The physical remains and extensive historical documentation of fortified settlements across a large swathe of southern Maluku has gone unnoticed by scholars. On the basis of historical accounts and images, I have constructed a detailed picture of the ‘southern Maluku village fortification pattern’ which was once typical of settlements in the region. Using evidence from language, I show that stone building was an indigenous tradition in the southeastern corner of Indonesia which subsequently was extended to stone fortifications around villages, which spread across southern Maluku. I suggest that the fortification of settlements was triggered here in the first half of 17th century by a climate of fear arising from the 1621 Banda massacre perpetuated by the Dutch.