Fort Amsterdam (Curacao)
The Fort Amsterdam is located in the district Punda the city of Willemstad in Curacao .
It is located on a strategic point, a headland southeast of the Sint Anna Bay , at the port entrance. The fort is the largest of the eight fortifications found on the island.
The building is currently used as the seat of the government of Curacao. Before October 2010 it was the seat of the government of the Netherlands Antilles . You can also visit the governor's apartment and a church in the fort. The fort is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
history
When Curaçao fell into the hands of the West India Company in 1634 , it was decided to build the fort. It was built between 1635 and 1636 under the supervision of Admiral Johan van Walbeek . The fort was built not only as a defensive position, but also as the local headquarters of the West India Company.
There is also a fort Amsterdam on the island of Sint Eustatius , which was built towards the end of the seventeenth century and is also called the water fort. This fort is located at the north end of the roadstead of Oranjestad .
Raid
On June 8, 1929 , the fort was attacked and looted by the Venezuelan revolutionary Rafael Simon Urbina . He fled to Venezuela with the captured weapons and the governor's treasury to fight the government there. The poor state of defense embarrassed the Netherlands and led to the dispatch of ships of the Dutch Navy and naval troops in order to better guarantee the defense of the Netherlands Antilles in the future.
See also
Coordinates: 12 ° 6 ′ 17.1 ″ N , 68 ° 56 ′ 3.8 ″ W.