BATAVIA, Java, city and seaport on the north coast of the island, near the west end, and the capital of all the Dutch East Indies; long. 106° 50' E.; lat. 6° 8' S. It is situated on a wide, deep bay, in which are interspersed many low, green islets, within which ships find safe anchorage, the roadstead being sheltered from the northwest monsoon. The largest of these islets is Onrust, at which all ships above 300 tons burden have to anchor. The town consists of two portions. The old is situated in a low, marshy plain near the sea, and intersected by the Great River and sundry canals, is exceedingly unhealthy, and subject to an intermittent fever, very fatal to strangers. Much has been done, however, to diminish the unhealthiness by draining the marshes, and letting. currents of water into the stagnant canals. The old is still the busi ness quarter and contains the principal ware houses and offices of the Europeans, the Java Bank and the exchange. On the west side of the Great River is the Chinese quarter, in habited entirely by Chinese. Batavia is the chief mart among the islands of the Asiatic Archipelago for the products of the Eastern seas and the manufactures of the West, and its commerce is correspondingly important.
The chief products are coffee, sugar, tea, rice, different spices, timber, dyewoods, diamonds, drugs, minerals, etc. Batavia was founded by the Dutch in 1619 and attained its greatest prosperity in the beginning of the 18th century, when it had about 150,000 inhabitants. The most important edifices are the Stadt-house, Calvinistic, Lutheran and Portuguese churches, some Mohammedan mosques and Chinese temples. Among its • educational institutions are a gymnasium, a number of government and private schools, an orphan asylum, a medical school for natives connected with the military hospital, and a number of scientific societies. Pop. about 140,000, of whom 9,500 are Europeans, 28,000 Chinese and 3,000 Arabs. The inhabitants are chiefly of Malay extrac tion, with a considerable admixture of Chinese, and a small number of Europeans (Dutch, English and Portuguese). A United States consul resides here. See Java.