ADMINISTRATION BY BRITISH

Mr. Stamford Raffles

    The British had gained control of Malacca in 1795 without any fighting. After the dominate of Malacca, the British were not interested in saving it, or fund the deployment of troops to defend Malacca attributable to temporary and must be returned to the Dutch after the war. Rather leave the city as strong without sufficient defence is inviting consequences to them if they are captured by the enemy.

Melaka with the fortress removed

   Mr. Robert Farquhar which is the Leutenant of Pulau Pinang and Governer of Melaka between 1803 until 1818 has made a proposal to destroy the city of A Famosa. In early 1804, he strongly suggested that Malacca need to remove from the earth and all the people of Melaka ordered transferred to Penang. 

    Then, Kota Famosa was destroyed to prevent it is dominated by the enemy. With the proposal, the British Government of India ordered A Famosa Fort, located in Bandar Hilir, Malacca destroyed. Fort A Famosa demolition work began on August 10, 1807.

Sources:-

http://www.arkib.gov.my/en/kota_afamosa;jsessionid=C25109D148D96775C00CA7D34507ABB4p_p_id=56_INSTANCE_H5gW&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&p_p_col_id=column-3&p_p_col_count=1&page=2

http://www.journeymalaysia.com/MHIS_malacca2.htm

THE CONQUEST OF KOTA A FAMOSA BY THE DUTCH

The Video shows the history during the conquest of Kota A Famosa by The Dutch

    Kota A Famosa built as sturdy that it helped the Portuguese to repel all forms of attack from the outside. To conquer Malacca, the Dutch team blockade the city for five months, while the residents that trapped inside have to eat the cat, rat, and in the case of a woman eating a dead baby.

 The Cats 

The Rats

    Finally, on January 14, 1641, the Dutch stormed through the door Santo Domingo Gate, which killed more than 7,000 people due to gun shots. Kota A Famosa severely damaged in combat has been improved while the Porta de Santiago which is the main door was replaced with the logo of the Dutch East India Company.

Porta de Santiago which is the only gate standing

    After taking over the city, the Dutch repair and modify, and put their arms on the gate which remains until now at the Porta de Santiago, the only door that survived, with the engraving "Anno 1670".

Sources:-

http://www.malacca.ws/attractions/a-famosa-melaka.htm

http://www.journeymalaysia.com/MHIS_malacca2.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5tZYsedxaw

UNIQUENESS OF A FAMOSA

    Initially, Albuquerque had wanted to use wood and stone, but then decided to build it entirely of stone as the material was easily available at the time. The fort was almost square in shape surrounded by stone walls standing 3.6 metres high and 2.4 metres thick. There were four entrances to the fort with the main door leading to a drawbridge crossing the river. It had eight towers standing 18-24 metres high with 4.5-metre thick walls. The lower level was where the accommodation for the soldiers and war horses were located for warfare. There were also paths between the control points for ease of movement in times of war.

The uniqueness of the structure of buildings :

1) Materials

• The materials to build the city were taken from the ruins of mosques and other buildings.

2) Modification

• The Dutch repair and modify, and put their arms on the gate which remains until now the Porta de Santiago, the only door that survived, with the engraving "Anno 1670".

The interior design in Kota A Famosa

Baluarte San Pedro

3) Interior decoration

• Kota A Famosa is equipped with four towers or ketelom (bastions) with a wall as thickness of 2.4 meters to 4.5 meters. The towers are known as Baluarte San Pedro, Baluerte de las Virgenes, Baluerte Madre de Dios, Baluerte Santo Domingo, and Baluerte de Santiago. It is also covered with seventy cannon in all directions.

4) Use past and present

• In the ancient times the building was used to defend Malacca. Now it serves as the domestic and international tourist attraction.

5) Method of construction

• Once they captured Malacca, Portuguese uses forced labour to build the temporary fortress to repel the attack from Malays.

6) The purpose of the building

• A Famosa fortress is built as their defence of Malacca. Portuguese colonists also make the Christian placement with 5 churches, places of worship, monasteries, hospitals and so on.

Sources:-

http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/malaysia/melaka/afamosa.php

http://pmr.penerangan.gov.my/index.php/budaya/3236-bangunan-bersejarah-di-melaka.html

DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE LOCATION IS??

Map location of Kota A Famosa

    A Famosa is located in Bandar Hilir, Malacca next to a replica of the Melaka Sultanate Palace and St. Paul's Church. 

