TOURISM DESTINATION IN FORT ROTTERDAM

DISUSUN:

REZKIWANASILVIA BAKRI

F61116007

DEPARTEMEN ARKEOLOGI
FAKULTAS ILMU BUDAYA
UNIVERSITAS HASANUDDIN
MAKASSAR
2017
Main Idea:

Fort Rotterdam is a 17th-century fort in Makassar on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia.

It is a Dutch fort built on top of an existing fort of the Gowa Kingdom. The original fort, Jum
Panda (allegedly named after the pandanus trees growing in the vicinity), gave its name to the
city Ujung Pandang, another name for the city of Makassar.

Fort Rotterdam was built on the location of an earlier Makassarese fort, called Ujung
Pandang. Although it has been claimed by some authors that this fort dates back to 1545, there is
no direct evidence for this, and it seems more likely that the fort was built in 1634, as part of a
fortification programme that the Makassar rulers undertook in response to a war with the Dutch
East India Company which broke out in this year.

In 1667 Fort Ujung Pandang was ceded to the Dutch as part of the Bungaya Treaty, after
the defeat of Gowa in the Makassar War. It was in subsequent years entirely rebuilt on the
initiative of Dutch admiral Cornelis Speelman to become the center of Dutch colonial power in
Sulawesi. It was renamed Fort Rotterdam after Speelman's place of birth. In the years 1673-1679
it got its five bastions and the 'turtle' shape it still has to this day. This shape gave the fort the
nickname "Benteng Penyu" ("sea-turtle fort"). The stone for the construction of the fort was
taken from the karst mountains in Maros, the limestone from Selayar and the woods
from Tanete and Bantaeng. Following the Java War (18251830), Javanese prince, and
now national hero, Diponegoro was imprisoned in the fort following his exile to Makassar in
1830 until his death in 1855. It was also used as a Japanese prisoner of war camp in World War
II.

Fort Rotterdam remained the regional Dutch military and governmental headquarters
until 1930s. After 1937, the fort was no longer used as a defense. During the brief Japanese
occupation it was used for conducting scientific research in the field of linguistics and
agriculture, after which it fell into disrepair.

In the 1970s, the fort was extensively restored.

Supporting Idea:

Fort Rotterdam lies in the heart of Makassar. It is rectangular in shape, surrounded with 7
meter wall and was equipped with six bulwarks, five of them are still visible: Bastion
Bonie (after the Bone state) to the west, Bastion Boeton (Buton Island) to the northwest, Bastion
Batjang (Bacan Islands) to the southwest, Bastion Mandassar to the northeast, and Bastion
Amboina (Ambon) to the southeast. The sixth bulwark, Bastion Ravelin, is not visible any longer.
Some of the bastions still contain some cannons. It is possible to walk over most of the ramparts.
A two meter deep moat system used to surround the perimeter of the fort, however only the
southwest portion of the moat can still be seen today.

Inside the fort are thirteen buildings, 11 of them are 17th-century original buildings of the
fort; most are still good in condition. At the very center of the fort is a church building. Several
buildings along the north and south curtain wall still exist: the buildings along the northern
curtain wall were some of the oldest buildings (1686), such as the residence of the governor,
residence of the senior merchant, of the captain, the predikant, and the secretary, with several
storage for weapons. The government's residence at the north-westernmost is nicknamed as "the
Speelman's House", however Speelman himself never actually lived in this house. The house was
used by the governor of Celebes until the mid 19th-century when he moved to a more
comfortable villa in Jalan Ahmad Yani. The Speelman's House now housed one half of La
Galigo museum. La Galigo museum kept some prehistoric megaliths from Watampone, as well
as ancient weapons, coins, shells, utensils, sketches and stamps. The buildings on the south
curtain, originally a storage, housed a museum displaying local skills in silk weaving, agriculture
and boatbuilding; and scale models of indigenous boats. The barracks on the eastern wall now
housed a small library, featuring old Dutch books that mostly belonged to Reverend Mates, a
19th-century missionary. There is also ships' logs of VOC captains and ancient lontar
manuscripts. The department of archaeology is housed in the former building of the head of the
administration of VOC; the ground floor of the building, located in the southeast corner of the
fort, was formerly a prison.

The other two buildings inside Fort Rotterdam were built by the Japanese during the brief
Japanese occupation period.
 The southwestern Bastion (Bastion Bacan) contains a prison where
Prince Diponegoro was imprisoned for the rest of his life.

The fort is now used to held various events. There is a conservatory for music and dance,
archive of the city, and a historic and archaeological institute.