Fort Zoutman ()
[In isolation, ''Zoutman'' is pronounced .] is a military
fortification
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...
at
Oranjestad, Aruba
Oranjestad ( , , ; literally " Orange City") is the capital and largest city of Aruba, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is located on the southern coast near the western end of the island country. In the local languag ...
. Originally built in 1798 by
African slaves, with materials provided by the
Amerindians
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...
, who performed Statute Labour or
corvée
Corvée () is a form of unpaid, forced labour, that is intermittent in nature lasting for limited periods of time: typically for only a certain number of days' work each year.
Statute labour is a corvée imposed by a state for the purposes of ...
for the
Dutch West India Company, it is the oldest structure on the
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
of
Aruba, and regarded by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
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.
History
The Dutch first settled ''
Paardenbaai
Paardenbaai (English: ''Bay of Horses'') or Port of Oranjestad is the main seaport for passengers in Aruba. It is located in Oranjestad and has existed since 1796.
History
In 1796, Fort Zoutman was constructed near Paardenbaai. It was a natural ...
'' (
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
: Bay of Horses) on the island of Aruba as an intermediate
harbor
A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...
between
Curaçao and
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
.
In 1796, a ''Comité Militaire'' (English: Army Committee) was established in Curaçao under acting governor
Johann Rudolf Lauffer to build fortifications on the islands of Aruba, Curaçao and
Bonaire to defend against
pirates and other enemies. The fort on Aruba was named after Dutch Rear Admiral
Johan Arnold Zoutman who fought in the
Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Vierde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog; 1780–1784) was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic. The war, contemporary with the War of American Independence (1775-1783), broke out ove ...
and the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
,
though he had never been to the island.
It was completed in 1798 at what was then the
shore
A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...
line of the island, and was initially armed with four
cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
s.
The surrounding area developed through economic growth into the capital city of
Oranjestad.
Renovation
Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, ...
of the fort began in 1826 under Commander
Simon Plats who found it to be in poor shape. The fort was not
garrisoned from 1830 to 1834. While occupied by a small colonial
constabulary Constabulary may have several definitions:
*A civil, non-paramilitary (police) force consisting of police officers called constables. This is the usual definition in the United Kingdom, in which all county police forces once bore the title (and som ...
brigade in 1859,
prison cell
A prison cell (also known as a jail cell) is a small room in a prison or police station where a prisoner is held. Cells greatly vary by their furnishings, hygienic services, and cleanliness, both across countries and based on the level of punish ...
s were constructed against the eastern and western walls, eliminating some of the
embrasure
An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...
s and gun ports. The eastern cells were replaced with concrete units in 1936. The present day walls date back to 1936, and 31 of as many as 35 gun ports were counted in the walls prior to the fort's most recent restoration in 1974.
Willem III Tower
At the request of lieutenant governor J.H. Ferguson in 1866, construction began on a
lighthouse at the fort which could also house the town bell to be rung on the hour. The completed Willem III Tower (
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
: ''Willem III Toren'') was named after King
William III of the Netherlands
William III (Dutch: ''Willem Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk''; English: ''William Alexander Paul Frederick Louis''; 19 February 1817 – 23 November 1890) was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1849 until his death in ...
and lighted on his birthday, February 19, 1868.
Archways at its base were designed to serve as the west entrance to the fort. The original
kerosene lamp was replaced by a
petrol
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic c ...
lamp and then an
acetylene lamp
Acetylene (systematic name: ethyne) is the chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in its pure ...
in 1930. Electrical lighting was added in 1935. The tower ceased to function as a lighthouse in 1963 with the removal of its lamp.
Over the years, it has also functioned as a
clock tower,
courtroom,
library
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
,
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...
, tax office,
watchtower
A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...
and a
station for the
Aruba Police Force
The Aruba Police Force (Dutch: ''Korps Politie Aruba'' or ''KPA'', Papiamento: ''Cuerpo Policial Aruba'') is the law enforcement agency of Aruba. The force operates under the authority of the Minister of Justice and Social Affairs.
History
In ...
.
Historical Museum of Aruba
The fort and tower underwent
restoration work from 1974 to 1980. On September 15, 1983, the facility was re-opened as the Historical Museum of Aruba.
The ''Fundacion Museo Arubano'' (English: Aruban Museum Foundation) has administered the
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
since March 16, 1992.
It is open to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Exhibits cover the early
history and development of Aruba during the beginning of the twentieth century. Group visits and walking city tours are accommodated by
multilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
guides. The
Bon Bini Festival is held at the fort every Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
See also
*
History of Aruba
References
External links
Fort Zoutman / Historical Museum- Official tourist website
{{Authority control
Clock towers
Architecture in the Netherlands
Forts in Aruba
Government buildings completed in 1798
Government buildings completed in 1868
Infrastructure completed in 1798
Lighthouses completed in 1868
Lighthouses in Aruba
Monuments of Aruba
Museums established in 1983
Aruba
Military installations established in 1798
1798 establishments in Aruba