Thousand Islands
The modern history of the Thousand Islands begins with its role in the defenses of the city of Batavia for the VOC and the Dutch colonial empire. Since the establishment of Batavia in 1610, Onrust island has been a naval base.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 England. 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 British departed, the Dutch rebuilt the buildings and facilities, completing the work in 1806. However, a 2nd British attack, led by Admiral Edward Pellew, again destroyed the fort. When the British occupied Batavia in 1810, they repaired the buildings in Onrust island until prior to their leaving Indonesia in 1816.
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 Ships. 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 her independence, the island became a leprosarium under the control of the Indonesia Ministry of Health, until 1960. The leprosarium then relocated to Post VII at Tanjung Priok harbour.
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. Later he was executed there on 21 April 1966, by order of President Suharto.
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.
An area of 107,489 hectares of land and sea was declared by the Minister of Agriculture in 1982 and designated by a Forestry Ministrial 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.
In general, the plants that grow in the Park are dominated by coastal species like coconut palm, pandan (Pandanus sp.), cemara laut (Casuarina equisetifolia), cangkudu (Morinda citrifolia), butun (Barringtonia asiatica), mangroves (Bruguiera sp.), breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis), ketapang (Terminalia catappa), and kecundang (Cerbera odollam).
Sea vegetation commonly found in the Park consists of seaweed divisions like Rhodophyta, Chlorophyta and Phaeophyta as well as classes of sea grasses like 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, 2 species of giant clam, 6 species of sea grass, sea worms of various colours and 17 species of coastal bird.
This Park forms a hatching site for 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.
The islands of the Thousand Islands is a regency which belongs to the city of Jakarta. This makes Jakarta the only capital city in the world which contains more than 100 islands within its capital boundary. In the official list, the Thousand Islands Regency contains 110 islands and is divided into two subdistricts or kecamatan: the Kecamatan of Kepulauan Seribu Selatan, or South Thousand Islands, and the Kecamatan of Kepulauan Seribu Utara, or North Thousand Islands. Each kecamatan in turn is divided into three kelurahan.
The Kecamatan of Kepulauan Seribu Selatan (South Thousand Islands) is the closest subdistrict to the coast of Jakarta. Being relatively 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.
| Kepulauan Seribu Onrust Island Archeology | Selatan contains the historic Park. |
The Kelurahan of Pulau Untung Jawa (postal code 14510) 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 has been gradually eroded by the sea water, due to dredging of the surrounding reef. Names in italic aren't considered islands anymore.
The Kelurahan of Pulau Pari (postal code 14520) mainly consists of archipelago of islands around the reef of Pari Island. The boundary of the administrative village is everything to the east of an imaginary line which run north to south between Karang Beras Island (the easternmost island of the Pulau Tidung administrative village) and Gundul Island (the westernmost island of the Pulau Pari administrative village in the official map, but in reality there is no island in the coordinates). Officially, there are ten islands in the administrative village.
The administrative center of Pulau Pari administrative village is located in Pari Island, which is located in an extensive reef system which also contains the islands of Biawak, Kongsi, Tikus, Burung, and several others.
The Kelurahan of Pulau Tidung (postal code 14520) consists of seven islands. Officially it is listed as having six islands, in which Karang Beras Kecil Island isn't included.
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