Fort San Domingo stands on a hill above the Tamsui River estuary in New Taipei City, but the name can mislead first-time visitors. The Spanish established a fort called San Domingo at Tamsui in 1628; the local museum says it was later demolished by the Spanish before Dutch forces expelled them in 1642. The structure visitors see today is not that surviving Spanish building. The Dutch built Fort Antonio nearby, and the historic museum uses “Fort San Domingo” for the wider heritage site while identifying the red-brick fortress itself as Fort Antonio. That distinction turns a familiar colonial label into a more precise introduction to the site’s layered history.
The first Dutch Fort Antonio was completed in November 1642 using earth and bamboo, materials that soon suffered in the rain and fires. A replacement began in April 1644 and was completed in March 1646 after difficult shipping and weather. The museum describes the square fort as roughly 36 feet on each side, with walls about six feet thick; stone, brick and tile formed the principal structure, and lime was brought from Tainan. The core has survived. Its local nickname, Hongmao Cheng—“Red Hair Fort”—refers to the term locals used for the Dutch, and remains the name many people in Taiwan use today.
