Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The oldest castle fortress in Indonesia



10. Fort Pendem (1887 AD)


Adjacent to teh Teluk Penyu Beach you can find an underground fort built by the 

Dutch around the 19th

 century (1887).It was built as to inspect the marine traffic in the Indian Ocean 

especially the military. There

 are inter related channels and wide room inside. Pendem Fort has 14 military sheds 

which each shed can

 hold one army team.It is also facilitated with a tunnel consist of 4 entrances gates 

protected with six cannons




9. Fort du Bus (1828 AD)


Dutch formally proclaim the south west coast as a Netherlands possession. Dutch 

goverment post and

 colony named Merkusoord established on Triton Bay. Fort du Bus was built of stone

 and named after the

 Belgian Viscount du Bus de Ghisignies, Governer-General of the Dutch East Indies.




8. Fort de Kock (1825 AD)


The city was known as Fort de Kock during colonial times in reference to the Dutch 

outpost established here

 in 1825 during the Padri War. The fort was founded by Captain Bauer at the top of 

Jirek hill and later 

named after the then Lieutenant Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, Hendrik 

Merkus de Kock. The

 first road connecting the region with the west coast was built between 1833 and 1841

 via the Anai Gorge,

 easing troop movements, cutting the costs of transportation and providing an economic

 stimulus for the 

agricultural economy. In 1856 a teacher-training college (Kweekschool) wasfounded in

 the city, the first in

 Sumatra, as part of a policy to provide educational opportunities to the indigenous 

population. A rail line

 connecting the city with Payakumbuh and Padang was constructed between 1891 and

 1894.


During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in World War II, the city was the 

headquarters for the 

Japanese 25th Army, the force which occupied Sumatra. The headquarters was moved

 to the city in April 

1943 from Singapore, and remained until the Japanese surrender in August 1945.







Fort Victoria, Ambon, was built in the seventeenth century and is located near the beach. It was the 


residence of the military camander of the mollucas, Fort Victoria houses military until today.





6. Fort Vastenberg (1745 AD)

FORMERLY, this building was called Grootmoedigheid and was built by General Baron Van Imhoff in 

1745 as the fort of the Dutch Indie army for the central Java territory. This fort was built in the middle of the

 town, close to the Kasunanan palace, so that the army could easily watch the movements inside the palace.

 This fort was closely related to the residence of the Dutch governor.

This building lies in the same ground as the residence buildings of the high rank army officers.




5. Fort Malborough (1714 AD)




The British East India Company established a long-running pepper-trading center and garrison at Bengkulu

 (Bencoolen) in 1685. In 1714 the British built Fort Marlborough in the city; the fort still stands. The trading 

post was never financially profitable for the British, hampered by a location Europeans foundunpleasant, and,

 more importantly, an inability to find sufficient pepper to buy.

Despite these difficulties, the British persisted, maintaining the presence there for 150 years before ceding it


 to the Dutch as part of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 to focus attention on Malacca. Like the rest of

 present-day Indonesia, Bengkulu remained a Dutch colony until after World War II.


During Sukarno's imprisonment by the Dutch in the early 1930s, the future first president of Indonesia lived

 briefly in Bengkulu. Here he met his wife, Fatmawati, who gave him several children, the most famous being

 the first female President of Indonesia, Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Bengkulu lies near the Sunda Fault and is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis. In June 2000 a quake caused

 damage and the death of at least 100 people. A recent report predicts that Bengkulu is "at risk of inundation

 over the next fewdecades from undersea earthquakes predicted along the coast of Sumatra"

A series of earthquakes struck Bengkulu during September, 2007, killing 13 people.



4. Fort Rotterdam (1667 AD)


Said to be one of the best preserved Dutch buildings in Indonesia, Fort Rotterdam was

 built around 1667 on

 the site of a Gowanese fort built 100 years before. The black stone walls have been

 partly restored, as have  most of the buildings within.

Inside the fort is a small museum with an eclectic collection of cultural artefacts from

 South Sulawesi.

 The  museum is only open Tuesday to Sunday mornings, from 8:00 to 12:30. The fort

 is open every day from

 8:00 to 18:00. A 'donation' is expected to gain entry. About 10,000 Rupiah (10,000.00

 IDR) is enough.




3. Fort Potugis (1632 AD)


Portuguese fort which is located 45 Km north of Jepara town became one of mainstay attractions Jepara 

regency.

Viewed from the side of this fort was geographically very strategic for

 militarypurposes. The fort was buil over a rock hill lane just in front of the sea and

 Mondoliko Island.

In 1619, the city Jayakarta / Sunda Kelapa entered the Dutch East India Company, and 

currently the Sunda

 Kelapa was renamed Batavia regarded as the beginning of the growing Imperialist

 colonization by the Dutch

 in Indonesia. Sultan Agung of Mataram king had sensed the danger of his situation

 falls into the hands of the

 city Jayakarta Netherlands. Sultan Agung to the army preparing to expel the Dutch.


King of Mataram determination was carried out respectively in the year 1628 and year 

1629 that ended with

 the defeat on the part of Jepara Mataram. This incident makes Sultan Agung think 

that the Dutch East India

 Company could only be defeated by land and sea attacks simultaneously, but 

Mataram not have a strong

 navy, and need the help of a third party who is also at odds with the VOC of the 

Portuguese Nation.



Cooperation agreement between Mataram and the Portuguese to be held and the

 early stages of putting


 troops on the Portuguese fort built by Mataram in 1632. The fort is very effective to

 keep the shipping traffic

 into the city of Jepara who became the main Airport of Mataram for exports and

 imports.

Reality Mataram and Portuguese co-operation can not be realized for the purpose 

expelled the Dutch in

 Batavia, even in 1642 the Portuguese moved out of the fort because of Malacca as the

 main cities in

 Southeast Asia Portuguese precisely captured by the Dutch in 1641.




2. Fort Belgica (1611 AD)


Fort Belgica, one of many forts built by the Dutch East India Company, is located in

 the Banda Islands,

 Maluku Province, and is one of the largest remaining European forts in Indonesia.

Constructed in 1611, the fort was an important defensive structurecommanding over the 

bay of Bandanaira

. Its construction gave the Dutch an edge over other colonial powers in the area, and

 still remains the larges

t extant structure on the Banda Islands.








The Keraton which overlooks the town of Bau-Bau is said to be the largest walled fort in the world. It is the


 site where the old Butonese Monarchy lived and ruled from. You can walk around the 

great walls which are

 still standing today and take in the great views out over the coastal town of Bau-Bau. 

It is possible to visit

 the Keraton museum within the fort and explore the little pathways which run 

through the small villages

 within the fort whilst soaking up the relaxed village culture



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