Batavia Castle

Batavia Castle (Dutch Kasteel Batavia) was a fort located at the mouth of Ciliwung River in Jakarta. Batavia Castle was the administrative center of Dutch East India Company in Asia. Batavia Castle was also the residence of the Governor-General, the highest VOC official in the East Indies who chaired the Council of the Indies, the executive committee that took the decisions in the East Indies.

Pieter Both, the first elected Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, appointed Captain Jacques l'Hermite to acquire a 2,500 square vadem (10,000 square yards) of land in Jayakarta in order to establish a VOC loge (trading post). The request was granted by Prince Jayawikarta, the ruler of Jayakarta, under a large sum of money (1200 real). This land is located on the eastern bank of Ciliwung near the Chinese quarter. In 1612, the Dutch built a loge, a huis, and a factorij on this land; altogether known as Nassau Huis. This agreement was maintained during the governance of Governor-General Gerard Reynst and later Laurens Reael.

When Jan Pieterszoon Coen became the Governor-General of Dutch East Indies, he built another loge to the east of Nassau Huis in 1617, named Mauritius. In 1618, Coen built a slipway, a hospital, and masonry cannon ex-placements that supplemented the cannons to these loge on the island of Onrust. Later, Coen fortified the two houses into a square fort surrounded with solid stone wall of 9 feet tall and 6 to 7 feet thick, as well as equipping it with cannons. This new fort building was known as Fort Jacatra. When Coen sailed to Ambon, Pieter de Carpentier took over the position of Governor-General temporarily and was responsible in managing Fort Jacatra. This new situation created a tension between VOC and Prince Jayawikarta.

...
Wikipedia