Tuesday, January 10, 2012

History of "A Famosa, Melaka"

Yes, that's right! Another piece of Melaka history on the ever famous "A Famosa" building of Malacca. Hope you'll love it.

Malacca was ruled by the Portuguese from 1511 till 1641. The first thing they did was to built a fort overlooking the Melaka river and they named the fort as A Famosa. Currently, A Famosa is one of the oldest European architecture present in South East Asia.

Throughout the Portuguese rule, the fort was important to their foothold of the state because the town was constantly under threats from other big foreign parties such as the British and Dutch. The fort consists of houses, food stores, a castle, a meeting room for the Portuguese Councils and 5 churches.

Malacca was attacked by the Dutch in the late 17th century and the fort was badly damaged leaving only the entrance facade and a church structure at the top of the hill.

Then, in the 19th century, Malacca was taken over by the British and they decided to destroy the whole fort. The whole A Famosa was demolished in 1806, leaving only a small part, as what we can see today, the last bit of the once active and important fortress.


From left to right: Chieh Yee, Sok Fon and Me posing in front of the surviving gate of the A Famosa Portuguese fort in Malacca

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