West Java () is a province of Indonesia on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to the west, the Java Sea to the north, the province of Central Java to the east and the Indian Ocean to the south. With Banten, this province is the native homeland of the Sundanese people, the second-largest ethnic group in Indonesia. West Java was one of the first eight provinces of Indonesia formed following the country's independence proclamation and was later legally re-established on 14 July 1950. In 1966, the city of Jakarta was split off from West Java as a 'special capital region' (), with a status equivalent to that of a province, while in 2000 the western parts of the province were in turn split away to form a separate Banten province. Even following these split-offs, West Java is the most populous province of Indonesia with a population of 48,274,160 as of the 2020 Census, which grew to 48,782,402 at mid 2021 according to the official estimates. The province's largest cities, Bekasi (a satellite city within the Jakarta metropolitan area) and Bandung, are the third and fourth most populous cities in Indonesia respectively. Bandung is also one of the most densely populated cities proper in the world. History The oldest human inhabitant archaeological findings in the region were unearthed in Anyer on the western coast of Java with evidence of bronze and iron metallurgical culture dating to the first millennium AD. The prehistoric Buni culture, near present-day Bekasi, developed clay pottery with evidence found in Anyer to Cirebon. Artefacts dated 400 BC — AD 100, such as food and drink containers, were found mostly as burial gifts. There is archaeological evidence in Batujaya Archaeological Site dating from the 2nd century and, according to Dr Tony Djubiantono, the head of Bandung Archaeology Agency, Jiwa Temple in Batujaya, Karawang, was also built around this time. One of the earliest known recorded histories in Indonesia is from the former Tarumanagara kingdom, where seven, fourth-century stones are inscribed in Wengi letters (used in the Pallava period) and in Sanskrit describing the kings of the kingdom Tarumanagara. Records of Tarumanegara lasted until the sixth century, which coincides with the attack of Srivijaya, as stated in the Kota Kapur inscription (AD 686). The Sunda