Batavia
Batavia names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Batavia the capital and seaport of the Dutch East Indies
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the capital and seaport of the Dutch East Indies . It is situated on the north coast of Java, in the latitude of 6 deg. 8' S. The harbor is deep, picturesque, and safe. Ships anchor within the shelter of numerous islets. The business portion of the city is low, being built on a marsh by the sea. The quarters for the Dutch soldiers, offices for officials, and the dwellings of the wealthier merchants are in an elevated suburb which has been much admired by travelers. It is, to all intents and purposes, a beautiful botanic garden. Batavia has long been the seat of Dutch commerce in the east. It was founded by them in 1619. The products of the Dutch East Indies are collected at Batavia for shipment, chiefly to Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The warehouses are piled high with rice, sugar, tea, indigo, quinine, tobacco, spices, Java coffee, and other East Indian products. The merchants import cotton goods and implements for distribution to plantations far and near. The Batavian trade is one of the chief sources of Dutch commercial prosperity. Steamer landings average fifteen a day. The population of Batavia in 1905 was 138,551, including about 9,000 Europeans, 28,000 Chinese, and 2,000 Arabs.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city and seaport of Java, on the N. coast of the island, the capital of all the Dutch East Indies. It is situated on a wide, deep bay, the principal warehouses and the offices of the Europeans being in the old town, which is built on a low, marshy plain near the sea and very unhealthful; while the Europeans reside in a much healthier quarter. Batavia has a large trade, sugar being the chief export. It was founded by the Dutch in 1619, and attained its greatest prosperity in the beginning of the 18th century. Its inhabitants are chiefly Malay. Pop. (1917) about 180,000 natives, about 30,000 Chinese, Arabs and other Orientals, and about 24,000 Europeans.
Batavia a village and county-seat of Genesee co.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a village and county-seat of Genesee co., N. Y., on the Tonawanda creek and several railroads; 37 miles E. of Buffalo. It is in an agricultural region; contains manufactories of ploughs and harvesters, carriage wheels, shoes, guns and forgings, and other industries; and has the State Institution for the Blind, the Dean Richmond Memorial Library, a National bank, daily and weekly newspapers. Pop. (1910) 11,613; (1920) 13,541.
Batavia properly the name of the island occupied by the ancient Batavi
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
properly the name of the island occupied by the ancient Batavi, became at a later date the Latin name for Holland and the whole kingdom of the Netherlands. The name Batavian Republic was given to the Netherlands on their new organization, May 16, 1795, and they continued to bear it until they were converted into the kingdom of Holland, under Louis Bonaparte, June 8, 1806.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Aiton's counted 138,551 people at Batavia in 1905 and Collier's about 234,000 in 1917, the city was a Dutch entrepôt shipping Java coffee and sugar to Amsterdam. It was renamed Jakarta during the Japanese occupation of 1942, kept that name through the Indonesian revolution, and became capital of an independent Indonesia when the Dutch transferred sovereignty at the end of 1949; the city proper now holds around ten million people and the wider metropolitan area some thirty million. The "low, marshy plain near the sea" that both entries noted has proved the city's undoing: groundwater extraction has left northern districts subsiding by several inches a year, and in 2022 Indonesia legislated a new capital, Nusantara, on Borneo. The other two Batavias have fared quietly — Batavia, New York, is now a small city of about 15,000 and still hosts the state school for the blind, while "Batavian Republic" remains what Collier's said it was, a name the Netherlands carried from 1795 to 1806.
Written for this edition, 2026.