Replica of the Melaka Sultanate Palace

Kota A Famosa

St. Paul's Church

    The fort of Porta De Santiago (A Famosa) is one of the oldest surviving European architectural remains in the whole of Asia. This tiny gate which we call A Famosa or Porta de Santiago is the last remains of what used to be a mighty fortress. It is currently demolished although there are ongoing efforts to reconstruct this fortress. It was controlled by the Portuguese from the year 1511 to 1641, Dutch from the year 1641 to 1795 and English from 1795 to the year when it was demolished. Then, Kota A Famosa is easy to find out because it is just located near to the others historical building in Malacca.

Source:-

http://www.google.com/searchhl=en&q=malacca%20sultanate%20palace&gbv=2&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi
http://www.google.com/searchq=st+paul+church+melaka&hl=en&gbv=2&um=1&tbm=isch&tab=wi&oq=st+paul+church&gs_l=img.1.2.0l9j0i10.30857.33856.0.36999
http://www.malacca.ws/attractions/a-famosa-melaka.htm

WHAT IS THE STORY BEHIND THE HISORY??

Chinese Admiral Cheng Ho

    

    According to records from the Chinese admiral Cheng Ho who visited Malacca in 1409, during the reign of the Malacca Sultanate, there was a city built by Raja Parameswara. The town is built from strong wood as a wall and has 4 doors. At night, it is always well-kept. Sultan build the city is to make a department for the store goods and the government treasury as well as defence against enemy attacks. This city continues to be improved from time to time by the Kings who replaced him.

Portuguese General
Alfonso de Albuquerque

    In a great battle with the Portuguese in 1511, this city cannot be destroyed by the enemy, and because of that Malacca was conquered by the Portuguese. Recognizing the importance of a stronger defence in Malacca, the Portuguese General, Alfonso de'Albuquerque has ordered to build a city. At first, Albuquerque is planning to build the city by using the wood and stone, however then the city is built entirely using stone because that is the material property at the time. As a result, he has ordered his forces and uses the 300-400 slaves’ of captive kings to build this city. Upon completion of the city and strong imposing at Bukit St. Paul , the name had be given as Kota Famosa which means “Transpire City”.

  Video about the Portuguese General Alfonso de Albuquerque

Sources :-

http://dukeamienerev.blogspot.com/2009/10/fakta-fakta-berkaitan-kota-famosa-yang.html
http://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Famosa
http://www.google.com/searchhl=en&q=chinese%20admiral%20cheng%20ho&gbv=2&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi
http://www.google.com/searchq=alfonso+de+albuquerque&hl=en&gbv=2&um=1&tbm=isch&tab=wi&oq=alfonso+de&gs_l=img.1.0.0l10.52331.57231.0.59100.33.14.0.0.0.0.705.2218.0j1j1j5-2j1.5.0....0...1ac.1.24.img..28.5.2218.lxuE4x3YZ8g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3sy_Fgfms0

WELCOME TO KOTA A-FAMOSA

    Malaysia is a country that has many tourist attractions. People can choose either they want to go to the sea, beach or the historical place. I’m Maizatul Akmar Binti Amiruddin feels like being called upon to talk about one of the historical places in Malaysia which is Kota A- Famosa located in Malacca. As we can see, nowadays people seems like they are never care about the story behind the history building of A-Famosa. So that, I created this blog as a medium to sharing some information about the unique historical places. This blog also prepared for Digital and Mobile Communication subject who is taught by Madam Nur Nubaillah.

The objectives of the blog are:

Kota A-Famosa building

• To provide the information to the society regarding the historical of Kota A-Famosa, Melaka, by prepared the reliable sources, shows the video or picture to make the society more appreciate what have the prior warrior have done before.
•  To introduce the unique of historical place that have their prior story to the all generation especially the new generation to give the awareness about hardship of the Malaysian warrior to achieve the Independence Day.
•  Help in the economic sector by promoting either to the international or in Malaysia more about the Kota A-Famosa that full with unique and historical place that will make the tourist attract to visit and explore the story behind the old buildings there.

    So, I hope that this blog can give a lot of information to people out there about the history of Kota A-Famosa. Moreover, this blog can created some value of civic for the all generation to appreciate the great sacrifice of warrior.

                                                        
                 A video shows about the buildings of Kota A-Famosa

Sources :-

http://www.google.com/searchq=kota+a+famosa+di+melaka&hl=en&gbv=2&um=1&tbm=isch&tab=wi&oq=kota+a+famosa+&gs_l=img.1.4.0l8j0i5l2.28711.31207.0.34239.19
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDWxXHPGXiY