Thousand Islands (Indonesia)

The Thousand Islands are a chain of islands to the north of Jakarta's coast. It forms the only regency of Special Capital Region of Jakarta, the metropolitan province of Indonesia. It consists of a string of 342 islands stretching north into the Java Sea at West Jakarta Bay and in fact are located to the north of Banten Province. Pramuka Island is the regency seat. The islands, along with North Jakarta City, are the only administrative divisions of Jakarta Special Capital Region with a coastline.
A decree states that 36 islands may be used for recreation. Of these, only 13 islands are fully developed: 11 islands are homes to resorts and two islands are historic parks. Twenty-three are privately owned and are not open to the public. The rest of the islands are either uninhabited or support a fishing village.

History

The modern history of the Thousand Islands begins with its role in the defenses of the city of Batavia for the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch colonial empire. Before the arrival of the Dutch, these islands already had their present Malay language name. With the arrival of the Dutch, the islands received a second Dutch name. The Malay names are not forgotten, as both Malay and Dutch names of the islands are written side by side in some 18th-century Batavia maps. Since the establishment of Batavia in 1610, Pulau Kapal, later named by the Dutch as Onrust Island, has been a naval base.
After the VOC failed to obtain control of trade at Banten in 1610, the Dutch obtained permission from Prince Jayakarta to build a dock at one of the islands in Jakarta Bay as a place to repair and equip ships sailing to Asia, particularly South East Asia. The island Prince Jayakarta assigned to the VOC was Onrust Island, a island from Jakarta.
In 1615 the VOC built a shipyard and a small storage house on the island, which Jan Pieterszoon Coen hoped would eventually develop into a trade and defence base against threats from Banten and rival European powers such as the English. The VOC constructed a small rectangular fort with two bastions in 1656; the bastions protruded from the fort and were used as look-out posts. The Dutch enlarged the fort in 1671 and gave it an asymmetrical pentagonal shape with a bastion in each corner. The whole structure was made of red bricks and coral. In 1674 additional storage buildings were built.
After the dissolution of the Dutch East India Company in 1799, the Batavian Republic took over the management of the Dutch East Indies. In 1800, a Royal Navy squadron under Captain Henry Lidgbird Ball, consisting of, HMS Sybille, and entered the area. Ball's squadron seized five Dutch armed vessels, destroyed 22 other vessels and destroyed all the facilities on Onrust Island before withdrawing.
After the British departed, the Dutch rebuilt the facilities on Onrust Island, completing the work in 1806. However, a second British attack in the same year led by Admiral Edward Pellew again destroyed the facilities on the island. When the British occupied Batavia in 1811, they repaired the facilities on Onrust Island prior to handing over the Dutch East Indies to the Netherlands in 1816.
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM De quarantaine eilanden Onrust en Kuyper nabij Batavia TMnr 60012609.jpg|thumb|Onrust Island is a historic island in the thousand Islands which functioned as a quarantine site for Dutch East Indies Hajj pilgrims
Onrust Island again received attention in 1827 during the period of Governor-General G.A.Baron Van Der Capellen and activities in the island were normal again in 1848. In 1856 a floating shipyard was built. However, the construction of Tanjung Priok harbour in 1883 resulted in a decline in the role and significance of Onrust island. In 1911–1933, Onrust island became a quarantine station for pilgrims returning from the Hajj. A barrack was built in 1911 that contained 35 units for about 100 pilgrims.
From 1933 until 1940, the Dutch used Onrust to hold the mutineers involved in the Incident of the Seven Provinces. In 1940, the Dutch used it to hold Germans, such as Steinfurt, who was the Chief Administrator of Onrust Island. After the Japanese invaded Indonesia in 1942, the role of Onrust island declined again and it became a prison for serious criminals.
After Indonesia proclaimed independence in 1945, the island became a leprosarium under the control of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, until 1960. The leprosarium then relocated to Post VII at Tanjung Priok Port.
After a coup by General Suharto, Chris Soumokil, who had proclaimed a Republic of South Moluccas with himself as president, was arrested and held at Onrust. Soumukil was later executed there on 21 April 1966.
In 1972 Ali Sadikin, then governor of Jakarta, declared Onrust Island a protected historical site. In 2002 the administration made Onrust and its three neighbors – the islands of Cipir, Kelor and Bidadari – an archaeological park to protect the artifacts and ruins on the islands that date back to the time of the Dutch East India Company.
On 28 February 2020, 188 Indonesian crew members from the cruise ship World Dream were quarantined for 14 days on the uninhabited Sebaru Kecil islet against COVID-19.
On 9 January 2021, a Boeing 737-500 operating Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 went missing after taking off from Jakarta Soekarno–Hatta Airport on route to Pontianak Supadio Airport. The aircraft crashed near the Thousand Islands.

