information:classification
Banten is the westernmost province on the island of Java, Indonesia. Its capital city is Serang and its largest city is Tangerang. The province borders West Java and the Special Capital Region of Jakarta on the east, the Java Sea on the north, the Indian Ocean on the south, and the Sunda Strait on the west and shares a maritime border with Lampung to the west. The province covers an area of 9,352.77 km⁲ (3,611.12 sq mi). It had a population of over 11.9 million in the 2020 census, up from about 10.6 million in 2010. The estimated mid-2023 population was 12.308 million. Formerly part of the province of West Java, Banten was split off to become a province on 17 October 2000. The northern half has recently experienced rapid rises in population and urbanization, and the southern half has a more traditional character but an equally fast-rising population. Present-day Banten was part of the Sundanese Tarumanagara kingdom from the fourth to the seventh centuries AD. After the fall of Tarumanegara, it was controlled by Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms such as the Srivijaya Empire and the Sunda Kingdom. The spread of Islam in the region began in the 15th century; by the late 16th century, Islam had replaced Hinduism and Buddhism as the dominant religion in the province, with the establishment of the Banten Sultanate. European traders began arriving in the region – first the Portuguese, followed by the British and the Dutch. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) finally controlled the regional economy, gradually weakening the Banten Sultanate. On 22 November 1808, Dutch Governor-General Herman Willem Daendels declared that the Sultanate of Banten had been absorbed into the Dutch East Indies. This began the Bantam Residency, 150 years of direct Dutch rule. In March 1942, the Japanese invaded the Indies and occupied the region for three years before their August 1945 surrender. The region was returned to Dutch control for the next five years before the Dutch left and it was ruled by the Indonesian government. Banten became part of the province of West Java, but separatist efforts led to the creation of the separate province of Banten in 2000.