Fort Rotterdam

Fort Rotterdam in 2010

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 Pandan (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.

History

Fort Rotterdam in late 19th-century.

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,[1] 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.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4][5] Following
the Java War (1825–1830), Javanese
prince, and now national hero,
Diponegoro was imprisoned in the fort
following his exile to Makassar in 1830
until his death in 1855.[6] It was also used
as a Japanese prisoner of war camp in
World War II.[5]
Fort Rotterdam remained the regional
Dutch military and governmental
headquarters until 1930s.[3] 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.[4]

In the 1970s, the fort was extensively

restored.

The fort
18th-century layout of Fort Rotterdam.

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.[4]

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.[3] 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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[4]

The other two buildings inside Fort

Rotterdam were built by the Japanese
during the brief Japanese occupation
period.[4]

The southwestern Bastion (Bastion

Bacan) contains a prison where Prince
Diponegoro was imprisoned for the rest
of his life.[6]

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.[4]
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related
to Fort Rotterdam.

Colonial architecture in Indonesia

References
1. Mattulada 1982, p. 146-147.
2. Bulbeck 1998, p. 79-80.
3. Backshall 2003, p. 889.
4. Travel Marker 2015.
5. Andaya 2001, pp. 106-7.
6. Carey 2001, pp. 112-13.

Works cited
Andaya, Leonard (2001). Reid, Anthony; Jay,
Sian; Durairajoo, T., eds. Indonesia Heritage:
Early Modern History - South Sulawesi After
Arung Palakka. 3. Singapore: Didier Millet.
Backshall, Stephen (2003). Rough Guide
Indonesia (illustrated ed.). Singapore:
Rough Guides. ISBN 9781858289915.
David Bulbeck, 'Construction History and
significance of the Makassar fortifications'
in: Living through histories: culture, history
and social life in South Sulawesi (Canberra
1998), 67-106.
Carey, Peter (2001). Reid, Anthony; Jay,
Sian; Durairajoo, T., eds. Indonesia Heritage:
Early Modern History - Dipanagara and the
Java War. 3. Singapore: Didier Millet.
Mattulada, Mnyusuri Keharidan Makassar
dalam Sejarah (Ujung Pandang: Bhakti Baru
 1982).
"Makassar - bezienswaardigheden" . Travel
Marker (in Dutch). Travel Marker. 2015.
Archived from the original on 2015-11-19.
Retrieved November 19, 2015.

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