Fort Santo Domingo

Fort Santo Domingo is a historical fortress in Tamsui District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. It was originally a wooden fort built in 1628 by the Manila-based Spanish East Indies of the Spanish Empire, who named it in Spanish: el Fuerte de Santo Domingo, lit. 'the Fort of Saint Dominic'. However, after refurbishing it in stone, the initial fort was repeatedly ordered to be dismantled and withdrawn from around 1637 by Spanish Governor-General Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera for economic downsizing and retrenchment, which their rival Dutch East India Company (VOC) of the Dutch Empire soon found out and later invaded in 1641 and won by the Second Battle of San Salvador in 1642.

After the battle, the Dutch rebuilt a fort in the original site in 1644 and renamed it in Dutch: Fort Antonio, after Antonio van Diemen, the then Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Since the Dutch were called in Taiwanese Hokkien Chinese: 紅毛; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Âng-mn̂g; lit. 'Red-haired (people)') by the Han Chinese immigrants during the time, the fort was then nicknamed in Taiwanese Hokkien Chinese: 紅毛城; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Âng-mn̂g-siâⁿ; lit. 'Red-hair (ang mo) fort'.

In 1724, the Qing Government repaired the fort, and built a perimeter wall with four gates. From 1868 onwards the fort was leased to the British government as its consulate, and a new two-storey building was built nearby as the consul's residence. The fort continued to be used as a British consulate during Japanese rule, but was briefly closed during the Pacific War.

After the war, it was returned to British control. The site was used as the British consulate until 1972, though official diplomatic relations between Republic of China (Taiwan) and the United Kingdom were terminated in 1950.

Text adapted from “Fort Santo Domingo” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fort Santo Domingo ranks #1,138 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #3 of the 21 mapped in Taiwan. Founded 1644, it is older than 28% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 580 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 8,424 times in the last 60 days, more than 91% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is New Taipei City, 18 km away. See how Taiwan compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