There are two possible origins of the name 'Depok'. The first suggests that the region was already known as Depok when the land was purchased by
Cornelis Chastelein, a senior official in the
Dutch East India Company, on 18 May 1696. The purchased land measured about 12.44 km2, approximately 6.2% of the current area of Depok. Aside from establishing
plantations with the help of the local inhabitants, Chastelein was also engaged in missionary work, introducing
Christianity to the local population. He founded a local congregation named
De Eerste Protestante Organisatie van Christenen (DEPOC), and in the 1950s, some members of the Depok community in the
Netherlands claimed that this acronym influenced the modern name of the city. An alternative explanation is that the name derives from the Indonesian word
padepokan (Hermitage), as the site had previously been used as a religious retreat. Before his death on 28 June 1714, Chastelein wrote a will that freed the enslaved families of Depok and granted them pieces of his land, transforming them into landowners. Therefore, the 12
slave families became landowners (forever as given to them with entitlement deeds of Chastelein himself in his will) and freed men, women, and their children. The freed slaves are also referred to as the
Mardijker's – and it originated from the word *Merdeka* or freedom in
Bahasa Indonesia. Therefore, June 28 has been designated as
Depokse Dag (Depok Day) by the descendants of the original Depok family, and on 28 June 2014, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Chastelein's will, they erected a 3-meter-high monument on their land, but the city
government at the time prohibited it, citing its association with Dutch colonial history. The 12 original Depok family names are: • Bacas • Isakh • Jacob • Jonathans • Joseph • Laurens • Leander • Loen • Sadokh • Samuel • Soedira • Tholense The original slave families of Depok are of
Balinese,
Ambonese,
Buginese,
Sundanese and
Portuguese Indo, i.e., Mestizo and
Mardijker descent. Isakh, Jacob, Jonathans, Joseph, and Samuel were family names
baptized by Chastelein after the slave families converted to
Protestant Christianity. The other families retained their original names and might have been (Roman Catholic) Christian already before joining Chastelein's Protestant church. Descendants of the original Depok families with the exception of the Sadokh family, still live in Indonesia, the
Netherlands,
Norway,
Canada and the
United States. The instability caused by the
Indonesian War of Independence led to several of the original Depok families to flee the town. Many of the surviving families later settled in the Netherlands and various other countries as part of the broader
Indo community. In March 1982, Depok was reclassified as an administrative city within
Bogor Regency. On 20 April 1999, the city of Depok merged with some neighbouring districts of Bogor Regency to form an autonomous city, independent of the Regency, with an area of 199.91 km2. This date is commemorated as Depok's official establishment date. == Geology and climate ==