Fort zealand

The wooden fort was built by the British in 1640 and was called Fort Willlorby in honor of the Governor of Barbados, Lord Francis Willoughby , who sent the English settlers to Suriname. During the Second Anglo-Dutch War, a Dutch squadron led by Abraham Krienssen attacked the English colonies in Suriname. On February 25, 1667 ^[1] Krienssen reached the Suriname River , where the Willorbby Fort was located ^[2] . After a short shelling, the British surrendered the fort, and on March 6 the entire colony.

Krienssen was a native of Zealand , so he renamed Fort Willlorby to Fort Zealand ^[3] .

Despite the fact that the Delusional Accord of 1667 assigned Suriname to Holland, Fort Zealand was captured by the British on October 13, 1667 ^[4] . Krienssen arrived in Suriname on April 20 , and already April 28, 1668 recaptured the entire territory of the colony ^[5] .

After the French carried out several successful attacks on Paramaribo in 1712, it was decided to build a new fort on the right bank of the river. In 1747, the new Nieuve-Amsterdam fort was built, after which Fort Zealand lost its strategic importance, three of the five bastions of the fortress were dismantled, and the fortress itself turned into a barracks , later into a prison ^[6] .

During the Second World War, Governor Johann Kielstra arrested all Germans living at that time in Suriname and placed them in the fort. In 1967, the fort was converted into a museum. After gaining independence, Suriname moved the statue of Queen Wilhelmina to the fort ^[7] .

On February 25, 1980, a military coup was carried out in Suriname. It was organized by Senior Sergeant Desi Bauters . Bauters began to rule Suriname as a dictator , the head of the National Military Council he created (having appropriated the military rank of lieutenant colonel - the highest in the Surinamese army ). He dissolved the parliament, abolished the constitution, imposed a state of emergency in the country and created a special tribunal that examined the cases of members of the former government and entrepreneurs. After the coup at Fort Zealand, a prison was again equipped, which contained enemies of the Bauters regime. On December 8, 1982 , a group of fifteen scholars, journalists, lawyers, union leaders, and military men who opposed military rule in Suriname were captured and taken to Fort Zealand ^[8] , where they were tortured and executed by Bouterse soldiers. 15 people were killed, and one person was a Dutch citizen (officially they died while trying to escape) ^[9] . Events became known as the December killings ^[10] . After the return of democracy in the fort, a historical museum was again created ^[7] .

Fort "Zealand" is a pentagonal fortress - an open-air museum ^[6] .

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  Inside view of Fort Zealand

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  Arsenal of the fort, subsequently converted into a pharmacy

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  The transfer of the statue of Queen Wilhelmina to the fort

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  Old Dutch Post Box at Fort Zeeland

• Jos Fontaine: Zeelandia. De geschiedenis van een fort. Zutphen 1972, De Walburg Pers, ISBN 906011-441-8

• Fort zealand