Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia, the world’s most populous island country.
Indonesia is an archipelagic state made up of more than 17,000 islands, and more than half of its population lives on Java. Jakarta stands on Java’s northwest coast, facing the Java Sea, and grew from the historic port of Sunda Kelapa. Under Dutch rule it was known as Batavia; the city officially became Jakarta in 1949 after Indonesian independence.
Jakarta is far more than a political centre. It is Indonesia’s main commercial, financial, cultural and media hub, and its wider metropolitan area includes cities such as Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi. Its enormous urban footprint is why population comparisons often use either the administrative city or the wider metropolitan region.
Indonesia is developing Nusantara in East Kalimantan as a replacement capital, partly to reduce pressure on Java and Jakarta, including congestion, flooding and land subsidence. However, Jakarta remains the functioning national capital until the formal transfer is completed. This planned move is the main reason older quiz references can become confusing.