Fort Zoutman ()In isolation, ''Zoutman'' is pronounced . is a military

fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...

Oranjestad, Aruba Oranjestad ( , , ; literally " Orange City") is the capital and largest city of Aruba, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is located on the southern coast near the western end of the island country. In the local languag ...

. Originally built in 1798 by African slaves, with materials provided by the

Amerindians The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...

, who performed Statute Labour or

corvée Corvée () is a form of unpaid, forced labour, that is intermittent in nature lasting for limited periods of time: typically for only a certain number of days' work each year. Statute labour is a corvée imposed by a state for the purposes of ...

for the Dutch West India Company, it is the oldest structure on the

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

of Aruba, and regarded by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

as a 'Place of Memory of the Slave Trade Route in the Latin Caribbean'. The Willem III Tower was added to the west side of the fort in 1868. The fort and tower were restored and re-opened in 1983 as the Historical Museum of Aruba.

History

The Dutch first settled ''

Paardenbaai Paardenbaai (English: ''Bay of Horses'') or Port of Oranjestad is the main seaport for passengers in Aruba. It is located in Oranjestad and has existed since 1796. History In 1796, Fort Zoutman was constructed near Paardenbaai. It was a natural ...

'' (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: Bay of Horses) on the island of Aruba as an intermediate

harbor A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

between Curaçao and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. In 1796, a ''Comité Militaire'' (English: Army Committee) was established in Curaçao under acting governor Johann Rudolf Lauffer to build fortifications on the islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire to defend against pirates and other enemies. The fort on Aruba was named after Dutch Rear Admiral Johan Arnold Zoutman who fought in the

Fourth Anglo-Dutch War The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Vierde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog; 1780–1784) was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic. The war, contemporary with the War of American Independence (1775-1783), broke out ove ...

and the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, though he had never been to the island. It was completed in 1798 at what was then the

shore A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...

line of the island, and was initially armed with four

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

s. The surrounding area developed through economic growth into the capital city of Oranjestad.

Renovation Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, ...

of the fort began in 1826 under Commander Simon Plats who found it to be in poor shape. The fort was not garrisoned from 1830 to 1834. While occupied by a small colonial

constabulary Constabulary may have several definitions: *A civil, non-paramilitary (police) force consisting of police officers called constables. This is the usual definition in the United Kingdom, in which all county police forces once bore the title (and som ...

brigade in 1859,

prison cell A prison cell (also known as a jail cell) is a small room in a prison or police station where a prisoner is held. Cells greatly vary by their furnishings, hygienic services, and cleanliness, both across countries and based on the level of punish ...

s were constructed against the eastern and western walls, eliminating some of the

embrasure An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...

s and gun ports. The eastern cells were replaced with concrete units in 1936. The present day walls date back to 1936, and 31 of as many as 35 gun ports were counted in the walls prior to the fort's most recent restoration in 1974.

Willem III Tower

At the request of lieutenant governor J.H. Ferguson in 1866, construction began on a lighthouse at the fort which could also house the town bell to be rung on the hour. The completed Willem III Tower (

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

: ''Willem III Toren'') was named after King

William III of the Netherlands William III (Dutch: ''Willem Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk''; English: ''William Alexander Paul Frederick Louis''; 19 February 1817 – 23 November 1890) was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1849 until his death in ...

and lighted on his birthday, February 19, 1868. Archways at its base were designed to serve as the west entrance to the fort. The original kerosene lamp was replaced by a

petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic c ...

lamp and then an

acetylene lamp Acetylene (systematic name: ethyne) is the chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in its pure ...

in 1930. Electrical lighting was added in 1935. The tower ceased to function as a lighthouse in 1963 with the removal of its lamp. Over the years, it has also functioned as a clock tower, courtroom,

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

, tax office,

watchtower A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...

and a station for the

Aruba Police Force The Aruba Police Force (Dutch: ''Korps Politie Aruba'' or ''KPA'', Papiamento: ''Cuerpo Policial Aruba'') is the law enforcement agency of Aruba. The force operates under the authority of the Minister of Justice and Social Affairs. History In ...

Historical Museum of Aruba

The fort and tower underwent restoration work from 1974 to 1980. On September 15, 1983, the facility was re-opened as the Historical Museum of Aruba. The ''Fundacion Museo Arubano'' (English: Aruban Museum Foundation) has administered the

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

since March 16, 1992. It is open to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Exhibits cover the early history and development of Aruba during the beginning of the twentieth century. Group visits and walking city tours are accommodated by

multilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

guides. The Bon Bini Festival is held at the fort every Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

References

External links

Fort Zoutman / Historical Museum
- Official tourist website {{Authority control Clock towers Architecture in the Netherlands Forts in Aruba Government buildings completed in 1798 Government buildings completed in 1868 Infrastructure completed in 1798 Lighthouses completed in 1868 Lighthouses in Aruba Monuments of Aruba Museums established in 1983 Aruba Military installations established in 1798 1798 establishments in Aruba

History

Willem III Tower

Historical Museum of Aruba

See also

References

External links