Gowa's capital
A great trading port.
Si Gam — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Torbenbrinker — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jakob van der Schley / Pieter de Hondt — Public domain
The ruins of the old capital of the Gowa sultanate, the great fortress that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was one of Southeast Asia's key trading ports, visited by Malay, Arab, Portuguese and Chinese merchants, until the Dutch destroyed it in 1669 after a long war with Sultan Hasanuddin. Only parts of its red-brick walls survive, but the site has become a cultural park with life-size replicas of the traditional houses of South Sulawesi's peoples, from the wooden stilt houses of the Bugis and Makassar to Toraja houses with boat-shaped curved roofs. Entry is usually free; the site is quiet and spacious, though some houses need upkeep. It suits lovers of history and traditional architecture, and pairs with the Balla Lompoa Museum and Sultan Hasanuddin's tomb in nearby Gowa for a half-day tour.
A great trading port.
Seventeenth-century ruins.
Bugis and Toraja.
South Makassar, near the mouth of the Jeneberang River
The seventeenth-century sultan of Gowa who long resisted the Dutch, earning the name Rooster of the East; today a national hero whose name Makassar's airport bears.