Brief history of Jakarta dates back to at least the 14th Century with the development of a small port of Hindu Pajajaran Kingdom at the mouth of Ciliwung River. The old name of Jakarta was Sunda Kelapa. The earliest record mentioning this area as a capital city can be traced to the Indianized kingdom of Tarumanagara as early as the fourth century.Searching for the fabled "Spice Island", the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive and establish a fortreess on the site in the early 16th Century.The old port was attacked by a neighoring sultanate under leadership of Prince Fatahillah. After the assault, the Portuguise navy fleet was destroyed. Fatahillah changed the name of the Sunda Kelapa port to Jayakarta, meaning "Total Victory", commemorating the defeat of the local Hindu Kingdom and their European allies. According to some historians, this event took place on June 22, 1527, a date which later was officially recognized as the birth of the city of Jakarta.
It was to this town that Dutch spice merchants came in the late 16th Century and began a trading association with Europe that was to dictate the history of Jakarta, and Indonesia as a nation, for nearly 350 years. Under the aggresive leadership of Jan Pieterzoon Coen, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) proceeded forcibly to take possession of the town of Jayakarta, renaming it Batavia in 1619; from here they ruled Indonesia for more than three centuries. Following the Japanese invasion and rule of the country from 1942-45, on August 17, 1945, Indonesia's first President Soekarno proclaimed Indonesia Independence and Jakarta became the accepted nation's capital.