East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vessels belonging to the Austrian, Danish, Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, or Swedish companies. Some of the East Indiamen chartered by the British East India Company were known as “tea clippers”. read more…
Tainan, officially Tainan City, is a special municipality of Taiwan, facing the Formosan Strait or Taiwan Strait in the west and south. Tainan is the oldest city on the island of Taiwan and also commonly known as the “Capital City” for its over 200 years of history as the capital of Taiwan under Koxinga and later Qing dynasty rule. Tainan’s complex history of comebacks, redefinitions and renewals inspired its popular nickname “the Phoenix City”. read more…
Jakarta, officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, is the capital and most populous city of Indonesia. Located on the northwest coast of the world’s most populous island of Java, the city is the center of economics, culture and politics of Indonesia, with a population of 10.2 million. Greater Jakarta metropolitan area, which is known as Jabodetabek (a name formed by combining the initial syllables of Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi), is the second largest urban agglomeration in the world, with a population of 30.4 million inhabitants. Jakarta’s business opportunities, as well as its potential to offer a higher standard of living, attract migrants from all over Indonesian archipelago, making the city a melting pot of many communities and cultures. Established in the fourth century as Sunda Kelapa, the city became an important trading port for the Kingdom of Sunda. It was the de facto capital of the Dutch East Indies (Dutch East India Company), which was known as Batavia at that time. As the economic and political capital of Indonesia with so many different languages and ethnic groups, it is difficult to describe or define a common culture for Jakarta, as the city attracts many native immigrants, from the vast and diverse Indonesian archipelago, who also bring their various languages, dialects, foods (Indonesian cuisine and Betawi cuisine) and customs.This diversity of origins and languages leads to differences in regard to religion, traditions and linguistic and all in all culture. However ethnic Betawi are considered as the indigenous people of Jakarta. Jakarta consists of five Kota Administratif (Administrative city/municipality), each headed by a mayor – and a Kabupaten Administratif (Administrative regency). Each city and regency again is divided into districts/Kecamatan. The administrative cities/municipalities of Jakarta are: read more…
Amsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, with an urban population of 1,209,419 and a metropolitan population of 2,158,592. The city is in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. It comprises the northern part of the Randstad, the sixth-largest metropolitan area in Europe, with a population of approximately 8.1 million according to larger estimates. read more…
