The coastal city of Banten, eigthy kilometres west of Jakarta at the northen coast of Jawa, was the biggest centre of transport of spices in the 16th and 17th century. At its peek, it was almost as important as Amsterdam. The nowadays Banten is only a small fishing village, which can't be found on most maps. There are still old buildings left and found over the years which are worth while a visit.
Banten, the old pepperharbour of Jawa
Ever since the year 1300 a harbour was located on the spot that we now know as Banten, in those ages it belonged to the kingdom of Sunda. The capital Pajajaran was located deep in the inlands, near the nowadays Bogor. When the Portuguese arrived in the 16th century, Sunda still was Bhuddhist. The Portuguese made a deal with the ruler of Pajajaran, against the advancing Islamic armies and got permission to built a fortress in Sunda Kelapa. To honour the agreement a stone pillar with Portugues inscription was erected, it was discovered in 1918, and can now be found in the Fatahillah museum in Jakarta.
The Portuguese effort was not enough, an Islamic army from Demak entered Sunda in 1525, and took possesion of the harbours. However the Sunda capital fell only in 1578, Banten ( in Portuguese
Bantam ) became the capital of a new Islamic kingdom, in which it grew rapidly into the most distinguished spice harbours of Jawa.
The place of Banten against the strategic Sunda Strait was an important factor for the development of the city. After Malakka became Portuguese in 1511, the Islamic traders avoided Malacca Strait, , and took the Sunda Strait to Jawa instead. On Jawa, they traded with Chinese traders in porcelain and cloth, and with Indonesians with spices like pepper, nutmeg and clove.
At the end of the 16th century Banten was the biggest city in Southeastern Asia, and one of the most famour harbours in the world. The city was the first stop of English and Dutch fleets which arrived in the Far East in that time. The Dutch though Banten had about the same population as Amsterdam.
Fortified City
The city was surrounded by an heavy defence wall. All foreigners lived outside the wall in special quarters: the Muslems in the East, the non-Muslems in the West. The city was also surrounded by rivers, while a third stream crossed the city through the centre, and formed the most important way of traffic.
A big open field was located in the centre of the city, the
alun-alun, the most important activities like meetings of the royal council, public convictions and other public meetings were held. The king spoke to the people at a roofed platform at the south of the
alun-alun, in front of the royal palace. At the North the royal boats were stored in a special shed, which was located at the bank of a channel.
The English and Dutch were authorised to built trading offices and to open warehouses. The monopolistical Dutch got into an agrument fairly quick and decided to move to Jayakarta soon after.
For thirty years the Dutch blocked the harbour of Banten, with devastating results for trade. The city revived during the reign of sultan Agung, from 1651 to 1582. Agung used the Engish and other foreign people to man his trading fleet, and to built irrigation canals, for improving the production of rice. In 1682 Agung and his son Haji got into an argument over how to act with the Dutch. Haji offered concessions agaings military support. After fierce fights Agung was emprisoned and the Dutch became rulers over Banten and his Sumatran areas. Under the Dutch Banten stayed capital and the centre of trade until 1810. In 1815 the last sultan stepped down by himself. The fall of Banten was as quick as it flourished in the early times, and after a while it was nothing more but a few villages with fishermen and farmers.
Arctifacts from Banten
Arriving from Serang, the visitor first arrived at the Kaibon Palace. The partly restaurated complex was used by the mother of one of the sultans of Banten. It used to be connected with the coast with canals, which are dried up mostly right now. The centre of the village the old
alun-alun is located, ( now called Banten Lama, Old Banten ) At the west the Mesjid Agung, or 'Big Mosque' with a roof which consists of five layers van be found. The high, eight-cornered minaret dates back to the 16th century. The entrance shows motives which are lent from the pre-Islamic architecture. Inside a spiral staircase brings you to two balcons, which give you a nice view over the terrain. In the mosque and on the mosque's place old royal graves are located. The guard appreciates a small gift very well.
The building that looks like an old Dutch house from the south, was built in 1670 by the renegade constructor of JHan Lucaszoon Cardeel, which made friends with sultan Haji. The building was named Tiyamah, and was used for religious meetings. At the Southeastern cornef of the square a big bronze cannon named Ki Amuk can still be found. On the cannon Islamic inscriptions can be found, and around the mouth, a sun is drawn, which reminds of the pre-Islamic kingdom of Majapahid.
At the east of the square two thrones can be found. Of one of them people say it was taken from Pajajaran in 1578, when the kingdom was conquerred; the other is connected with the rulers of Banten. Direct easterly of the square a museum with historial objects is located, under them arctifacts which were found on the place of the former palace. The managing director Halwany Michrob, likes to tell about the history of this place. On the inner yard remains of an iron workshop can be seen, these were found during the construction of the museum.
The palace ( Surosowan ) is surrounded by an high stone wall, of which parts a have been excavated. The remains include fundaments anf pavilions. One of them stood above a small lake, and was called Rara Denok. The story goes that this was the royal treasury. A bathing room at the southern side was restaurated partially. The water was diverted to the baths artificially by an aquaduct which ran from a mounten located two km away. Tasik Ardi, a articifial reservoir for the mountain water, was built by sultan Agung, which had a house on an island in the reservoir. Besides the route of the aquaduct remains of stone buildings are found, which were probably used as cleaning tanks for the water.
At the formet rivermouth fortress Speelwijk is located. The coasal area is replaced several hundred metres since the fortress was built,; on the new lanmd fish ponds are build. The big Chinese temple at th other side of the river is being visited by many Indonesian people from Chinese origine, especially on the birthday of the very importan goddess Kuan Yin, the goddess of Mercy. Due south the restaurated minaret of a mosque which was used by Chinese Muslems.
In the Northeast, at the mouth of the Serang River, the small fishing village of Karanghantu is located. Here people can hire boats for a journey to close islands. One of these islands is Pulau Dua, a main spot for birds. During the breeding season over 50.000 birds are counted on this island. Pulau Dua is one kilometre East of Banten, and is reachable on foot at low tide.
