Aruba · 18th century
Fort Zoutman (Dutch pronunciation: [fɔrt ˈsʌutmɑn]) is a military fortification at Oranjestad, Aruba. Originally built in 1798 by African slaves, with materials provided by the Amerindians, who performed Statute Labour or corvée for the Dutch West India Company, it is the oldest structure on the island of Aruba, one of the main tourist attractions on the island, and regarded by UNESCO 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.
Text adapted from “Fort Zoutman” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Fort Zoutman ranks #3,527 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking. Founded 1798, it is older than 12% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 696 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. See how Aruba compares in the castle statistics.
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