India · 17th century
Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress at the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further settlements and trading activity, in what was originally an uninhabited land. Thus, it is a feasible contention to say that the city (named Madras since before the arrival of the Europeans until July 1996) evolved around the fortress. The fort currently houses the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly and other official buildings.
Text adapted from “Fort St. George” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Fort St. George ranks #411 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #16 of the 224 mapped in India. Founded 1639, it is older than 28% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 721 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 10,614 times in the last 60 days, more than 94% of the atlas. See how India compares in the castle statistics.
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