Fort Nassau (Banda Islands)

Fort Nassau was the first Dutch fort built on Banda Neira Island, the main island of the Banda Islands, part of Maluku in Indonesia, completed in 1609. Its purpose was to control the trade in nutmeg, which at that time was only grown in the Banda Islands.

The Portuguese had previously attempted to build a fort in this location in 1529 but, after constructing the foundations, they abandoned the work due to hostility from the Bandanese people.

On 25 April 1609, the Dutch fleet commander, Admiral Verhoeven, sent 750 soldiers ashore to commence their fort, choosing the Portuguese foundations as the location. The Bandanese, threatened by the new fort and the strength of the Dutch presence, and opposed to the Dutch plan to monopolise the Bandanese nutmeg industry attacked the Dutch, killing Admiral Verhoeven and 40 of his men.

Text adapted from “Fort Nassau, Banda Islands” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fort Nassau (Banda Islands) ranks #2,936 of 5,479 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #15 of the 35 mapped in Indonesia. See how Indonesia compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