Batavia is the Latin name for the land of the Batavians during Roman time. This was roughly the area around the city of Nijmegen within the Roman Empire. The remainder of this land is nowadays known as Betuwe. During the Renaissance, Dutch historians tried to promote these Batavians wrongly to the status of 'archfathers' of the Dutch people. They started to call themselves Batavians, later resulting in the Batavian Republic, and took this to their colonies like Indonesia (Jakarta), Suriname (Batavia, Suriname), and in the United States, around Nieuw Amsterdam (now called New York), you'll find Batavia (city), New York. The origin, however, remains Betuwe.
