Fort Emmanuel
Fort Emmanuel (also: Fort Emanuel, Fort Manuel or Fort Immanuel) is a ruined fortress on Fort Kochi Beach in Kochi (Cochin), Kerala , India . It is named after Manuel I , King of Portugal , and was the first Portuguese fortress in Asia . The first part of the current place name Fort Kochi refers to this fortress. Fort Kochi is also known as Old Kochi or West Kochi and connects to Mattancherry to the north . This old town is today a center of tourism in South India due to its beach, historical architecture and many dining facilities .
history
In September 1503 the Raja (King) of Kochi gave the Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque permission to build a fortress on the coast of the Arabian Sea . Construction began on September 26th, and "it was shaped like a square with flanking bastions at the gun-studded corners". The ramparts consisted of double rows of coconut palm trunks , which were firmly connected and filled with pounded earth. The fortress was also protected by a moat . The fort was inaugurated on the morning of October 1, 1503 and named after the then King of Portugal.
The fortress was on the seaside of a peninsula southwest of mainland Kochi. The fortifications were reinforced in 1538. The Portuguese built their settlement, including the Franciscan Church, under the protection of the fortress walls. Fort Kochi remained in Portuguese ownership until 1663 when the Dutch conquered the area and destroyed Portuguese facilities. The Dutch owned the fort until 1795, later the British took over after their victory over Tipu Sultan . By 1806, the Dutch, and later the British, had dismantled most of the fortress walls and bastions. The earlier course of the walls can now be traced through a series of now very tall rain trees.
In Old Kochi and next to Fort Kochi Beach there is a partially restored gun battery and other remains of ramparts and fortifications that are now tourist attractions.
Remains of the old fortifications of Fort Emmanuel
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ William Logan: Malabar. District Manual . Asian Educational Services, 1887
Coordinates: 9 ° 57 '58.7 " N , 76 ° 14' 20.8" E