Malaysian Famous Sight (A Famosa)

A Famosa or ‘The Famous’, in Portugese, is a fortress located at Malacca, Malaysia. Built by the Portugese, it is among the oldest surviving European architecture remains in Asia. Only a tiny gate called Porta De Santiago is all that is left of a once mighty fortress.



In 1511 Portuguesse fleet arrived under the command of Alfonso De Albuquerque. His forces attackes and succesfully defeated the armies of the Melaka Sultanate. Moving quickly to consolidate his gains, Albuquerque had the fortress buit around a natural hill near the sea. Albuquerque believed that Melaka would become an important port linking Portugal to the spice trade from China. At this time other Portugese were establishing outposts in such places as Macau, China and Goa, India in order to creata to string of friendly ports for ships headins to China and returning home to Portugal.