Bandung - City of Indonesia

Bandung is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, and the country's third largest city. Located 768 m above sea level, Bandung has relatively year-around cooler temperature than most other Indonesian cities. The city lies on a river basin and surrounded by volcanic mountains. This topography provides the city with a good natural defense system, which was the primary reason of Dutch East Indies government's plan to move the colony capital from Batavia to Bandung.

After Indonesian independence, the city experienced a rapid development and urbanization that has transformed Bandung from idyllic town into a dense 15,000 people/km² metropolitan area, a living space for over 2 million people. Natural resources have been exploited excessively, particularly in the conversions of protected upland area into highland villa and real estates. Although the city has encountered many problems, ranging from waste disposal, floods to chaotic traffic system, Bandung however still has its charm to attract people flocking into the city, either as weekend travellers or living in.

The earliest reference to the city dates back to 1488, but archaeological findings suggest a type of Homo erectus species had lived on the banks of the Cikapundung River and around the old lake of Bandung. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Dutch East Indies Company opened plantations in the Bandung area. A supply road connecting Batavia , Bogor, Cianjur, Bandung, Sumedang and Cirebon was built in 1786. In 1809, Louis Napoleon, the ruler of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and its colonies, ordered the Dutch Indies Governor H.W. Daendels to increase the defensive systems of Java against the British from India.

In 1880, the first major railroad between Batavia and Bandung was built, boosting light industry in Bandung. Chinese workers from outside the city flocked in, to help run facilities, services and selling vendor machines. The old Chinatown district in Bandung is still recognisable in the railroad station vicinity. In 1906, Bandung was given the status of gemeente and then later as stadsgemeente in 1926.

After the Indonesian Independence in 1945, Bandung was determined as the capital of West Java province. During the 1945–1949 independence struggle against the Dutch when they wanted to reclaim their colonies, Bandung was one of the heaviest battle places. The Dutch military commander set an ultimatum for the Indonesian combatants in Bandung to leave the city. In response, on 24 March 1946, much of the southern part of Bandung was deliberately set alight as the combatants left; an event known as the Bandung Lautan Api or 'Bandung Sea of Flame'

Bandung is the capital of West Java, a province of which most of its residents are mainly Sundanese people. Sundanese language is spoken as the first language and is commonly used as informal language for communication in streets and markets, while Indonesian - Indonesia's national language and a lingua franca among its many ethnic units - is used as a second language and the language of government, businesses, and instruction at schools.

A popular traditional musical instrument is angklung, made of parallel bamboo tubes tuned to specific frequencies with a hammer and is shaken to produce certain notes. Music is performed by a choir of angklung players, each of whom are responsible for sounding certain notes. Its melody is only slightly different from that of Central Java's gamelan ensembles.

Bandung has served for popular weekend-break destination for people living in Jakarta for many reasons. The cooler climate of highland plantation area, the varieties of food, the cheaper fashion shops located in factory outlets and distros, golf courses, and the friendliness of local people have become the main attraction of the city.

The city gained more shoppers to come when textile factories in the outskirt of Bandung opened a fashion store that sells their products directly from the factory. The products are tagged as sisa export and these shops are called factory outlets. The trend was followed by another factory outlets.