BANTAM, the westernmost residency of Java, Dutch East Indies, bounded east by the residencies of Batavia, Buitenzorg, and West Preanger, west by the Strait of Sunda, north by the Java sea and south by the Indian ocean. The area is 79,13o sq.km. It in cludes Princes Island, and several smaller islands off the west and south coasts. The population in 1905 was 909,489, of whom 469 were Europeans and Eurasians and 5,661 foreign Asiatics (includ ing Chinese) . In 193o the population was 1,019,812. The natives are Sundanese, except in the northern division (Serang), where they are Javanese. The northern part is fertile and flat, except for a hilly group in the centre, where there are two inactive volcanoes, Karang and Pulosari ; on a ridge of the former is the crater-lake Dano. In the south the Kendang mountains extend into Preanger, whilst the extreme south-west is very hilly and thickly wooded. The coast is mostly low-lying and, in parts, swampy, but the hills extend to near the coast in the south. Rice and rubber are the chief crops, and coconuts, coffee, coca (cocaine), pepper, sugar-cane and the usual tropical fruits are grown. The rivers of Bantam are navigable only at their mouths, but the residency is well provided with roads and is connected with Batavia by rail. The line divides at Chilegon, one branch going north to Anjer and the other to Merak, where it connects with steamers to Teluk Betong, in Sumatra. Another line runs southwards to the coast, at Labuan. Bantam contains five native regencies Serang, Anjer, Pandelang, Charingin and Lebak. The principal towns are: Serang, the capital (pop. 11,163), Chilegon, Pandeg lang, Menes and Rangkas Betung (a rubber centre). Serang is 21m. from Bantam bay, where its port, Karangantu, is situated. Close to Serang is the ruined town of Bantam, once the capital of the kingdom of Bantam. The ruins include the remains of the former pepper warehouses, the old factory and Fort Speelwijk, of the Dutch East India Company, whose settlement at Bantam was their principal one in Java, in the days before the founda tion of Batavia ; also a well-preserved mosque, supposed to have been built by the third Mohammedan ruler of Bantam (15 7 2- 76) , a former palace of the Sultans of Bantam and some of their tombs.
Bantam was a powerful Mohammedan State, whose sovereign extended his conquests in Borneo and Sumatra. In 1596 the Dutch arrived at Bantam, expelled the Portuguese and set up an establishment. A British factory, established in 1603, which was for some years the chief settlement of the East India Company in the East Indies, continued to exist until 1682, when the staff was expelled by the Dutch. In 1683, the Dutch, who had reduced the Sultan of Bantam to a state of vassalage, built Fort Speelwijk, at Bantam, and monopolized the port, which had been free ; for more than a century Bantam was an important seat of Dutch East Indian commerce. In 1811, after Batavia had surrendered to the British, Bantam followed suit. In 1814 it was restored to the Dutch, who removed the capital to Serang. Revolts occurred in Bantam during the British rule in Java, and at intervals from 1822 to 185o there were outbreaks against the Dutch. In 1872 a priest from Mecca formed a religious associa tion, the members of which, in 1883, ravaged the whole province, destroyed 51 villages and ruined many others; as recently as 1927 Bantam was the scene of organized Communistic revolt against Dutch rule. Bantam suffered very severely as a result of the Krakatoa eruption in 1883; it has also had disastrous outbreaks of fever and cattle plague. (E. E. L.)