page_title: Bogor Botanical Gardens
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Bogor Botanical Gardens / History / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Reproduced negative. Memorial to Olivia Mariamne Fancourt (née Devenish), the first wife of Thomas Stamford Raffles, erected by him along the Kanarielaan in the National Botanical Gardens (now the Bogor Botanical Gardens) that he founded in Buitenzorg (now Bogor), West Java, Indonesia. Olivia died in Java on 26 November 1814. Nederlands: Repronegatief. Gedenksteen van T.S. Raffles, de oprichter van 's Lands Plantentuin, voor zijn vrouw O.M. Raffles langs de Kanarielaan in 's Lands Plantentuin te Buitenzorg, West-Java
context_page_description: The Bogor Botanical Gardens is a botanical garden located in Bogor, Indonesia, 60 km south of central Jakarta. It is currently operated by Indonesian Institute of Sciences. The Garden is located in the city center and adjoin the presidential palace compound of Istana Bogor. It covers an area of 87 hectares and contains 13,983 different kinds of trees and plants of various origin. The geographic position of Bogor means it rains almost daily, even in the dry season. This makes the Garden an advantageous location for the cultivation of tropical plants.
  Founded in 1817 by the order of the government of the Dutch East Indies, the Garden thrived under the leadership of many renowned botanists including Johannes Elias Teijsmann, Rudolph Herman Christiaan Carel Scheffer, and Melchior Treub. Since its foundation, Bogor Botanical garden has served as a major research center for agriculture and horticulture. It is the oldest botanical garden in Southeast Asia.
context_section_description: The area that is now Bogor Botanical Gardens was part of the samida (man made forest) that was established at least around the era when Sri Baduga Maharaja (Prabu Siliwangi, 1474-1513) ruled the Sunda Kingdom, as written in the Batutulis inscription. This forest was created to protect seeds of rare trees. The forest remained neglected after the Sundanese kingdom was destroyed in the 16th century. In 1744 the Dutch East India Company established a garden and mansion at the site of the present Botanical Gardens in Buitenzorg (now known as Bogor).
  After the successful British invasion of Java in 1811, Stamford Raffles was appointed as the island's Lieutenant-Governor and he took Buitenzorg Palace as his residence. During his rule in the palace, he had the garden re-landscaped into English-style garden. His wife, Olivia Mariamne Raffles, died in Buitenzorg on November 26, 1814 and was buried in Batavia. A memorial monument was built in the garden, as a commemoration for her.
caption: Memorial of Lady Raffles in 1915.
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