Tracing Dutch Colonial History in Aruba: Fort Zoutman and Beyond

In early October 1799, a British naval officer was killed by a spoon. Not a bayonet or a cannonball — a spoon, fired from a cannon on the island of Aruba. The story sounds absurd, which is exactly why it sticks. That projectile came from Fort Zoutman, the oldest stone structure on the island, and the incident reveals something important about life on a small, isolated Dutch colonial outpost at the edge of the Caribbean. Supplies were scarce, threats were real, and the people defending this patch of coast had to improvise.

The fort sits in central Oranjestad, within walking distance of the cruise terminal and the main shopping streets. Most visitors spend about an hour touring the museum and climbing the Willem III Tower. But the site rewards a slower approach — especially if you time your visit for a Tuesday evening, when the courtyard fills with music, dance, and the smell of fried pastechi.

UNESCO’s designation is worth pausing over. Fort Zoutman is not just a military monument — it is officially recognized as a site connected to the transatlantic slave trade. The fort was built by enslaved Africans transported from Curaçao, and that labor is part of its foundation, both literally and historically. The designation, part of the Slave Route Project, adds a layer of accountability that many older colonial sites in the Caribbean still lack.

Building the Fort: Labor, Limestone, and Colonial Mandate

Fort Zoutman was constructed between 1796 and 1798 under orders from the Dutch colonial administration in Curaçao, which then governed Aruba as part of the Dutch Caribbean colonies. The site was chosen at the southeastern edge of Paardenbaai beach — a natural harbor that was vulnerable to pirate attacks and enemy naval incursions. The fort’s walls were built from local limestone, which makes up roughly 85 percent of Aruba’s geology, and from coral stone and timber brought to the site.

The labor force was not volunteer. Enslaved Africans were brought from Curaçao to build the fort, alongside Amerindians subjected to corvée labor. The Dutch West India Company directed the project. This was not unusual for Dutch Caribbean fortifications of the period, but it means that the fort’s history is inseparable from the forced migration and exploitation that built the colonial economy. The UNESCO recognition makes that connection explicit.

Architecturally, Fort Zoutman is a bastioned fortress — a polygonal layout with thick stone walls designed to provide overlapping fields of fire against naval attack. Four cannons faced the bay as a seaward deterrent. The design was typical of late-18th and early-19th-century coastal defense, and it reflects the military engineering standards of the Dutch colonial system.

The Incident of 1799: Two Versions of the Same Night

The 1799 confrontation between Fort Zoutman and HMS Surprise is the fort’s most famous military engagement, but the details are still debated. Two versions of the story exist in the historical record, and no single account has been universally accepted.

In both versions, HMS Surprise was hunting the HMS Hermione, a British ship that had been captured by Spanish forces in 1797 and renamed La Santa Cecilia. The Hermione was rumored to be anchored at Puerto Cabello in Venezuela, but Admiral Sir Edward Hamilton instead pursued ships anchored in Paardenbaai off Aruba in early October 1799.

Version one holds that Fort Zoutman’s defenders had gunpowder and fuse but no cannonballs — the ammunition was stored in Curaçao. With no proper projectiles, the cannons were loaded with improvised metal objects, including spoons. Hamilton’s first officer was struck and killed by one of these spoon projectiles, and HMS Surprise withdrew after his death.

Version two places Commander Borchard Specht at the fort’s cannons, firing grapeshot — clusters of small metal balls — rather than improvised objects. In this account, Hamilton lowered a longboat with himself, his first officer, and sixteen crew to attack the anchored ships and secure resources. Specht fired grapeshot from the fort’s cannons, killing the first officer. The longboat retreated, and HMS Surprise raised anchor and departed.

From Military Post to Museum: The Fort’s Second Life

By the mid-19th century, Fort Zoutman’s defensive role had diminished. Aruba was developing into a peaceful trade hub, and the threats that justified the fort’s construction had receded. The Willem III Tower was added between 1863 and 1868 to serve as a lighthouse — a sign that the fort’s purpose was shifting from military defense to navigation and commerce.

Over the following decades, the fort served as a military post, a jail, and a police outpost. By the mid-20th century it was in disrepair. A full restoration was completed in 1983, and the Historical Museum of Aruba opened inside the fort walls. The museum’s exhibits cover the island’s full timeline: pre-Columbian pottery and tools from the Caquetío people, artifacts from the colonial Dutch period, 19th and 20th-century clothing and household items, and displays on the gold rush and aloe cultivation that shaped Aruba’s economy.

The museum does not shy away from the slave trade. The UNESCO designation as a Place of Memory of the Slave Trade Route in the Latin Caribbean is noted in the exhibits, and the museum presents the fort’s construction by enslaved laborers as a central fact, not a footnote. That said, some critics argue that the museum could do more to foreground the perspectives and agency of enslaved and indigenous people, rather than framing the fort primarily through a Dutch colonial lens. The balance between preservation and critical interpretation remains an ongoing conversation among Aruban historians and cultural workers.

Bon Bini Festival: History as Living Practice

Every Tuesday evening, the courtyard of Fort Zoutman fills with music, dance, and food for the Bon Bini Festival. “Bon Bini” means “welcome” in Papiamento, the creole language spoken across Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire. The festival was created as a weekly showcase of Aruban folk culture, and it has become one of the most accessible entry points for visitors interested in the island’s living traditions.

