St Thomas Fort

Fort Thomas or St. Thomas Fort or Fortaleza de São Tomé, also known as Tangasseri Fort, is a ruined fort located in the beach town of Tangasseri on the shores of the Arabian Sea in the city of Kollam, Kerala, India. It is located around 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the city center of Kollam and 71 kilometres (44 mi) from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.

Tangasseri was associated with the Chinese trade from the first millennium AD and later colonised by the Portuguese, Dutch and the British to become the "gold village". According to Historians, Captain Rodriguez came to Quilon and was appointed as the captain of the factory and trade, with permission from the queen. St.Thomas Fort (once known as Fortaleza de São Tomé) was built by the Portuguese under Afonso de Albuquerque for the protection of the newly developed trade. In 1505 the Portuguese established a trading port here, and in 1518 established its sovereignty through the construction of Fort St. Thomas. Later in 1661 the town and the fort were handed over to the Dutch who made it the capital of Dutch Malabar.

The Dutch occupied the fort for several years. In 1795, the British East India Company took possession of the fort. In 1823 Fort St. Thomas accepted a lease by Travancore from the British government for a period of twenty years.

Fort St. Thomas was originally around 20 feet (6.1 m) tall. Today, the little remains of the fort, popularly known as "Tangasseri fort" remain facing the beach. At present, the fort is managed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

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

St Thomas Fort ranks #4,152 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #144 of the 179 mapped in India. Founded 1518, it is older than 44% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 755 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. See how India compares in the castle statistics.

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