Pontang is a district in the

Banten Banten (, , Pegon alphabet, Pegon: بنتن) is the westernmost Provinces of Indonesia, province on the island of Java, Indonesia. Its capital city is Serang and its largest city is Tangerang. The province borders West Java and the Special Capi ...

province on the island 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.

Location

The Ciujung, a river, enters the sea at Pontang. The Ciujung discharges into the Banten Bay.

Historical

Pontang port and the Ciujung river used to be important for carrying merchandise into the interior.

Tomé Pires Tomé Pires (c. 1468 — c. 1524/1540) was a Portuguese apothecary, colonial administrator, and diplomat. In 1510 he was commissioned by the Portuguese court to serve as a " factor of drugs" in India, arriving at Cannanore in 1511. In 1512 he was ...

, who wrote of the region around 1515, said Pontang was one of the busy and crowded ports of the

Sunda kingdom The Sunda Kingdom ( , ) was a Sundanese people, Sundanese Hindu kingdom located in the western portion of the island of Java from 669 to around 1579, covering the area of present-day Banten, Jakarta, West Java, Lampung, and the western part of ...

. The harbor was smaller than that of

, but the only one where large ships could anchor. The city was beautiful, with the harbor at the river bank near the sea shore. Rice, pepper and food were sold. To guard against

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

influence the king banned trade with Muslim merchants from Java. By the end of the 17th century the "sultan's canals" had been built for the purpose of irrigation between Markasana and Kanari, and between Pontang,

Tanara Tanara is a district in the Banten province on the island of Java, Indonesia. The Ci Durian, a river, enters the Java Sea The Java Sea (, ) is an extensive shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, ...

and Bensung. Presumably some rice fields were irrigated in the mid-18th century. However, until the 20th century ''sawah'' that depended on rain covered 2.5 times more land than irrigated ''sawah'' in the coastal region. In 1813 Java was under British control and the land was being leased rather than subject to forced deliveries and contingents as it had been under the Dutch. Major Udney Yule, the British resident, was instructed by

Stamford Raffles Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British Colonial Office, colonial official who served as the List of governors of the Dutch East Indies, governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816 and lieut ...

to grant equitable and moderate leases to the renter class. All the half-yearly rents in the Bantam Residency due on 1 July 1813 were paid on time apart from those due from Pontang,

, Tambakbaya and Trate(?). In this area a drought had caused the rice crop to fail entirely.

Location

Historical

Villages

Notes

Sources