India · 16th century
Pallippuram Fort or (Paleport Castelo em Cima) is a fort in Pallippuram, Vyppin, Ernakulam district of Kerala, south India. It was built by Portuguese sailors on 27 September, 1503 using just timber wood, and later renovated in 1505 by replacing timber structure with stone. It is the oldest existing European fort in India. The Dutch captured the fort in 1663 and sold it to the Kingdom of Travancore in 1789. The fort is situated in the northern extremity of Vypeen island and is hexagonal in shape, a form popularly known as ayikkotta or alikotta.
Text adapted from “Pallipuram Fort” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Pallipuram Fort ranks #3,361 of 9,035 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #132 of the 223 mapped in India. Founded 1503, it is older than 42% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 886 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how India compares in the castle statistics.
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