The festival features live tumba music — a genre with roots in African and Caribbean traditions that is also central to Aruba’s annual Carnival — along with steel drum performances, folkloric dance troupes, and stalls selling local crafts and food. The setting inside the fort’s stone walls gives the event a specific atmosphere: the same parade ground where soldiers once drilled and cannons once fired is now filled with children dancing and families eating dinner.

The Bon Bini Festival is not a tourist fabrication. It grew out of local cultural initiatives aimed at preserving and presenting Aruban folk traditions, and it is attended by Arubans as well as visitors. That said, the festival does operate on a tourist-oriented schedule and is promoted heavily through the cruise industry. The balance between authentic community practice and commodified performance is a tension that runs through many Caribbean cultural festivals, and Bon Bini is no exception. The dancers and musicians are performing real traditions, but the setting and timing are shaped by tourism logistics.

Looking closer at how Fort Zoutman compares to other Dutch colonial forts in the Caribbean reframed the whole question of what these structures mean today.

Context and Comparison: Dutch Forts Across the Caribbean

Fort Zoutman was never the largest or most heavily armed Dutch fort in the region. The major Dutch colonial fortifications were concentrated in Curaçao, which served as the administrative and military hub of the Dutch Caribbean colonies. Comparing Fort Zoutman with its counterparts in Curaçao reveals differences in scale, strategic purpose, and preservation outcome.

Several patterns emerge from this comparison. First, Curaçao’s forts were built earlier and on a larger scale, reflecting its role as the colonial administrative center. Aruba, by contrast, was a smaller outpost, and Fort Zoutman was correspondingly modest. Second, preservation outcomes vary widely. Fort Zoutman benefits from a complete restoration and active cultural programming, while Fort Piscadera is now inaccessible to the public and Fort Waakzaamheid survives only in fragments. Third, the UNESCO designation sets Fort Zoutman apart — none of the Curaçao forts listed here carry a similar international recognition for their connection to the slave trade.

Questions Readers Ask

Is Fort Zoutman really the oldest building on Aruba?

Yes. Constructed between 1796 and 1798, it is the oldest standing structure on the island. No earlier European-built structures survive, and the pre-Columbian Caquetío sites are archaeological rather than standing architecture.

How much time should I plan for a visit?

One to two hours covers the museum and the Willem III Tower. If you attend the Bon Bini Festival on a Tuesday evening, plan for three to four hours total, including time for food and music in the courtyard.

Why is the fort a UNESCO site related to the slave trade?

UNESCO designated Fort Zoutman as a Place of Memory of the Slave Trade Route in the Latin Caribbean because the fort was built by enslaved Africans transported from Curaçao. The designation is part of UNESCO’s Slave Route Project, which identifies sites connected to the history of the transatlantic slave trade.

What is the Bon Bini Festival and when does it happen?

The Bon Bini Festival is a weekly cultural event held every Tuesday evening at Fort Zoutman. It features tumba music, folkloric dance, steel drums, local food, and handicrafts. “Bon Bini” means “welcome” in Papiamento. The festival runs year-round, though schedules can shift during holidays or special events.

Were there really no cannonballs in 1799?

That depends on which version of the story you accept. One account claims the fort had no cannonballs and used improvised metal objects including spoons. Another claims the defenders used standard grapeshot. The historical record does not definitively settle the question, and both versions have scholarly support.

What a Fort Reveals About an Island

Fort Zoutman is not a pristine monument to Dutch military engineering, nor is it a单纯 site of colonial violence. It is both at once — and the tension between those readings is what makes it worth engaging with carefully. The fort’s walls were built by enslaved people, its cannons fired on a British ship with improvised ammunition, its tower guided ships to a harbor that now hosts cruise liners, and its courtyard now hosts a weekly festival where Arubans dance to music rooted in the same African traditions that the slave trade tried to erase. That is not a contradiction to resolve. It is the story itself.

The fort also raises a broader question that applies beyond Aruba: how do you preserve a colonial structure without preserving the colonial mindset that built it? The museum and the UNESCO designation represent one approach — acknowledgment paired with reinterpretation. The Bon Bini Festival represents another — taking a space built for control and filling it with community life. Neither approach is complete on its own, but together they make Fort Zoutman one of the most instructive historical sites in the Caribbean for anyone trying to understand how places hold multiple, sometimes conflicting, histories at once.

For a deeper look at how Arubans preserve and pass down their stories beyond the museum walls, read about Aruban oral storytelling traditions.

Sources and further reading

Djispa Hari. “The Tale of Fort Zoutman: Colonial Defenses of the Dutch Caribbean.” 2023. 🔗

Aruba Papers. “Fort Zoutman: The Historic Heart of Aruba.” 2023. 🔗

Travels Reviewed. “Fort Zoutman: Aruba’s Fortress of History and Culture.” 2023. 🔗

Castlopedia. “Fort Zoutman.” 🔗

Related reading on IslandHopperGuides

Unearthing Aruba’s Colonial Past: From Dutch Forts to Plantation Stories — a broader look at how colonial-era sites across Aruba are being reinterpreted today.

Heartbeat of Aruba: Stories That Celebrate Island Heritage — profiles of the cultural practitioners keeping Aruban traditions alive.