Map of fort Nieuw Amsterdam

Title Leupe: Plan van het fortress Nieuw Amsterdam.

This map by Johann Friedrich Ferdinand Wollant belongs to a series in cipher (see VEL2007A and 2076-2078), which was made in 1781 on the orders of Governor Texier after the outbreak of war with Great Britain had become known in Suriname, as part of a general defence plan for the colony. Primarily the improvements proposed included the strengthening and expansion of the seaward-facing batteries and the redans, simple two-faced small fieldworks in the outer wall. Wollant also wanted to have an extra moat with barricades placed on the muddy banks in front of them along the eastern flank and an extra redoubt at the landing place on the southern side of the new outer battery on the side of the Surinam River, as shown respectively in the bottommost and top profile drawings. In the next years up to 1784, most of these and other suggestions in his plan were indeed partly or completely built, although the armaments on the outer wall and the redans on the river side remained largely insufficient.

North is lower left.

Scale-bar of 100 rods of 12 Rhineland feet = [approximately 1 : 1,900] / [profiles] 20 rods of 12 Rhineland feet = [approximately 1 : 390].