Tuesday 5 March 2013

The Melaka Album - The Portuguese, Dutch and British, March 2013

Melaka is a town of some historical standing in the grand scheme of things. Primarily a port, the Portuguese were the first to arrive and set up camp, then built fortifications, early 1500's. Next, the Dutch moved in as their Portuguese cousins moved out, sometime mid 1600's, building and expanding the colony. Then the Brits moved in under a deal with the Dutch as caretakers since the Dutch soldiers were needed to fight in a war elsewhere  The British rulers pulled down the fortifications and forced shipping to use Penang. Melaka was left to decay as the Dutch didn't have any further interests in coming back.The Brits were in charge until Malay independence mid 1900's. Well, that's it in a nutshell. Of course there is much more to the history than I have outlined and its here to be explored. Plenty of evidence remains of where the fort once stood and numerous museums tell the full story of how this towns history is played out through the ages.

A few photos of the towns long and not so long past, feels like being in 'Time Team' on occasions!


Excavations

The Only part not destroyed by the Brits


Dutch Influence


Replica



Right - the old sea wall: left - a shopping mall!

Was a tarmac car park

A Job for Time Team

Air Force Twin Pioneer

Dutch bricks on Portuguese bricks

Water monster looking for tasty bites....



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