Ecology

An area of of land and sea was declared by the Minister of Agriculture in 1982 and designated by a Forestry Ministerial Decree in 2002 as the Taman Nasional Laut Kepulauan Seribu. Public access is prohibited on two of the islands, Panjaliran Barat and Panjaliran Timur, where sea turtles are conserved.
The Thousand Islands Marine National Park is located north of Jakarta. It is mostly located on the Kecamatan of Kepulauan Seribu Utara district of North Thousand Islands), which is the northern part of the Thousand Islands. The complex contains 342 reef platforms, with 110 forming an island larger than half an acre. There may be as many as 700 individual reefs in the complex.
In general, the plants that grow in the park are dominated by coastal species including coconut palm, pandan, cemara laut, cangkudu, butun, mangroves, breadfruit, ketapang, and kecundang.
Sea vegetation commonly found in the park consists of seaweed divisions including Rhodophyta, Chlorophyta and Phaeophyta as well as classes of sea grasses such as Halimeda sp., Padina sp., Thalassia sp., Sargassum sp., and Caulerpa sp.
The dominant animals in the park include 54 sea biota species which form part of the coral reef ecosystem, 144 species of fish, two species of giant clam, six species of sea grass, sea worms of various colours and 17 species of coastal bird.
This park forms a hatching site for the hawksbill sea turtle and green sea turtle. The hawksbill turtle is an endangered species and is rarely found in other waters. These turtles are bred on Pramuka Island. This activity is aimed at recovering the turtle population, which had almost reached extinction. Breeding activities include egg hatching in a semi-natural way and caring for the baby turtles till they are ready to be released into their natural habitat.
Most coastal areas of this park are surrounded by mangrove forest, where monitor lizards, golden ring snakes and reticulated pythons can be found.

Islands and administrative divisions

The islands of the Thousand Islands form an administrative regency which belongs to the Special Capital Region of Jakarta. As an administrative regency, Thousand Islands does not have its own local legislatures while the regent is directly appointed by the governor. The geographical features of Thousand Islands made Jakarta the only capital entity in the world that contains more than 100 islands within its boundaries until its replacement as capital by Nusantara. In the official list, the Thousand Islands Regency contains 110 islands and is divided into two districts or kecamatan: the Kecamatan of Kepulauan Seribu Selatan, or South Thousand Islands, and the Kecamatan of Kepulauan Seribu Utara, or North Thousand Islands. The former district has an administrative code of 31.01.02, and the latter of 31.01.01. Each kecamatan in turn is divided into three kelurahan.
Below are the complete list of the islands in the Thousand Islands :

''Kecamatan Kepulauan Seribu Selatan'' (South Thousand Islands)

The Kecamatan of Kepulauan Seribu Selatan is the closest district to the coast of Jakarta. It covers a land area of 5.65 km² and had an estimated population of 12,474 in mid 2022. Being closer to the coast of Jakarta, the waters around the islands suffer from the pollution coming from the Jakarta Bay. The pollution is the result of the poor living condition of the majority of people living along the bay, as well as nutrient inputs from agricultural runoff, industrial pollution, and wastewater. The district contains the historic Onrust Island Archeology Park.
The Kecamatan of Kepulauan Seribu Selatan is sub-divided into three administrative villages : Kelurahan Pulau Untung Jawa, Kelurahan Pulau Pari, and Kelurahan Pulau Tidung. Pulau Untung Jawa Kelurahan contains 15 islands, Pulau Tidung Kelurahan contains six islands, and Pulau Pari Kelurahan contains ten islands.

''Kelurahan Pulau Untung Jawa''

The Kelurahan of Pulau Untung Jawa is the closest kelurahan to the coast of Jakarta. Officially, there are 15 islands in the administrative village. The administrative village of Pulau Untung Jawa contains more archaeological artifacts than the rest of the Kepulauan Seribu's islands as it is located closer to Jakarta, being a strategic location for military defenses as well as transit points for the Dutch colony.
Some islands have been gradually eroded by the sea water, due to dredging of the surrounding reef. Names in italics are not considered islands anymore.

