Fortress boasts history of struggles

JEPARA, Central Java (JP): The history of the fortress dates back to the 17th century when Sultan Agung Hanyokrokusumo took the helm of the Mataram Sultanate.

Upon Sultan Agung's order, Pati regent Kembang Joyo Kesumo built the fortress from 1613 to 1645. It was constructed to protect the sultanate against the Netherlands' potential attack from the direction of the Java Sea. The Dutch VOC troops had settled in Jayakarta or Batavia (now Jakarta) since 1619.

The Netherlands had so far showed its strong ambition to occupy Java.

The fortress was used by the troops of Mataram Sultanate as an observation site, to oversee the moves of the potential enemy's boat. The fortress was also built to maintain the sailing activities to coastal Jepara, which became Mataram's main seaport.

Sultan Agung took the initiative to attack the VOC by sending its troops to Jayakarta to fight against them in 1628 and 1629, but the offensive ended in failure. This forced the Sultan to cooperate with the Portuguese troops, who were widely known to have a strong navy, to build a strong defense and to arrange strikes against the VOC.

In 1632, an agreement between Mataram and the Portuguese was reached, and for the first stage of the agreement, the Portuguese placed hundreds of its soldiers at the site.

The appearance of the Portuguese troops might have driven the locals to tip Benteng Portugis as the name of the fortress.

The fact was that the agreement to strike the VOC was never realized, since the Portuguese, who were based in Malaka, never sent more troops to cooperate with Mataram to attack Batavia.

Even worse yet, the Portuguese troops flew out of the fortress in 1642, after Malaka, the Portuguese's main city in Southeast Asia, was taken over by the VOC in 1641. (asa)