The old fort in Malacca was constructed in 1511 by the Portuguese following their conquest of Malacca. Called ‘A Famosa’, meaning ‘the famous’ in Portuguese, the original structure had four main towers and was constructed with stones. The Dutch took over the fort after driving the Portuguese out of Malacca in 1641 and renovated the main gate of the fortification in 1670. The British formally occupied Malacca from 1795 to 1814 after France invaded Holland during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. During this period of British administration, orders were given in 1805 to move Malacca’s existing population to the British trade settlement in Penang and destroy the fort so that rival powers would not be able to use it. William Farquhar led the destruction of the fort in 1807. In 1808, Stamford Raffles submitted a report to the East India Company in London and to Lord Minto that argued against the destruction of Malacca’s public buildings and the transportation of its people, which led to both being halted.
