Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. INDEX: 1.0 The History of Trincomalee during Portuguese and Dutch rule: Introduction. 2.0 Trincomalee: The first contacts with the Portuguese. 3.0 Trincomalee: The arrival of the Danes, the Dutch and the construction of the Portuguese Fort. 4.0 Trincomalee: The Dutch conquest and the abandonment of […]
Category: Asia
Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Dietrich Köster. The city of Galle is located along the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka, about 120 km south of Colombo. Here first the Portuguese, and then the Dutch had built a fort to control the bay. The Portuguese sacked Galle in 1587 and then in 1597 built a […]
The city of Khor Fakkan (Corfação) is located along the east coast of the United Arab Emirates (25°20’N – 56°22’E). Here, the Portuguese, around 1620, built a triangular fortress with triangular bastions and a round tower in the center. In the log book of the Dutch vessel the Meerkat (1666) we read: “Gorfacan is a place on a […]
Situated in a natural harbour near the Oman capital Muscat, tha city of Matrah (Matara). The Portuguese built a fort in Matrah in 1588, the fort was part of the defenses of the city of Muscat. The Portuguese controlled the fort between 1588 and 1648. The fort at Matrah was a square fort with four bastions at […]
The city of Sohar (24 ° 21’N – 56 ° 43’E) is located along the Omani coast about 200 km north-west of Muscat. The Portuguese came to Soar in 1507 and made the city tributary. After several rebellions, the Portuguese retook the city in 1516 and again in 1523. The Portuguese fortified Soar probably between […]
Sibo (As Sib) (23°40’N – 58°12’E) is a coastal town located along the Oman coast 50 km north-west of Muscat, where the Portuguese in the 17th had a triangular fortress with bastions in the angles. Here a description of this fort extracted from António Bocarro “O livro das plantas de todas as fortalezas, cidades e povoações […]
The Portuguese first conquered and sacked Mascate in Oman in 1507. The Portuguese retained the control over Muscat for more than a century. The Turks conquered from the Portuguese Muscat on two occasions: in 1552 and in 1581-1588. The fortifications of Muscat were reinforced by Belchior Calaça in 1588 by order of the governor of Portuguese India Don Manuel […]
The two fortresses of Mada and Libedia were located along the eastern coast of the present United Arab Emirates. Libedia has been identified in the present town of Bidyah (25 ° 26’N – 56 ° 21’E) along the coast midway between Fujairah and Dibba. The two forts were square or rectangular shape with bastions at […]
The fortress of Doba, probably the present town of Diba al Hisn (25 ° 36’N – 56 ° 17’E) today in the emirate of Al-Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, was a square fortress with round bastions and a tower in the center. The Portuguese controlled the city from 1624 to 1648. For the image thanks to […]
Curiate (Kuriyat/Qurayyat) is a town situated south-east of Muscat along the Oman coast. The Portuguese fortress of Curiate (Kuriyat/Qurayyat) was rectangular fortress built by the Arabs and conquered by the Portuguese in 1507. The fort was probably rebuilt in the last quarter of the 16th century. The Portuguese lost this fort in 1648. Here a description of […]
Borca was a Portuguese fortress that stood at 12 (?) leagues from Muscat along the coast of Oman. The fortress had a triangular shape with three bastions at the corners of the triangle. In the fortress lived a Portuguese captain with 8 Portuguese soldiers and 30 lascarins. Probably the Portuguese fort of Borca corresponds to […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster The Portuguese decided shortly after their arrival in the Eastern Seas to prevent the Arabs’ trade by the conquest of Ormuz. For its strategical position, dominating the entrance to the Persian Gulf, Ormuz was one of the two strategical strongholds on the trade routes between […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Fritz Gosselck and João Sarmento. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Oman is a country rich in fortifications, some of these were built along the Omani coast by the Portuguese in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, often altered from the original forms several forts built or modernized by the […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Krzysztof Kudlek. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. The city of Malacca was conquered by the Portuguese in 1511. Soon after the conquest of the city, which was the most important commercial port in Asia, Afonso de Albuquerque built a fortress to defend the new Portuguese possession. The first […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Krzysztof Kudlek. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. The “Flor do Mar” or “Flor de la Mar” was a Portuguese galleon of 400 tons, which was part of the fleet sent to conquer the city of Malacca in 1511. The vessel was built in Lisbon in 1502 and at the […]
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Dutch Graves in Macau
Photos by Magiel Venema. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. The Dutch have never had control over the Portuguese colony of Macao. But despite this they have used this Portuguese outpost in China for their trade. This is evidenced by the numerous tombs Dutch in the two ancient cemeteries of the city: the Roman Catholic cemetery and […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. The Portuguese language has been in relation to the trade and colonial expansion of Portugal the trade language of the Indian Ocean shores in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Portuguese was used, at that time, not only in the eastern cities conquered by the […]
Written by Mark Schellekens. Photos by Mark Schellekens and Greg Wyncoll. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. On January 7th I paid a visit to the island of Solor off Flores’ north east coast. My main goal was to have a birdwatching trip on an virtually unknown island combined with a visit to the ruins […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. SOLOR AND THE LESSER SUNDA ISLANDS The early Portuguese contact with these islands was in the years about the 1520s. They frequented these islands mainly to purchase sandalwood. The early traders established only temporary warehouses. They did not build permanent trading posts, farms or fortresses, […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. TERNATE AND TIDORE The first Portuguese expedition to the Moluccas under the command of António de Abreu arrived in Amboina and on the Banda islands in 1512. After an adventurous voyage he went back to Malacca. Francisco Serrão and other members of this expedition wrecked […]