Fort Kastela

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Fort Kastela
Fortaleza de Ternate (Portuguese)
Fort Kastela ruins.jpg
Ruins of Fort Kastela.jpg
Kastella, Portuguese built in 1522, shown in 1607.jpg
Ruins of Kastella, Ternate.jpg
Monumen Benteng Kastela.jpg
Top, Middle, Bottom: Remaining ruins of the fort; 17th century image of Kastela; Fort ruins in front of Gamalama and Sultan Hairun monument.
Location Ternate, Maluku Islands, Indonesia
Coordinates 00°45′39″N127°18′43″E / 0.76083°N 127.31194°E / 0.76083; 127.31194
Built1522 (finished on 15 February 1523)
Architectural style(s) Portuguese

Fort Kastela (Indonesian : Benteng Kastela) is a ruined Portuguese fortress located at the southwest coast of Ternate. It is famous for being the first colonial fortification constructed in the Spice Islands (Maluku) of Indonesia. Built by the Portuguese in 1522, it is also referred to in different languages as São João Baptista de Ternate or Fortaleza de Ternate (Portuguese), Ciudad del Rosario (Spanish) or Gammalamma (Ternatean and Dutch). Today it is locally known as Kastella/Kastela.

Contents

History

In April 1521, a fleet was dispatched by King Manuel I of Portugal from Lisbon under the command of Jorge de Brito. The fleet was given orders to intercept the Spanish fleet of Ferdinand Magellan while sailing towards the Spice Islands from the Americas. Upon making landfall, they were ordered to construct a fortress on Ternate and to establish the Portuguese pre-eminence in the region. [1]

Fort São João Baptista de Ternate

The initial fort was named by the Portuguese after Saint John the Baptist, on whose feast day the first stone was laid in 1522. It was completed in 15 February 1523. [2] The location selected was on the south-west coast of Ternate, near the Sultan's Court, but 7 km from the island's main reef-free harbor at Talangame. São João Baptista commanded three narrow passages through the encircling reefs, which allowed small crafts to arrive for loading cloves, but prevented larger vessels from closing sufficiently to bombard.

Several subsequent visitors described the fort as incomplete, and it was not until the governorship of António Galvão, commencing in 1536, that the defenses were improved significantly. [3] [ user-generated source? ] After killing Ternate's Sultan Hairun in 1570, the Portuguese were besieged in their fort by forces of the new Sultan Baab for five years. In 1575, they handed over the fort and retreated to Ambon.

Ternatean fort

Sultan Baab occupied the fort, renamed it as Gammalamma and converted it into his royal palace. [4] Anticipating a Portuguese return, Sultan Baab extensively modified the defenses into a substantial fortress, [5] and constructed an additional fort 5 km to the east, known today as Fort Kota Janji.

In 1605, the newly arrived Dutch VOC captured Portuguese forts on Ambon and Tidore and established a trading base on Ternate.

Spanish fort

The Spanish (in a personal union with Portugal since 1580) dispatched a strong expedition from the Philippines and recaptured Kastella, taking hostage Sultan Saidi Berkat and exiling him to Manila in March 1606. [6] They further modified the Gammalamma defenses into a powerful fortress and renamed it as Ciudad del Rosario. [7] Dutch Admiral Paulus van Caerden, captured by the Spanish in 1610 and held in Kastella, regarded it as "invulnerable." [8]

It was the Spanish capital of the Moluccas between 1606 and 1663, a large city that housed several churches, a Franciscan monastery and a hospital. When the Spanish departed from the Spice Islands in 1663, they partially destroyed the defenses which were then occupied by the Dutch.

Today the site consists of ruins spread over a large area, scattered with local houses and bisected by the main island road. There is a monument for the 1575 Ternatean victory over the Portuguese, and sections of the old walls and bastions from the Spanish period can also be seen.

Commanders of the fort

Portuguese

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">16th century</span> Century

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Maluku</span> Province of Indonesia

North Maluku is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the south. It shares a maritime borders with North Sulawesi,, Southeast Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi to the west, Maluku to the south, Southwest Papua to the west, and Palau and the Philippines to the north. The provincial capital is Sofifi on the largest island of Halmahera, while the largest city is the island city of Ternate. The population of North Maluku was 1,038,087 in the 2010 census, making it one of the least-populous provinces in Indonesia, but by the 2020 Census the population had risen to 1,282,937, and the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 1,319,338.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ternate</span> City in North Maluku, Indonesia

