Rade de Macassar (Iles Celebes) [Sulawesi]

Superb lithograph of the port of Makassar, the capital of present day South Sulawesi, Indonesia, made when Dumont D’Urville visited the town.

The first European settlers were Portuguese sailors and upon reaching Sulawesi in 1511, they found Makassar a thriving town where Chinese, Arabs, Indians, Siamese, Javanese, and Malays were free to trade their manufactured metal goods and textiles for pearls, gold, copper, camphor and spices. Nutmeg, cloves and mace were imported from the interior and the neighbouring Spice Islands of Maluku. By the 16th century, Makassar had become Sulawesi’s major port and centre of the powerful Gowa and Tallo sultanates, who held between them a series of eleven fortresses and strongholds plus a fortified sea wall which extended along the coast.