Fort Amsterdam (also formerly known as ''Blokhuis Amsterdam'') is a fort and a

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

in Hila town, Leihitu Subdistrict,

Central Maluku Regency Central Maluku Regency ( id, Kabupaten Maluku Tengah) is a regency of Maluku Province of Indonesia. The Regency covers an area of 11,595.57 km2, and had a population of 361,698 at the 2010 Census, and 423,094 at the 2020 Census. The official ...

Ambon Island Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of two territories: the city of Ambon, Maluku, Ambon to the south and various districts ('' ...

, Indonesia. The blockhouse was built in 1637 by the

Dutch East Indies Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock c ...

Building

The blockhouse is a three-floored structure. It is roughly square in plan with area 16 x 16 m with 47 cm thick walls. The interior is 4.57 x 5.3 m in size. Each side of the building contains a window, with a door on the eastern wall. The ground floor is covered with bricks, and contains a prison and a

gunpowder magazine A gunpowder magazine is a magazine (building) designed to store the explosive gunpowder in wooden barrels for safety. Gunpowder, until superseded, was a universal explosive used in the military and for civil engineering: both applications requ ...

. The upper floor is wooden. The uppermost storey is roofed. The buildings contains two bastions in the northeast corner and southwest corner (seaward). One of the corner of the building contains a watchtower. The blockhouse is surrounded by a square-shaped defensive wall measuring 52 x 52 m. There are remnants of wall foundation measuring 62 x 35 m. The main gate is on the east side, while two smaller doorless gates is located to the north and to the south.

History

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Ruïne van het blokhuis Amsterdam te Hila Ambon jarenlang het woonhuis van Rumphius TMnr 10005148

Before the fort was built, a trade lodge was established here by

Francisco Serrão Francisco Serrão (died 1521) was a Portuguese explorer and a possible cousin of Ferdinand Magellan. His 1512 voyage was the first known European sailing east past Malacca through modern Indonesia and the East Indies. He became a confidant of Su ...

in 1512, a Portuguese explorer and a cousin of

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the East ...

. In the 17th-century, the

was formed and the Dutch colonize the entire island of Ambon. The lodge was converted into a defensive post. It is located in the northern coast of Ambon Island. Because of the local uprising led by Kapitan Kakialy between 1633 and 1654, the governor-general Jaan Ottens converted it into a defensive post in 1637 and was expanded by Gerrad Demmer in 1642 and by governor-general Anthony Caan in 1649. The fort was finalized by Arnold de Vlaming van Oudsthoorn from 1649 until 1656 and was named Fort Amsterdam.

Rumphius Georg Eberhard Rumphius (originally: Rumpf; baptized c. 1 November 1627 – 15 June 1702) was a Germans, German-born botanist employed by the Dutch East India Company in what is now eastern Indonesia, and is best known for his work ''Herbarium Am ...

, a great German botanist, lived in the fort from 1660 to 1670. The fort was left neglected by the Dutch in the early 20th century. A large tree had grow around it before the Indonesian Department of Education and Culture decided to restore it in July 1991. The restoration was based on a picture from

François Valentijn François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King ...

's ''Beschreiving van Amboinan''. The fort is not yet enacted as cultural heritage by the Directorate of Archaeological Heritage.

Building

History

References

See also