Sunda Kelapa

Sunda Kelapa is the old port of Jakarta and the harbour from which the city grew, serving the Hindu kingdom of Sunda before Portuguese and Dutch traders arrived in the sixteenth century. Its name survives as a reminder of the settlement that preceded colonial Batavia. Today the wharves are still worked by pinisi, tall wooden schooners built in the traditional Bugis and Makassar style, which load cargo by hand along the quay. The lines of masts and hulls make it a vivid link to the archipelago's seafaring past.