Fort Zeelandia is a
fortress
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from L ...
in
Paramaribo
Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's p ...
,
Suriname
Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...
. In 1640 the French built a wooden fort on the spot which, during British colonial period, was reinforced and became Fort Willoughby. It was taken by the Dutch in 1667 and renamed Fort Zeelandia.
History
Surinam, a small English colony, was established in 1650 by Major
Anthony Rowse on behalf of the governor of
Barbados
Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...
,
Francis Willoughby. In 1651 the English reinforced the abandoned French fort near present-day Paramaribo, calling it Fort Willoughby.
In 1667 the Dutch Admiral
Abraham Crijnssen captured Fort Willoughby from forces under Lieutenant-Governor
William Byam. The battle lasted only three hours before British munitions were exhausted. Crijnssen renamed the captured fort Fort Zeelandia, creating
the Dutch colony of Surinam. Crijnssen also recaptured the Essequibo-Pomeroon Colony.
Over the years, it started to become obsolete as a military asset and, in 1772, there were even plans to tear it down.
After Surinamese independence in 1975, under the military government of
Dési Bouterse in the 1980s, Fort Zeelandia was the location of the "
December murders
The December murders (Dutch: ''Decembermoorden'') were the murders on 7, 8, and 9 December 1982, of fifteen prominent young Surinamese men who had criticized the military dictatorship then ruling Suriname. Thirteen of these men were arrested on De ...
" of 1982 and was used to hold and
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
political prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...
s.
The
Surinamese Museum is located in Fort Zeelandia. The museum has a large collection of
ethnographica. Its collections contain
archeology
Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeolo ...
,
visual arts
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...
, colonial furniture, textiles and historical photos.
The
Nola Hatterman Art Academy is located in the former commander's house.
See also
*
Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam
References
External links
Fort Zeelandia at the City of ParamariboSurinamese Museum(in Dutch)
{{Authority control
Buildings and structures completed in 1651
Zeelandia
Buildings and structures in Paramaribo
History of Suriname
Tourist attractions in Suriname
1651 establishments in the Dutch Empire
1651 establishments in South America