Ternate, also known as the City of Ternate, is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the de facto provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the west coast of Halmahera, and is composed of eight islands: Ternate, the biggest and main island of the city, and Moti, Hiri, Tifure, Mayau, Makka, Mano, and Gurida. In total, the city has a land area of 162.17 square kilometres and had a total population of 185,705 according to the 2010 census, and 205,001 according to the 2020 census, with a density of 1,264 people per square kilometre; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 206,745. It is the biggest and most densely populated city in the province, is the economic, cultural, and education center of North Maluku, and acts as a hub to neighbouring regions. It was the capital of the Sultanate of Ternate in the 15th and 16th centuries, and fought against the Sultanate of Tidore over control of the spice trade in the Moluccas before becoming a main interest to competing European powers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tidore</span> City in Maluku Islands, Indonesia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese Empire in the Indonesian Archipelago</span> Colony in Southeast Asia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sultanate of Ternate</span> Sultanate

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Tabariji or Tabarija was the Sultan of Ternate in Maluku, whose realm also included Makian and other east Indonesian islands. He reigned from 1533 to 1535, when he was deposed by the dominant Portuguese and exiled to India. He later became a convert to Catholicism under the name Dom Manuel.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Kalamata</span>

Fort Kalamata is a coastal star fort that was built by the Portuguese on the island of Ternate in Indonesia's Maluku Islands. Formerly known as Benteng Kayu Merah because it is located in Kayu Merah village, Originally the fort was named Santa Lucia, but later it became famous for Fort Kalamata. Kalamata itself comes from the name Pengeran Kalamata, the younger brother of the Sultan of Ternate Madarsyah

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babullah of Ternate</span> Sultan of Ternate

Sultan Babullah, also known as Sultan Baabullah was the 7th Sultan and 24th ruler of the Sultanate of Ternate in Maluku who ruled between 1570 and 1583. He is known as the greatest Sultan in Ternatan and Moluccan history, who defeated the Portuguese occupants in Ternate and led the Sultanate to a golden peak at the end of the 16th century. Sultan Babullah was commonly known as the Ruler of 72 (Inhabited) Islands in eastern Indonesia, including most of the Maluku Islands, Sangihe and parts of Sulawesi, with influences as far as Solor, East Sumbawa, Mindanao, and the Papuan Islands. His reign inaugurated a period of free trade in the spices and forest products that gave Maluku a significant role in Asian commerce.

Sultan Hairun Jamilu was the 6th Muslim ruler of Ternate in Maluku, reigning from 1535 to 1570. During his long reign, he had a shifting relation to the Portuguese who had a stronghold in Ternate and tried to dominate the spice trade in the region. This ended with his assassination at the hands of a Portuguese soldier in 1570.

Dayal also known as Hidayatullah was the fourth Sultan of Ternate in Maluku. He had a short and largely nominal reign between 1529 and 1533 before fleeing Ternate due to Portuguese pressure. He later tried to create an anti-Portuguese alliance among the kings in North Maluku, but was mortally wounded in battle against the Europeans.

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Fort Kota Janji is a Portuguese fortress located at Jalan Ngade, Laguna Hamlet, Fitu Village, South Ternate District, Ternate, North Maluku Province. It is located on the side of the main road to Ternate City from the south. The fort, which stands firmly at a height of 50 metres (160 ft) above sea level, was originally built during the Portuguese colonial period. Construction was possibly initiated by Governor António de Brito in about 1522. It is locally believed that it was named Fort Kota Janji because it became a silent witness to the peace treaty between Sultan Hairun and the Portuguese Governor. However, the Portuguese broke their vows and took the sultan's life in nearby Fort Kastela in 1570. In 2004, restaurarion work was done at the site of the fort, but only through beautifying the area around the fort by creating a park and build a fence surrounding the site. However, the original shape of the fort is no longer visible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ternatean–Portuguese conflicts</span> Colonial war in the Spice Islands

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Tidore</span>

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References

  1. Lobato, Manuel (2012). "Culture and Identity in the Luso-Asian World: Tenacities and Plasticities". ISEAS: Chapter 8.
  2. Corn, Charles (1999) [First published 1998]. The Scents of Eden: A History of the Spice Trade. New York: Kodansha America. p. 57. ISBN   1-56836-249-8. Broken by the gales and waves, she [the Trinidad] was dismembered by the Portuguese, who managed to salvage her cannon and timbers. These would be useful as a new fort they were building ... It was completed on February 15, 1523, and named after St. John the Baptist ... The fortress encompassed a large space surrounded by six-foot waslls with a two-level tower rising to thirty feet.
  3. "The Portuguese Fort of Ternate". Colonial Voyage. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  4. Hanna & Alwi (1990). Turbulent Times Past in Ternate and Tidore. Banda Neira: Rumah Budaya. p. 93.
  5. Hanna & Alwi (1990). Turbulent Times Past in Ternate and Tidore. Banda Neira: Rumah Budaya. p. 104.
  6. Andaya, Leonard (1993). The World of Maluku. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. pp. 139–140.
  7. Dian Afrillia (12 March 2022). "Menjelajahi Wisata Sejarah di Ternate dari Benteng ke Benteng, Benteng Kastela" (in Indonesian). GoodnewsfromIndonesia. Gramedia. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  8. "Kastella". Spice Islands Forts. Retrieved 17 July 2017.