Old Jakarta, 'little Venice'

Old Jakarta, 'little Venice'

Since the 12th century, the Ciliwung river which divided
Batavia (old Jakarta) into eastern and western sections, served
as the main transportation system connecting the center of the
Hindu Sunda Kingdom in Batutulis, Bogor, to Sunda Kalapa seaport.

Adolf Heuken writes in his Historical sites of Jakarta that
Sunda Kalapa was visited by vessels from southern Sumatra's
Palembang, Tanjungpura, Malaka, Makassar and Madura. Even traders
from as far away as India, South China and the Ryuku Islands (now
part of Japan) are said to have visited.

In the Dutch colonial era, a number of canals were built,
including the Molenvliet (the canal the divides Jl. Hayam Wuruk
and Jl. Gajah Mada in West Jakarta) and the Mookervart (now Kali
Pesing).

J.J. de Vries writes in his Jakarta Tempo Doeloe that there
was a tradition among the rich who owned plush resort houses
alongside the Jactraweg (now Jl. Pangeran Jayakarta) to visit
each others using boats docked at the rear of their villas along
the Ciliwung river.

"They visited each other using boats rowed by their slaves
along the river," de Vries writes.

Molenvliet was built in 1649 by a Chinese captain, Phoa Bing
Am, to transport firewood to the factories near Glodok that
produced, among others things, paper and gun powder. The canal
was also utilized as a means of transportation.

But as the city grew, the rivers became shallower due to
dumping.

According to Heuken, Governor General van Diemen ordered the
dredging of the Mookervaart in 1681 and channeling into it of
water from the Cisadane river in Tangerang in a bid to raise the
canal's water levels.

"Unfortunately, the project only worsened the situation," he
writes.

Today, Jakarta has 12 rivers flowing through it besides the
main Ciliwung river. Most of these rivers, however, are shallow
and severely polluted.