Jakarta, Indonesia Click Image to Enlarge  (JPG) (2,083,976 bytes) ( 4,940 x 1,640 )

Jakarta, Indonesia, is home to over 13 million people. Jakarta was the last Hindu kingdom of West Java when the Portugese arrived in 1522. They were driven out 5 years later by Muslim saint and leader Sunan Gunungjati, who renamed the city Jayakarta. In the 17th century the Dutch captured the city, fortified and walled it, and renamed it Batavia. Dutch colonial power came to an end after World War II when Soekarno declared the Republic of Indonesia. This time series of images shows the growth of the city from 1976 (6 million) to 1989 (9 million) to 2004 (13 million). The images render vegetation in red, and urban areas in blue-grey. Each covers an area of 49 x 49 km, and they are centered near 6.2 degrees south latitude, 106.8 degrees east longitude. The 1976 image was acquired by the Landsat MSS scanner, the 1989 image by the Thematic Mapper, and the 2004 image by ASTER.