Dutch East Indies Company
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Dutch East Indies company (VOC) established a small plantation area in the fertile and properous Bandung area. A supply road connecting Batavia (now Jakarta), Bogor, Cianjur, Bandung, Sumedang and Cirebon was built in 1786.
In 1809, Louis Napoleon, then ruler of the Netherlands and its colonies due to Napoleon Bonaparte's establishment of this puppet state, ordered the Dutch Indies Governor H.W. Daendels to improve the defense system of Java island against the threat of the British. Daendels built a 1000 km road joining the west and east coasts of Java. Since the northern part of West Java at that time was mostly swamp and marsh, the road was diverted through Bandung. The Great Postweg (now Jalan Asia-Afrika) was laid down in 1810.
Local folklore has it that when Daendels was walking along the edge of Cikapundung river, he was amazed by a site he found. He then put a stick at the edge of the Cikapundung and said: "Zorg, dat als ik terug kom hier een stad is gebouwd!" ('Attention! If I come again here, a city must be built!'). Today, this site is the geographical center of Bandung. R.A. Wiranatakusumah II, the regent of Bandung regency at that time, moved its office from Krapyak, in the south, to a place near a pair of holy city wells (sumur Bandung), which is today the 'alun-alun (city square). He built his istana (palace), masjid agung (the grand mosque) and pendopo ("pavilion") in the classical orientation. The pendopo faces Tangkuban Perahu mountain, believed to have a mystical ambiance.
In 1880, the first major railroad in Indonesia, linking Batavia and Bandung, was laid down. It boosted light industry in Bandung. Chinese migrants flocked in to help run the facilities, services and vendor machines. A small Chinatown district can still be recognised in the vicinity of the railroad station. In 1906, Bandung was given the status of gemeente (municipality) and then later as staadsgemeente (city municipality) in 1926.
Bandung's location, in a low area between two mountainous regions, is strategically advantageous for military defense. In the 1930s, the Dutch East Indies government had planned to move the capital from Batavia to Bandung, and built military barracks, a central government building (Gouvernments Bedrijven, nicknamed Gedung Sate), and several others. This plan did not come to fruition following the failure of the Dutch to reclaim Indonesia after World War II.
Read more about this topic: History Of Bandung
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