the
Kingdom of Sunda. The Chinese source, ''
Chu-fan-chi'', written c. 1200 by
Chou Ju-kua, mentioned that in the early 13th century, Srivijaya still ruled Sumatra, the Malay peninsula, and western Java (
Sunda). The source identifies the port of Sunda as strategic and thriving,
pepper from Sunda being among the best in quality. The people worked in agriculture and their houses were built on wooden poles (''rumah panggung''). However, robbers and thieves plagued the country. It is highly possible that the port of Sunda mentioned by Chou Ju-kua referred to the port of Banten.
According to Portuguese explorer
Tomé Pires, in the early 16th century the port of Bantam (Banten) was one of the important ports of the Kingdom of Sunda along with the ports of Pontang, Cheguide (Cigede), Tangaram (
Tangerang), Calapa (
Sunda Kelapa
Sunda Kelapa () is the old port of Jakarta, located on the estuary of the Ciliwung River. "Sunda Kalapa" ( Sundanese: "Coconut of Sunda") is the original name, and it was the main port of the Sunda Kingdom. The port is situated in Penjaringan D ...
), and Chimanuk (estuarine of Cimanuk river).
As a trading city Bantam received an influx of
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic influence in the early 16th century. Later in the 16th century, Bantam became the seat of the powerful
Banten Sultanate
The Banten Sultanate (, ) was a Bantenese people, Bantenese Islamic trading sultanate, kingdom founded in the 16th century and centred in Bantam (city), Banten, a port city on the northwest coast of Java; the contemporary English name of both w ...
.
English Bantam
The
English East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South Asia and Southeast A ...
began to send ships to the
East Indies
The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in Eastern world, the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainl ...
around 1600 and established a permanent trading post at Bantam in 1603, as did the Dutch also. In 1613,
John Jourdain was appointed as Chief Factor there, holding the administrative post until 1616, apart from a few months of 1615, when Thomas Elkington was Chief Factor; he was succeeded in 1616 by George Berkley, but from 1617 until 1630 the factory was under a chosen President. From 1630 until 1634 a succession of Agents were appointed annually, but from 1634 the series of Presidents resumed until 1652.
Aaron Baker (1610-1683) served for twenty years as President of Bantam, as is recorded on his mural monument in
Dunchideock parish church, Devon. In the thirty years following 1603, the trading factories established by the English on the
Coromandel Coast
The Coromandel Coast is a coastal region along the southeastern front of the Indian peninsula. Its delimitations are numerous, but generally admitted to be bounded by the Krishna River, Krishna river River mouth, mouth to the north, the Bay of B ...
of India, such as those at
Machilipatnam
Machilipatnam (), also known as Masulipatnam and Bandar (), is a city in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipal corporation and the administrative headquarters of Krishna district. It is also the Tehsil, mandal ...
(estd. 1611) and
Fort St. George (estd. 1639), reported to Bantam.
[N. S. Ramaswami, ''Fort St. George, Madras'', Pub. No. 49, Tamilnadu State Department of Archaeology (T.N.S.D.A.), Madras, First Edition 1980]
During the 17th century, the Portuguese and the Dutch fought for control of Bantam. Eventually, the fact that the Dutch found they could control their
Batavia trading factory, established in 1611, more thoroughly than Bantam may have contributed to the decline of the English trading post.
The town today
Today, Banten is a small local seaport, part of modern
Serang Regency
Serang Regency (Sundanese language, Sundanese: ) is a Regencies of Indonesia, regency of Banten province, Indonesia. It is located in the northwest corner of the island of Java. The administrative center of the regency is at Ciruas, while the capi ...
. It is in the economic shadow of the neighbouring port of
Merak to the west and
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...
to the east. There is a significant Chinese presence in the community.
In fiction
South-Bantam or Bantan-Kidoel or Lebak was the place where the eponymous character in
Multatuli's novel ''
Max Havelaar
''Max Havelaar; or, The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company'' () is an 1860 novel by Multatuli (the pen name of Multatuli, Eduard Douwes Dekker), which played a key role in shaping and modifying Dutch Ethical Policy, Dutch colonial poli ...
'' acted as the assistant-resident.
See also
*
Old Banten
*
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
*
English overseas possessions
The English overseas possessions comprised a variety of overseas territories that were colonised, conquered, or otherwise acquired by the Kingdom of England before 1707. (In 1707 the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union made England part of the ...
*
Company rule in the Dutch East Indies
References
Citations
Works cited
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bantam (City)
Populated places in Banten