A Famosa's PORTA DE SANTIAGO in Melaka

This one feels like Fort Santiago and Intramuros.Except that it's older of course.lol.A Famosa's PORTA DE SANTIAGO in Melaka.

Porta in Portuguese means portal.This is where the name Porta de Santiago was derived.It is one of the main gateway into the Portuguese fortress of A’FAMOSA.Portugal conquered Melaka in 1511.Alfonso de Albuquerque started the construction of A’Famosa in 1512. which they used the defend the city from attacks by the armies of the Sultan of Melaka and Acheh for over a century.

 A Famosa's  PORTA DE SANTIAGO in Melaka

The Portuguese used slave labor to construct this fort surrounding Melaka Hill with walls at around 3 meters thick using parts of the demolished palaces,royal mausoleums and mosques. A 40-meter high watchtower stood in the Northwest corner of the fortress. After the Dutch subjugated Melaka in 1641, they rebuilt and widened the fortress and put the mark VOC (Dutch east India Company) on parts of the fortress. added the date ‘ANNO 1670′ on the gate of A' Famosa.

 

The fort was nearly obliterated by the British who in 1795 decided to destroy it. The English, knowing that they would have to return the fort to the Dutch at the end of the Napoleonic wars, were determined to make the city as useless to the Dutch as possible.

Controlled by  

Portugal(1511-1641)
Netherlands(1641-1795)
Britain(1795-1807)

 

 

 They planned to relocate the population and demolish the fort. This nearly happened, but Sir Stanford Raffles (the founder of Singapore) persuaded the English to let the residents remain and also prevented the total obliteration of the fort by convincing the English to let one gate remain for history's sake. It is quite possible that in doing this, Raffles spared the remaining historical monuments of Melaka as well.  

This was part of the KL Blogger Challenge courtesy of Airphil Express and Tourism Malaysia.

Airphil Express now flies to Kulala Lumpur three times a week.

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