Jakarta (also DKI Jakarta), is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. It also has a greater population than any other city in Southeast Asia. It was formerly known as Sunda Kelapa (397-1527), Jayakarta (1527-1619), Batavia (1619-1942), and Djakarta (1942-1972). Located on the northwest coast of the Java Island, it has an area of and a population of 8,489,910. Jakarta is the country's economic, culture and political center. Jakarta currently is the eleventh largest city in the world. Its metropolitan area is called Jabodetabek and contains more than 23 million people, and is part of an even larger Jakarta-Bandung megalopolis.Fact: date=April 2008

Jakarta is served by the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and Tanjung Priok harbour. Since 2004, Jakarta, while under the governance of Sutiyoso, has built a new bus system known as "TransJakarta" or "Busway", and is now planning to expand the number of routes. The city had hoped to establish its newest transportation system, the Jakarta Monorail, in 2007, but the project was abandoned by the developer PT Jakarta Monorail in March 2008. Jakarta is the location of the Indonesia Stock Exchange, the Bank of Indonesia, and the National Monument, or Tugu Monas.

Geography

The thousand islands, which is a part of the administrative region of Jakarta, is located in the Jakarta Bay. These 105 islands are located on the north part of the city.

Climate

Jakarta has a hot and humid equatorial/tropical climate (Af) according to the Köppen climate classification system. Located in the western-part of Indonesia, Jakarta's wet season rainfall peak is January with average monthly rainfall of , and its dry season low point is August with a monthly average of . The city is humid throughout the year with daily temperature range of 25° to 38°C (77°-100°F); Absolute maximum is and absolute minimum is .Fact: date=December 2007

History

The old name of Jakarta was Sunda Kelapa. The earliest record mentioning this area as a capital city can be traced to the Indianized kingdom of Tarumanagara as early as the fourth century. In AD 39, King Purnawarman established Sunda Pura as a new capital city for the kingdom, located at the northern coast of Java. Purnawarman left seven memorial stones with inscriptions bearing his name spread across the area, including the present-day Banten and West Java provinces. The Tugu Inscription is considered the oldest of all of them.