It is one of the oldest colonial sites in Suriname, dating back to a trading-post in the early 17th century. The English built the first fort, Willoughby, here, when Suriname was part of the British Empire. The Dutch renamed it Zeelandia, after Suriname was exchanged for the New Netherlands colony. It was rebuilt in the 1740’s. In a more recent past, Fort Zeelandia was the site where the notorious ‘December murders’ took place.
