Portuguese Forts in Asia #4: Mysterious Maubara

More forts which are Portuguese and are also in Asia!

Ah, but is it??? Portuguese, I mean. Obviously it's in Asia.
Ah, but is it in Asia? Oh puhleeease, let's not get into the Wallace line debate. Isn't that about fauna anyway?

Well, while those two sort that out, allow me bid you bemvindo to mysterious Maubara. What a cracking little fort it is too. Simple, square design. Looks to me like it was designed primarily for booty storage rather than defence. Imagine the sandalwood piled up in there circa 1680. Woo baby!

Incidentally, its a great little beach too. By chance, I met Kirsty Sword Gusmao there in 2005, when she was swimming there with her three lovely little kids (and a bodyguard or two). Turned out she knew my Timorese pal Alex from the resistance days, so we all had a chat.

Anyway: the mystery. What you need to know is that Maubara is west of Liquica - and that gets us into the ill-defined regions which were contested between the Dutch and Portuguese for some centuries. Therefore the crucial question is: is it of Portuguese, or Dutch provenance?




















The enclave of Maubara was certainly among those handed over to the Portuguese in an ill-advised trade, in which the Dutch got the entire islands of Flores and Solor. What a rip-off! That was Governor Lopes da Lima, who lives in infamy for his poor negotiating skills. That was in the 1850s, so one would presume this is originally Dutch. Also its rather regular looking, and frankly, the Portuguese were generally a bit more interesting in the main - although there's also the Batugade fort; which is not entirely dissimilar.

Anyhoo - fact is, no one can be precisely sure, since these sandalwood bearing enclaves passed between the two powers with great regularity in the 1600s. Bottom line is, its a nice little fort, with a full sea wall, which you can visit, and some more than satisfactory cannon stockades and old guns. So where the bloody hell are ya?! etc.