Map for a new design of fort Nieuw Amsterdam

Title Leupe: Plan van het fortress Nieuw Amsterdam?

This ground plan of the Nieuw Amsterdam Fort was drawn when the first serious defects had come to light in the still uncompleted fort. In the soggy ground, much of the forts and its buildings began to sink, including the main sluice. The annotation on this anonymous map, which was sent to the Republic in 1741, for instance, mentions this in connection to the brick-clad passages through the walls near the bridge; the set-up inside the walls is mentioned only summarily.

At the end of 1733, an agreement between the Society of Surinam and representatives of the colonists to improve Surinam's defences was ratified by the Dutch Estates-General. This design would have been made as part of these plans shortly afterwards. The actual work began in 1736 and dragged on with numerous set-backs, conflicts and delays until 1747. Afterwards, the fort would remain problematic both in terms of maintenance and defence. (For more details on its building history, see under 'documentation', especially the book by Temminck Groll.)

North is left.