# Fall of Jayakarta

Fall of Jayakarta, also known as the conquest of Jacatra, was a military engagement between the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Banten Sultanate at Jayakarta, which occurred in 1619, after the first Dutch attempt to conquer Jayakarta. This important event in the history of Jakarta led to the Dutch taking control of Jayakarta. This military conquest also marked the declining era of the Banten Sultanate.

## Background

Tensions between Prince Jayawikarta and the Dutch escalated until 1618, when Jayawikarta's soldiers besieged the Dutch fortress containing the Nassau and Mauritius warehouse. An English fleet of 15 ships arrived under Thomas Dale, former governor of the colony of Virginia. After a sea battle, newly appointed Dutch governor Jan Pieterszoon Coen escaped to the Moluccas to seek support; the Dutch had taken over the first of the Portuguese forts there in 1605. Dutch garrison commander Pieter van den Broecke and five other men were arrested during negotiations, since Jayawikarta believed that he had been deceived by the Dutch. Jayawikarta and the English then forged an alliance.
On 20 April 1619, JP Coen's fleet prepared to take revenge for the fall of the lodge and the siege of their castle (fortress) in Jayakarta. This fleet had robbed several Chinese junks around the Java Sea and destroyed Jepara Harbor before attacking Jayakarta. The robbery of the Chinese junks was carried out by the VOC fleet using the distinctive colors of the East India Company to damage the relationship between England and China which had been good during their time in Banten. Also, Coen's fleets launched a brutal sieges to Bantenese outposts resulted in massacre of Bantenese forces

## Invasion

On 17 May 1619, the VOC troops landed in Jayakarta and immediately launched an attack on the Bantenese forts. The VOC troops consisted of 1,000 troops who fought against thousands of Bantenese troops. The VOC troops burned down the houses of the native people in Jayakarta. On 25 May, around sixteen VOC ships also attacked the coast and the harbor of Banten. On 28 May, Coen returned from the Moluccas with reinforcements. Finally, two days later, on 30 May, the Dutch razing Jayakarta to the ground$^{:35}$ and expelled its population,$^{:50}$ only Luso-Sundanese padrão remained. After that, Jayakarta was completely captured by the Dutch forces from the Bantenese troops.

## Aftermath

Jayawikarta retreated to Tanara, in the interior of Banten, where he later died. The Dutch established a closer relationship with Banten and assumed control of the port, which became the regional Dutch center of power.
The region which became Batavia came under Dutch control in 1619, initially as an expansion of the original Dutch fort and a new building on the ruins of the former Jayakarta. Coen decided to expand the original fort into a larger fortress on 2 July 1619, and sent plans for Batavia Castle to the Netherlands on 7 October of that year. The castle was larger than the previous one, with two northern bastions protecting it from a maritime attack. The Nassau and Mauritius warehouses were expanded with the erection of an eastern fort extension, overseen by Commander Van Raay, on 12 March 1619.
Although Coen wanted to name the new settlement Nieuw-Hoorn after Hoorn (his birthplace), he was prevented from doing so by the board of the VOC. Batavia was chosen as the new name of the fort and settlement, and a naming ceremony was held on 18 January 1621. It was named after the Batavi Germanic tribe, which inhabited the Batavian region during the Roman Empire; at the time, it was believed that the tribe was the ancestors of the Dutch people. Jayakarta was called Batavia for over 300 years.