Engelbert Kaempfer’s 17^th Century Plan of the Fortress of Qeshm: Translation and Insights for a Reassessment of the Fortress of Hormuz

Since the beginning of the 16^th century, the Portuguese built fortifications on strategic territories of the Strait of Hormuz, which were brought under their dominion and used as a basis to act upon the Indian Ocean commercial routes, secure this node and its bordering zones. The three main islands and their fortresses at the entrance of the Persian Gulf – Hormuz, Qeshm, and Larak – form an insular triangle that guaranteed the Portuguese presence for more than one century. However, the latter two have constantly been interpreted as satellites of Hormuz, and, as a result, their potential architectural associations have been overlooked. This article proposes an analysis and a hitherto missing translation of Kaempfer’s plan of the fortress of Qeshm (ca.1683–85), enunciating a setting for comparison with Erédia’s plan of the fortress of Hormuz (ca.1610). Due to a lack of extant literature on space allocation in Hormuz, the chosen path was to reassess it by examining the layout composition of the fortress of Qeshm. Employing guidelines from Kaempfer’s drawing, since it also bears witness to the transition to bastioned fortification, concordant elements and similar spatial arrangements in both plots are highlighted. This points out the necessary consideration of Hormuz not as an isolated architectural accomplishment but as material proof that European theoretical backgrounds faced local constructive and technical modifications during cultural encounters.