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.