Plan de la Ville et Forteresse de Malaca.

Scarce c.18th plan of the Portuguese fortress built in Malacca, Malaysia, in 1512.

In 1511, the Portuguese fleet under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque arrived at Malacca. His forces attacked and defeated the armies of the Malacca Sultanate. Moving quickly to consolidate his gains, Albuquerque had the fortress built around a natural hill near the sea. Albuquerque believed that Malacca would become an important port linking Portugal to the Spice Route in China. At this time other Portuguese were establishing outposts in such places as Macau, China and Goa, India to create a string of friendly ports for ships heading to Ming China and returning home to Portugal. The fortress once consisted of long ramparts and four major towers. One of the towers was a 60-m tall four-storey keep, known as A Famosa (‘The Famous’), which was the tallest building in the region from 1512 until it was destroyed by the Dutch in 1641.[3] Other parts of the fortress included an ammunition storage room, the residence of the captain, and an officers’ quarters. There were also town houses inside the fortress walls. As Malacca’s population expanded it outgrew the original fort and extensions were added around 1586. The fort changed hands in 1641 when the Dutch drove the Portuguese out of Malacca.[4] The Dutch renovated the gate in 1670, which explains the logo “ANNO 1670” inscribed on the gate’s arch. Above the arch is a bas-relief logo of the Dutch East India Company.

From Histoire générale des voyages.