Jakarta tourist information

There are railways throughout Jakarta; however, they are inadequate in providing transportation for the citizens of Jakarta. In peak hours, the number of passengers simply overloads the capacity provided. The railroad tracks connect Jakarta to its neighboring cities: Depok and Bogor to the south, Tangerang and Serpong to the west, and Bekasi, Karawang, and Cikampek to the east. The major rail stations are Gambir, Jatinegara, Manggarai, Tanah Abang and Jakarta Kota.

Buses and busway takes less than half an hour to traverse a route which would normally take more than an hour during peak hours. Construction of the 2nd and 3rd corridor routes of the busway was completed in 1999, serving the route from Pulogadung to Kalideres. Busway serving both corridor routes has been operational since January 2002.

Despite the presence of many large, wide roads Jakarta suffers from congestion due to heavy traffic, especially in the central business district. To reduce traffic jams, some major roads in Jakarta have a 'three in one' rule during rush hours, first introduced in 1992, prohibiting passengers on certain roads. In 2005, this rule covered the Gatot Subroto Road.

Jakarta's road is notorious for the behaviour of the traffic; the rules of the road are broken with impunity as a simple bribe of a few US dollars will simply make all one's legal problems disappear. Furthermore, in recent years the number of motorcycles on the streets has being growing almost exponentially, ensuring many a problem due to ill-disciplined motorcyclists.

Jakarta's transportation also depends on Priok. The outer ring road is now being constructed and is partly operational from Cilincing-Cakung-Pasar Rebo-Pondok Pinang-Daan Mogot-Cengkareng. A toll road connects Jakarta to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in the north of Jakarta. Also connected via toll road is the port of Merak and Tangerang to the west and Bekasi, Cibitung and Karawang, Purwakarta and eventually to Bandung to the east.

Two lines of the Jakarta Monorail are under construction: the green line serving Semanggi-Casablanca-Kuningan-Semanggi and the blue line serving Kampung Melayu-Casablanca-Tanah Abang-Roxy. In addition, there are plans for a two-line subway (MRT) system, with a north-south line between Kota and Fatmawati, with connections to both monorail lines; and an east-west line, which will connect with the north-south line at the Sawah Besar station.

The government is also considering waterbus ferries as a cheaper means of transportation along the canals in Jakarta.

The primary airport for Jakarta is Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, one of Indonesia's two major international air gateways.

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Cycle rickshaws, called becak, provide local transportation on the back streets of some parts of the city. From the early 1940s to 1991 they were a common form of local transportation in the city. In 1966, an estimated 160,000 rickshaws were operating in the city; as much as fifteen percent of Jakarta's total workforce were engaged in rickshaw driving. In 1971, rickshaws were banned from major roads, and shortly thereafter the government attempted a total ban, which substantially reduced their numbers but did not eliminate the rickshaws. An especially aggressive campaign to eliminate them finally succeeded in 1990 and 1991, but during the economic crisis of 1998, some returned amid less effective government attempts to control them.

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The first recorded settlement at what is now Jakarta was the port of origin can be traced to a Hindu settlement as early as the 4th century. By the 14th century, it was a major port for the Hindu kingdom of Sunda.

The first European fleet in 1513, which were four Portuguese ships from Malacca. Malacca had been conquered by Alfonso d'Albuquerque in 1511, when they were looking for spices and especially pepper. The relationship between the Kingdom of Sunda and Portugal became more intense when another Portuguese visited Sunda, named Enrique Leme with the intention to give a present. He was welcomed well in 1522 and because of that, the Portuguese received the right to build a warehouse and to expand the fort in Kalapa (the name of the location). This was regarded by the Sundanese as a consolidation of their position against the raging Muslim troops from the rising power of the Sultanate of Demak in Central Java.

After that, in 1527, the Muslim troops which came from Cirebon and Demak, under the leadership of Fatahillah attacked Sunda Kingdom. The king was expecting the Portuguese to show up and help them to hold Fatahillah's army since they've had an agreement between Sunda and Portuguese. However, the Fatahillah's army succeeded and conquered the city on June 22, 1557 and Fatahillah deciced to change the name "Sunda Kelapa" into "Jayakarta" ("Great Deed" or "Complete Victory").

The follower of the Sultan of Banten (the location of Jayakarta), Prince Jayawikarta was also majorly involved in the history of Jakarta. In 1596, many Dutch ships arrived in Jayakarta, with the intention of trading spices, more or less was the same with Portuguese's intention. In case of this, the Prince took the Dutch arrival seriously as the Dutch had build many military buildings. Apparently, Prince Jayawikarta had a connection with the British and allowed them to build houses directly across the Dutch's building in 1615. Later, when Prince Jayawikarta and the Dutch's relationship escalated, his sodiers attacked the Dutch forthress which covered two main buildings, named Nassau and Mauritus. With the help of 15 ships from the British, Prince Jayakarta's army was able to defeat the Dutch, which at that time was under the governance of Jan Pieterszoon Coen (J.P. Coen) in 1918. Since then, the Prince had a friendship agreement with the British.

Later, things changed for the prince, when the Sultan of Banten sent soldiers and summoned Prince Jayawikarta for establishing a close relationship with the British without an approval from the Banten authorities. Because of that, the relationship between Prince Jayawikarta and Banten government, as well as the British and Banten had weakened. Moreover, the prince decided to move to Tanara, a small place in Banten until he died. Prince's death has relieved the Dutch as they tried to establish a close relationship with Banten. In addition to this, the Dutch also had hired many soldiers from Japan, Germany, Scotia, Denmark and Belgium. Finally, they was able to conquer the city with a calm approach and changed the name into "Batavia", which remained as is for 300 years.