Chinatown Glodok is an area known as the largest Chinatown in Batavia since the reign of the Dutch East Indies. The majority of Glodok residents are of Chinese descent
The word Glodok comes from the Sundanese golodog. Golodog means the entrance to the house because Sunda Kalapa (Jakarta) was the entrance to the kingdom of Sunda Kalapa
The change of ‘G’ to ‘K’ at the end is often found in Sundanese words that are spelled by non-Sundanese people, who then inhabit Jakarta. To this day, there are still many Sundanese-derived regional names in Jakarta, although the spelling has changed slightly.
The name Glodok comes from the sound of the water from the shower of a small octagonal building in the middle of the courtyard of the City Hall building — the center of the Dutch Kumpeni administration in the city of Batavia. This octagonal building was built around 1743 and was demolished and rebuilt in 1972. It is where clean water flows that can be used for daily needs. Not only for the Dutch Kumpeni soldiers but also for drinking for the soldiers horses after a long journey. The sound of the shower water is grojok.. grojok.. grojok. So that later the sound that came from the small octagonal building was spelled by the indigenous population as Glodok.
From the name of the shower to the name of an area that is now known as Pancoran people in the Jakarta City area call it “Glodok Pancoran”. Until now, both names, Glodok and Glodok Pancoran, are still familiar to the people of Jakarta and outside Jakarta.
Below are some photos I took during my trip to Glodok :
Please corect me if the words I used are wrong :)
