During the Fourth Anglo Dutch War (1780-1784) the Estates General of the Netherlands decided to send a navy squadron under command of captain J.P. van Braam to the East Indies. The warships arrived in Batavia in March 1784. The war between the two countries was already over, but the navy arrived just in time to relieve Malacca, which was besieged by the Bunginese. The ships left to the Lingga-Riau archipelago where the Buginese forts were attacked and destroyed. The Sultan of Lingga-Riau signed a treaty, which gave the Dutch permission to build a fort on Bintang island. In 1795 the Dutch left the island under threat of an English invasion and left the fort to the Sultan.
On November 1818 a Dutch navy squadron under command of rear admiral C.J. Wolterbeek arrived before Riau. The sultan signed a treaty with the Dutch , which included the rebuilding of the demolished fort. After various problems, the fort was only completed in 1824. Fort Kroonpins (Crown Prince), which had an irregular shape, was surrounded by a moat. The house of the commanding officer and the hospital stood outside the walls. The remains that can still be seen today are those of the 19th century fortification.
