The History of Bandung

Bandung, Indonesia is currently the hub of West Java and is regarded as a place where the earliest Java Man, or the Australoputhecus, have lived. The banks and the Great Lake of Bandung are said to have been the exact place where the Java Man resided. That was proven with the discovery of artifacts in Dago. Some these artifacts were brought to the Geological Museum to be preserved for future references.

Apart from the Java Man, who lived for years in the shores of Bandung, there were also the Sundanese. Sundanese people are native groups that were mostly comprised of Muslims. These people lived in fertile areas and soon developed a unique oral theater called the Wayang Golek that makes use of puppets. The puppet theater was used to display the creativity of the people. Music was also a specialty of the Sundanese, which shows the diversity and the musical skills of these groups. A group of Europeans visited the city and discovered the richness of the land. So, in 1786 a road connecting Bandung, Cianjur, Bogor, and Jakarta, was built. And in 1809, Louis Napoleon ordered the Governor General to intensify the defense of the city from the English. The Great Post Road (Groote Postweg) that was built was too far from Bandung's capital. So, the Governor General instructed to have the capital of the city relocated. The relocation became a success and because of the deep root of traditions by the people, a Grand Mosque (Mesjid Agung) was built.