Fortress boasts history of struggles

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)