Tangerang

According to F. de Haan's writings taken from the VOC archives, reports that the Banten Sultanate had created a large country located west of the Untung Jawa River, and to fill the new land the Sultan of Banten had displaced 5,000 to 6,000 inhabitants.

In the Dag Register dated December 20, 1668, it was reported that the Sultan of Banten had appointed Raden Sena Pati and Kyai Demang as rulers. On suspicion of seizing the kingdom, Raden Sena Pati and Kyai Demang were sacked by the Sultan.

Dutch East Indies army in Tangerang, circa 1946

Prince Dipati was appointed to the region. For the dismissal, Ki Demang pitted Banten against the VOC. But he was killed in Kademangan.

The next VOC archive, the Dag Register dated March 4, 1680, explains that the ruler of Tangerang at that time was Kyai Dipati Soera Dielaga. Kyai Soeradilaga and his son Subraja asked for the protection of the VOC, followed by 143 retinues and soldiers. He and his retinue were given a place on the east side of the river, bordering the VOC. When fighting with Banten, Soeradilaga and his war experts succeeded in repelling Bantenesu troops. For his services, he was given the honorary title of Raden Aria Suryamanggala, while Prince Subraja was given the title of Kyai Dipati Soetadilaga.

Subsequently, Raden Aria Soetadilaga was appointed Regent of Tangerang I with an area covering the Angke River and Cisadane River. The title he used was Aria Soetidilaga I. Then with an agreement signed on April 17, 1684, Tangerang became territory of the VOC. Banten did not have the right to intervene in regulating governance in Tangerang. One of the articles of the agreement reads: And it must be known with certainty the extent to which the boundaries of the territory that have been understood since the past will still be determined, namely the area bounded by Tangerang from the Java Sea coast to the mountains to the South Sea. That all land along Tangerang will belong to or be occupied by the VOC.

With the agreement, the regent's territory expanded to the west of the Tangerang river. To monitor Tangerang, it was deemed necessary to add more guard posts along the Tangerang river border, because the Bantenese often attacked suddenly. According to a map made in 1692, the oldest post is located at the mouth of the Cisadane River, to the north of Kampung Baru. However, when a new post was established, the location shifted to the south at the mouth of the Tangerang River. According to the archives of Gewone Resolutie Van hat Casteel Batavia, on April 3, 1705, there were plans to demolish the buildings in the post because they only had bamboo walls. Then the building was proposed to be replaced with a wall. Governor-General Zwaardeczon strongly agreed with the proposal, and was even instructed to build a wallei fence around the buildings in the guard posts, so that the Bantenese could not attack. The new fort that would be built was planned to have a wall 20 feet thick or more. There will be placed 30 Europeans under the leadership of a Vandrig and 28 Makassarese who will live outside the fort. The basic material for the fort is bricks obtained from Tangerang Regent Aria Soetadilaga I.

After the fort was completed it was manned by 60 Europeans and 30 Blacks as well as Makassarese recruited as VOC soldiers. This fort later became the base of the VOC in the face of the rebellion from Banten. Then in 1801, it was decided to repair and strengthen the post or garrison, with a new building located 60 meters to the southeast, precisely located east of Jalan Besar PAL 17. Indigenous people at that time were more familiar with this building as "Fortress". .Since then, Tangerang is known as the Citadel. This fort since 1812 has not been maintained anymore, even according to the "Superintendent of Public Building and Work" dated March 6, 1816 stated:

"... The fort and barracks in Tangerang are now neglected, no one wants to see them anymore. Many doors and windows were broken and people even took it for their own sake."

In October 1945, Laskar Hitam, a Muslim militia, was established in Tangerang. The goal of this movement was to establish an Islamic nation in Indonesia. This movement later became a part of DI/TII rebel group. On 31 October 1945, Laskar Hitam kidnapped Otto Iskandardinata, the Republic of Indonesia's Minister of State. He was presumed to have been murdered at Mauk beach, Tangerang on 20 December 1945.[5]

Tangerang city was formed as an autonomous city on 27 February 1993 out of the Tangerang Regency. The city was previously an administrative city within that regency.

In 2007, the city government passed an anti-prostitution law which meant that women who are perceived to be dressed too provocatively may be arrested. Some news outlets reported that some women decided to wear the hijab to avoid being prosecuted under this law. In addition the city government began requiring municipal employees to abide by Islamic dress codes.[6]

In 2021, a fire at Tangerang prison killed at least 41 inmates and injured 80 people.[7][8]

Tangerang District is the location of the Situ Gintung reservoir built by the Dutch colonial authorities in 1933. It was surrounded by a dam up to 16 metres (52 ft) high, which failed on 27 March 2009 with the resulting floods killing at least 93 people.[9]

Topographically, Tangerang City is mostly located at an altitude of 10–30 meters above sea level, aka the whole area is in the lowlands. The northern part of the city (covering most of Benda District) has an average height of 10 meters above sea level, while the southern part of Tangerang City has a height of 30 meters above sea level.

Furthermore, Tangerang City has a soil slope of 0–3% and a small part (i.e. in the southern part of the city) with a slope of between 3%–8% is in Parung Serab, Paninggilan and Cipadu Jaya.[10]

Tangerang has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with moderate rainfall from May to October and heavy rainfall from November to April.

Arief Rachadiono Wismansyah is the current mayor of Tangerang, having served since 2013. His tenure is set to end in December 2023.[12] The municipal legislature is the Tangerang City Regional People's Representative Council, which has 50 members.[13] The city is counted as two electoral districts (7th and 8th) in the provincial legislature with 16 of 100 seats,[14] and is nationally represented as part of the Banten III electoral district.[15]

The city of Tangerang is divided into thirteen districts (kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and populations at the 2010 Census[2] and the 2020 Census,[3] together with the official estimates as at mid 2022.[1] The table also includes the number of administrative villages (urban kelurahan) in each district, and the names of these villages with their postal codes.

Tangerang is the home for shopping in Banten area. Numerous shopping centres and markets are available here. The largest shopping mall in Tangerang and Banten is Supermall Karawaci in Lippo Village. Another shopping malls available are :

• Mall @ Alam Sutera
• AEON Mall
• The Breeze BSD City
• TangCity Mall
• Metropolis Town Square
• IKEA Alam Sutera
• CBD Ciledug
• Plaza Baru Ciledug
• Mall Ciledug
• Tomang Tol Plaza
• Traditional market Pasar Lembang where there are has bus terminal also
• Traditional market Pasar Lama where there are many street foods

Al-Azhom Grand Mosque is a congregational mosque at the alun-alun Tangerang. Opened in 2003, it is the largest mosque in Banten province.[23] With the maximum capacity of 15,000 worshippers, it is one of the largest mosques in the world.

Interior of Benteng Heritage Museum

Benteng Heritage Museum is a historic townhouse that was restored and repurposed as a museum by a Benteng Chinese businessman Udaya Halim. It was opened on a specifically chosen auspicious date: November 11, 2011 or 11/11/11.[24] The museum displays Benteng Chinese artefacts and other cultural objects related to the history of Tangerang's Chinese community.[25]

Boen Tek Bio is the oldest Chinese temple, or klenteng, in Tangerang – with a history going back to 1684.[26]

Kali Pasir Mosque is the oldest mosque in Tangerang city, established in 1700, and a relic of Pajajaran Kingdom.[27] It is located in Cisadane riverbank, in the middle of Chinese residential and is characterized by Chinese pattern.[27]