It was a European colonial city for about 320 years until 1942, when the Dutch East Indies was occupied by Japan during World War II.

The English East India Company's first voyage in 1602, commanded by James Lancaster, arrived in Aceh and sailed on to Bantam.

A year later, the first permanent Dutch trading post in the East Indies archipelago was established in Bantam, West Java.

Prince Jayawikarta gave Dutch merchants permission to build a wooden warehouse and houses on the east bank of the Ciliwung river opposite Jayakarta in 1610, and the outpost was established the following year.

[citation needed] The Dutch army was on the verge of surrendering to the English when, in 1619, the Sultanate of Banten sent a group of soldiers to summon Jayawikarta.

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.

[6] The Nassau and Mauritius warehouses were expanded with the erection of an eastern fort extension, overseen by Commander Van Raay, on 12 March 1619.

[12] Eastern Batavia was protected by a long canal which linked the castle moat and the Ciliwung riverbend, and ran at a slight angle to Tijgersgracht.

The canal cost over 160,000 real, which was paid mostly by the Chinese instead of the company (who had strengthened the castle with slave and prison labor).

[9]: 53  Tensions grew as the colonial government attempted to restrict Chinese immigration with deportations to Ceylon and South Africa.

[22] After the VOC went bankrupt and was dissolved in 1800, the Batavian Republic nationalized its debts and possessions and expanded its territorial claims into a colony known as the Dutch East Indies.

Batavia became a city with two centers; Kota was the business hub with offices and warehouses of shipping and trading companies, and Weltevreden was home to the government, military, and shops.

Europeans were brought to the archipelago to establish a colony on vacant land, triggering wars in Java and Sumatra.

A new Indies Empire style of architecture emerged; white-plastered villas with a large front porch were built, especially around the Koningsplein and at Weltevreden.

The port of Tanjung Priok was completed in 1885, replacing the centuries-old, inadequate Sunda Kelapa, significantly increasing trade and tourism in Batavia and the Dutch East Indies.

[29] The Cultivation System (cultuurstelsel) was a mid-19th-century Dutch government policy which required a portion of agricultural production to be export crops.

The 1870 abolition of the Cultivation System led to the rapid development of private enterprise in the Dutch East Indies.

[33] The city's expanding commercial activity led to the immigration of large numbers of Dutch employees and rural Javanese to Batavia.

Settlements, built with little regard for the region's tropical conditions, resulted in overcrowding, poor sanitation, and an absence of public amenities.

[23] Old Batavia's abandoned moats and ramparts experienced a boom during the period, as trading companies were established along the Ciliwung.

Volksraad member Mohammad Husni Thamrin criticized the colonial government for ignoring the kampungs and catering to the wealthy in Menteng.

In 1909, Tirto Adhi Soerjo founded the Islamic Commercial Union in Batavia to support Indonesian merchants.

[35] Spies warned the Dutch about a planned revolt in 1926, and Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) leaders were arrested.

The Dutch formally surrendered to the Japanese occupation forces on 9 March 1942, and the colony's government was transferred to Japan.

Jan Pieterszoon Coen founded Batavia for trade, with the city's inhabitants producing and supplying food.

Women became an important feature of Batavia's social network; they were accustomed to dealing with slaves, and spoke the same language (mostly Portuguese and Malay).

Commercial opportunities attracted Indonesian and Chinese immigrants, with the increasing population imposing a burden on the city.

Although Batavia became the political and administrative center of the Dutch East Indies and the main port in Southeast Asian trade, the city's population remained relatively small.

Raffles and his wife, Olivia, introduced European dress (with much white, because of the tropical climate) for men and women.

Native males chosen to be the governing elite wore a European outfit on duty, but after hours they would change to sarongs and kebaya.