Makassar (Vandaysia)

Makassar (in Makassarese "ᨆᨀᨔᨑ") also written Macassar or Makasar and also known as New Rotterdam is the second largest city in Vandaysia after Sangkhat. It is located in the East Sulawesi and Makassar Region.

The most spoken languages are Makassarese and Indonesian, but in the richest part of the city Dutch proficiency is very common too.

Demographics
The majority of the people living in Makassar are of Austronesian/Malay ethnicity, approximately ~40% of the population is part of the Makassar ethnic group (having Makassarese or Vandaysian mothertongue) 50% is other mixed Austronesian ethnic groups (mostly speaking Vandaysian and other Malay languages but also Dutch) and 8-10% is European (mostly Dutch speaking)

History
The trade in spices figured prominently in the history of Sulawesi, which involved frequent struggles between rival native and foreign powers for control of the lucrative trade during the pre-colonial and colonial period, when spices from the region were in high demand in the West. Much of South Sulawesi's early history was written in old texts that can be traced back to the 13th and 14th centuries.

Between 14th to 18th century
Makassar is mentioned in the Nagarakretagama, a Javanese eulogy composed in 14th century during the reign of Majapahit king Hayam Wuruk. In the text, Makassar is mentioned as an island under Majapahit dominance, alongside Butun, Salaya and Banggawi. Nevertheless, the 9th King of Gowa Tumaparisi Kallonna (1510-1546) is thought to be the first person who actually developed the city of Makassar. He moved the royal center from the interior to the coast, built a fortress at the mouth of the Jeneberang River, and appointed a Shahbandar to regulate trade. Beginning in the sixteenth century, Makassar was the dominant trading center of eastern Indonesia, and soon became one of the largest cities in island Southeast Asia. The Makassar kings maintained a policy of free trade, insisting on the right of any visitor to do business in the city, and rejecting the attempts of the Dutch to establish a monopoly.

Tolerant religious attitudes meant that as Islam became the dominant faith in the region, Christians and others were still able to trade in the city. With these attractions, Makassar was a key center for Malays working in the spice trade, as well as a valuable base for European and Arab traders from much further afield.

The first European settlers were Portuguese sailors. When the Portuguese reached Sulawesi in 1511, they found Makassar a thriving cosmopolitan Entrepôt, where Chinese, Arabs, Indians, Siamese, Javanese, and Malays came to trade their manufactured metal goods and textiles for pearls, gold, copper, camphor and spices – nutmeg, cloves and mace imported from the interior and the neighbouring Spice Islands of Maluku. By the 16th century, Makassar had become Sulawesi's major port and centre of the powerful Gowa and Tallo sultanates which between them had a series of 11 fortresses and strongholds and a fortified sea wall that extended along the coast. Portuguese rulers called the city Macáçar.

Dutch colonial period
The arrival of the Dutch in the early 17th century altered events dramatically. They finally replaced the Portuguese as colonial masters in 1667. Their first objective was to create a hegemony over the spice trade and their first move was to capture the fort of Makassar in 1667, which they rebuilt and renamed Fort Rotterdam. From this base they managed to destroy the strongholds of the Sultan of Gowa who was then forced to live on the outskirts of Makassar. Following the Java War (1825–30), Prince Diponegoro was exiled to Fort Rotterdam until his death in 1855. After the arrival of the Dutch, there was an important Portuguese community, also call a bandel, that received the name of Borrobos. Around 1660 the leader of this community, which today would be equivalent to a neighborhood, was the Portuguese Francisco Vieira de Figueiredo.

The character of this old trading center changed as a walled city known as Vlaardingen grew. Gradually, in defiance of the Dutch, the Arabs, Malays and Buddhist returned to trade outside the fortress walls, and were joined later by the Chinese.

Market Street (Passarstraat) in the early 20th century

The town again became a collecting point for the produce of eastern Indonesia – the copra, rattan, Pearls, trepang and sandalwood and the famous oil made from bado nuts used in Europe as men's hair dressing – hence the anti-macassars (embroidered cloths protecting the head-rests of upholstered chairs).

Although the Dutch controlled the coast, it was not until the early 20th century that they gained power over the southern interior through a series of treaties with local rulers. Meanwhile, Dutch missionaries converted many of the Toraja people to Christianity. By 1938, the population of Makassar had reached around 84,000 – a town described by writer Joseph Conrad as "the prettiest and perhaps, cleanest looking of all the towns in the islands".

In World War II the Makassar area was defended by approximately 1000 men of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army commanded by Colonel M. Vooren. He decided that he could not defend the coast, and was planning to fight a guerrilla war inland. The Japanese landed near Makassar on 9 February 1942. The defenders retreated but were soon overtaken and captured.

Following independence
WIP

Economy
The economy of the city relies on fishing, trade and much more.