Island	Location	Remarks	Image
Air Besar / Ayer Besar		Also known as Ayer, it is privately developed as a resort. The Dutch named the island after the city Hoorn.
Bidadari / Sakit		Bidadari Island was named Purmerend by the Dutch after the Dutch town. In 1850 the Dutch built a Martello tower here as part of a set of fortifications that protected the approaches to Batavia. Photos suggest that Martello Menara was not a true Martello, but rather a circular fort. The tower was operational until 1878, when it became a storage site. It too was badly damaged by the Krakatoa explosion and was abandoned in 1908. All that remains now is the base up to a meter or two above ground. Bidadari was also known as Pulau Sakit as it housed a leper colony during the 17th century. More recently, the island came to be called "Angel Island", to honor the leprosarium that had been there. Bidadari is a privately developed resort island with some facilities for archaeological tourism.
Bokor		Bokor Island is the westernmost island of the administrative village of Pulau Untung Jawa. During the Dutch colonial era, it was named Kleine Kombuis, to distinguish it from Groote Kombuis, now Lancang Besar and Lancang Kecil Island, two islands belonging to the Pulau Pari administrative village. There has been a confusion whether Bokor Island belongs to the administrative village of Pulau Untung Jawa or the administrative village of Pulau Pari. Bokor Island is a wildlife reserve protecting a variety of birds.
Cipir / Kahyangan		The Dutch named this island de Kuyper Eiland; The British called it Kuyper's or Cooper's Island. During the Dutch colonial era, a shipyard was established in the island. In the early 20th Century a narrow, floating bridge linked Cipir and Onrust islands. At the time, it too functioned as a quarantine station for the hajj pilgrim. The island contains some ruins from the Dutch colonial era.
Damar Besar / Edam / Damar Tengah		Named Edam during the colonial period, after a Dutch town. The island contains a 65-meter lighthouse, built in 1879, known as Vast Licht. It is still used for sea traffic.
Damar Kecil / Monyet / Wanara		Named Alkmaar during the colonial period, after a Dutch town. The island is a post for the Indonesian Navy.
Dapur		Dapur Island is the northernmost island in the administrative village of Pulau Untung Jawa. It is a low brush-covered islet.
Karang Air Kecil / Ayer Kecil / Nusi		"Little Ayer", so called to make it distinct with Ayer Besar, "Large Ayer". During the colonial period, it was named Haarlem by the Dutch, after the city of Haarlem. The reef surrounding the island was removed, as a result, the island has been eroded and has disappeared.
Karang Ayer Sedang		This reef is located between the islands of Ayer Besar and Untung Jawa.
Karang Pasir		Karang Pasir is the southernmost reef in the administrative village. It contains no island.
Kelor		Named Engelse Onrust during the colonial period, and was used as cemetery. Later the Dutch renamed it into Kerkhof eiland and eventually Kelor. The island contains a circular tower-like structure, often referred to as Martello tower, though it is not one.
Nyamuk Besar / Nirwana		Nirwana Island is the easternmost island of Kepulauan Seribu Regency. Abrasion has caused the island to disappear gradually.
Nyamuk Kecil / Talak		Abrasion has caused the island to disappear.
Onrust / Undrus / Kapal		With the arrival of the Dutch, Kapal Island was named Onrust by the Dutch. Onrust was the site of a major shipyard and five-sided fort that had belonged to the by then defunct Dutch East India Company. The Dutch had to rebuild the naval base on Onrust several times due to British attacks, such as the one in 1800. The last restoration was in 1840. During the 19th Century Onrust held a sanitorium for people suffering from tuberculosis and a quarantine station for pilgrims returning from the Hajj to Mecca. The quarantine barracks took up some two-thirds of the island and could hold 3,500 pilgrims. Over the years erosion reduced Onrust from its original to . The administration then built concrete retaining walls around the island but these are now in a dilapidated state.
Rambut		Named Middelburgh during the colonial period, after the Dutch city. Rambut Island is located to the west of Untung Jawa Island. During the Dutch colonial era, the island was used as a military defense point. The Island contains the remain of a sunken dock. In 1999, a wildlife reserve was established in the island. The idea was based on an idea by the director of Botanical Garden of Bogor during the governance of the Dutch Indies. The island contains a watchtower for birdwatching.
Ubi Besar		Named Rotterdam during the colonial period, after a Dutch city. Ubi Besar Island is eroding rapidly as the reef around it is dredged. According to local records, Ubi Besar has been submerged since 1956.
Ubi Kecil		Named Schiedam during the colonial period, after a Dutch city. Coral reefs were removed at Ubi Kecil Islands, and as a result of subsequent erosion, the island has been submerged since 1949.
Untung Jawa		Named Amsterdam during the colonial period, after a Dutch city, Untung Jawa is the capital of Kelurahan Pulau Untung Jawa. The island is located to the east of Rambut Island. The island contains a settlement and mangrove forest.