Fort Zeelandia

Fort Zeelandia is a fortress in Paramaribo, Suriname. In 1640 the French built a wooden fort on the spot, which during the British colonial days was reinforced and became Fort Willoughby. It was taken by the Dutch in 1667 and renamed Fort Zeelandia.

History

In 1651 a small trading post was created by the Dutch. The Dutch presence increased and strengthened. In 1667 the Dutch Admiral Abraham Crijnssen took Paramaribo and recaptured the Essequibo-Pomeroon Colony. Byam, the British commander of Fort Willoughby defended the fort in a battle which lasted only three hours as British munitions were exhausted. Crijnssen renamed the fort to Zeelandia.

After the Surinamese independence in 1975, during the military government of Dési Bouterse in the 1980s, Fort Zeelandia was the location of the "December murders" of 1982 and was used to hold and torture political prisoners.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Fort Zeelandia (Paramaribo)" and modified on 23 July 2019 under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.