Bantam is now just a few ruins and a mosque but in the 16th Century its kingdom covered most of western Java and Southern Sumatra.

Pepper made Bantam rich, transforming it into one of the largest cities in Southeast Asia. It was here that the Company established its first Asian ‘factory’ - a place where factors, or Company reps, lived and traded. And it was from here that the English were able to expand into other parts of Asia.