The capital of Indonesia and the largest city in the Indonesian archipelago on the island of Java. It was formerly known as Batavia when the city wa the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The name Jakarta was officially adopted after Second World War when Indonesia became independent. Jakarta is sometimes spelled Djakarta, especially in older books.
Jakarta and Biggles[]
- Biggles Flies Again - as narrated in The Oriental Touch Biggles transits Batavia on his way from New Guinea to Singapore. At that time, Batavia was the terminus of the K.L.M. grand trunk line to the Dutch East Indies.
- Biggles - Air Commodore - Biggles planned to travel to Southeast Asia under the cover of a civil pilot doing a long-distance flight. It would be not be unlikely for the pilot to encounter difficulties between Dum Dum aerodrome, Calcutta, and Batavia, he asserted. It would also be natural if he were to be blown off course by contrary winds, and so explain his arrival in the Mergui Archipelago.
- Biggles - Charter Pilot - in The Adventure of the Golden Shirts, Biggles and co. pass through Batavia. Here, it is possible Ginger was using the name loosely. At first he appears to mean the island of Java--he says they were in Surabaya in Batavia. At the end of the adventure, they headed for Batavia to hand over one of the golden shirt men to the Dutch authorities.. This time it is plausible that they were headed for Batavia, the city, as this was the capital of the Dutch East Indies.
- Biggles and the Gun Runners - pilot Bob "Sandy" Grant tells Biggles the longest cargo flight he had ever made was to deliver a load of sewing machines to Djakarta.