Tag: Java

Most visitors still refer to the pictured,  particularly well-preserved/restored precinct as “Old Batavia”.

The independent nation whose flag now flutters there prefers to call it “Old Jakarta”.

My photo’s vantage point was Cafe Batavia, on Taman Fatahillah – Batavia’s main square.

The photo looks across to what used to be the administrative hub of what was then – 18th century CE – the greatest trading centre in all of Asia.

….are still vital to inter-island trade in Indonesia.

Not coincidentally, Indonesia has more inhabited islands than does any other nation, and many of them do not have deep-water ports.

Jakarta, of course, has a modern, deep-water port.

Tanjung Priok – that “new” port – is not merely a replacement for the “old” port.

Sunda Kelapa is still a working port; if I had pointed my camera in another direction,  I could have taken a photo that included very many more wooden-hulled  boats, plus a huge number of lorries…