Manado

Manado lies on the northern coast of Sulawesi, looking across the sea towards the Sangihe Islands. Behind the coast rise the volcanic highlands of Minahasa and Lake Tondano. Its harbour and river mouth provided a meeting place for the communities of the interior and sailors travelling through the island seas. Spanish and Portuguese visitors reached Minahasa in the sixteenth century, and European powers later competed for influence along its coast. The Dutch began building a fort at Manado in the 1650s. In 1679 representatives of Manado and neighbouring communities concluded an agreement with the Dutch East India Company at Fort Amsterdam, formalising a relationship that shaped the region's later history.