Waterkasteel (Batavia)

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The first layout of the Waterkasteel of Batavia. AMH-4576-NA Map of the water fort at Batavia.jpg
The first layout of the Waterkasteel of Batavia.

Waterkasteel (Dutch "Water Fortress") was the northernmost defense of Batavia (now Jakarta), Dutch East Indies. It was located on the west end of the Sunda Kelapa pier. Because of its location, the fort was also known as "Hornwerk". [1]

History of Jakarta

Jakarta is Indonesia's capital and largest city. Located on an estuary of the Ciliwung River, on the northwestern part of Java, the area has long sustained human settlement. Historical evidence from Jakarta dates back to the 4th century CE, when it was a Hindu settlement and port. The city has been sequentially claimed by the Indianized kingdom of Tarumanegara, the Hindu Kingdom of Sunda, the Muslim Sultanate of Banten, and by Dutch, Japanese and Indonesian administrations. The Dutch East Indies built up the area before it was taken during World War II by the Empire of Japan and finally became independent as part of Indonesia.

Jakarta capital city of Indonesia

Jakarta, officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Situated on the northwest coast of the world's most populous island of Java, it is the centre of economy, culture and politics of Indonesia with a population of more than ten million as of 2014. The Jakarta metropolitan area, which has an area of 6,392 square kilometres, is the world's second most populous urban area after Tokyo, with a population of about 30 million as of 2010. Jakarta's business opportunities, as well as its potential to offer a higher standard of living, have attracted migrants from across the Indonesian archipelago, making it a melting pot of numerous cultures. Jakarta is nicknamed the "Big Durian", the thorny strongly-odored fruit native to the region, as the city is seen as the Indonesian equivalent of New York.

Dutch East Indies Dutch colony between 1816-1949, present-day Indonesia

The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Dutch government in 1800.

Contents

History

The location of the Waterkasteel is visible in the bottom of the map of 18th-century Batavia. AMH-4586-NA Map of the city and the castle at Batavia.jpg
The location of the Waterkasteel is visible in the bottom of the map of 18th-century Batavia.

The objective of this fortress construction was to provide defense at the entrance of Ciliwung because the anchor points had been moved far away from the fortress due to the formation of shoals in front of the estuary and the widening of the coastline. Construction of the fortress began in 1741, improvements were made later on. In 1745, the fortress was laid on a foundation made of hull-remains soaked in mud. This foundation was not strong enough to hold the fortress walls, and therefore in 1750 this structure was refurbished and reconstructed. [1]

Ciliwung river in Indonesia

Ci Liwung is a 119 km long river in the northwestern region of Java where it flows through two provinces, West Java and the special region of Jakarta. The natural estuary of the Ciliwung river, known as the Kali Besar, was an important strategic point for trade in the precolonial and colonial periods and was instrumental in the founding of the port city of Jakarta, but has been lost from reorganization of the watercourse of the rivers around the area into canals.

In 1776 it was decided to demolish the Waterkasteel. [2] In 1819, the last vestiges of the Waterkasteel was demolished. [2]

Construction

The Waterkasteel fortress, alternatively called "Hornwerk", is a relatively small fortress of approximately 142.9 meter in length and 101.5 meter in width. It was made of coral reef, equipped with barracks, armed forces, and a number of cannon. There were 50 spots for cannons along the top of the fortress wall and eight semi-circular lookout towers, which was called "Rondeel" by local missionary pastor, Johan Maurits Mohr. The fortress contains no buildings. The fort is connected to the mainland by a bridge on the south side of the fortress, This entrance is actually an extension of the west pier embankment (Ciliwung River Embankment). On the southeast bastion, there are two rectangular plots identified as having been the fortress commander's residence and the troop barracks. [1]

Johan Maurits Mohr Dutch-German pastor and astronomer

Johan Maurits Mohr was a Dutch-German pastor who studied at Groningen University from 1733 and settled in Batavia in 1737. Mohr's greatest passion was in astronomy but he was also keenly interested in meteorology and in vulcanology.

Bastion structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification

A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks with fire from the flanks being able to protect the curtain wall and also the adjacent bastions. It is one element in the style of fortification dominant from the mid 16th to mid 19th centuries. Bastion fortifications offered a greater degree of passive resistance and more scope for ranged defense in the age of gunpowder artillery compared with the medieval fortifications they replaced.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Water Kasteel". Ensiklopedi Jakarta. Dinas Komunikasi, Informatika dan Kehumasan Pemprov DKI Jakarta. 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  2. 1 2 de Haan, Frederik (1922). Oud Batavia, gedenkbock uitgegeven naar aanleiding van het driehonderdjarig bestaan der stad in 1919, Volume 1. Jakarta: G. Kohlr. p. 240.

Coordinates: 6°06′58″S106°48′24″E / 6.116205°S 106.806601°E / -6.116205; 106.806601

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

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