Fortaleza de São Sebastião (Mozambique)
The fort São Sebastião is located at the northern tip of the island Ilha de Moçambique in Mozambique and is the oldest preserved in its original form fortress in Africa south of the Sahara .
The Portuguese began under Afonso de Albuquerque in 1508 with the construction of the "Fortress of Saint Sebastian". According to other sources, the current fortress was built between 1558 and 1620. The fortress later survived attacks by Arab Omani and Dutch in the 17th, British in the 18th, and French in the early 19th centuries. Inside the fortress there are cannons from the early 19th century, a church, a historic hospital and drinking water cisterns . On a tiny island off the southern tip, another fortress, the Fortim de São Lourenço da Ilha de Moçambique, was built in 1707 .
Overview map from 1810 of the waters around the Ilha de Moçambique
The fortress seen from the seaside
Church inside the fortress
entrance
Fortress wall from the sea side
Cannon and view from the fortress
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Web links
- Entry of the São Sebastião fortress in the Portuguese SIPA list of monuments
Coordinates: 15 ° 1 ′ 44.1 ″ S , 40 ° 44 ′ 37.7 ″ E