 Gradually, the paddy field was urbanized and in the late 19th-century, the entire field had been converted into a kampung known as Kampung Sawah Besar.The name "Sawah Besar", also spelled as "Sawah Besaar" during colonial time, was given to the street Sawah Besar, south of what used to be the paddy field.Sawah Besar Street also formed the northern section of the defensive line of the new southern colonial administrative center of Batavia, the Weltevreden.