Anchuthengu Fort

The fort was the East India Company's first permanent post on the Malabar Coast. In November 1693, John Brabourne was sent by the British East India Company (EIC) to Attingal, where he obtained from Rani Ashure a grant of a site for a fort on the sandy spit of Anchuthengu (then known as Anjengo), together with the monopoly of the pepper trade of Attingal. The EIC commenced construction in January 1696.

In June 1696 British pirates in the ketch Josiah under Robert Culliford, destroyed the Bengal Pilot Service's sloop Gingali (or Gingalle) at Anjengo.

While construction was ongoing the Dutch lobbied the Rani against the fort's construction, as it would impact adversely on their own trade on the Malabar coast. She ordered Brabourne to stop building but he ignored her orders. The Rani then tried to starve out the British by cutting off supplies; but as they could be supplied from the sea, the land blockade proved ineffectual. She then sent an armed force against Brabourne but he defeated it and a peace was arranged.

The fort was completed in 1699, and a flourishing trade in pepper and cotton cloth speedily grew up. The fort served as the first signaling station for ships arriving from Britain.

The fort is 256 ft (78.0 m) square, with four bastions, each of which mounted eight 18-pounder guns. The walls between the bastions had seven or eight guns. In addition, there was a battery of some twenty 18&24-pounder guns facing the sea. The fort had a garrison of 400 Europeans and 70-80 topasses. Originally Anjengo was second in importance to the EIC only to Bombay Castle.

Of more importance than the attack in 1697 was the incident at Attingal and subsequent siege in April 1721. Brabourne remained in charge of the fort until 1704 when, following the death of his wife, who was buried at the fort, he was succeeded by Simon Cowse.

Text adapted from “Anchuthengu Fort” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Anchuthengu Fort ranks #3,271 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #122 of the 172 mapped in India. Founded 1699, it is older than 23% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 580 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,365 times in the last 60 days, more than 57% of the atlas. See how India compares in the castle statistics.

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