Kerala’s forts – St Anjelo’s Fort
St. Angelo’s Fort located in Kannur was built by the first Portuguese Viceroy, Don
Francisco De Almeida in 1505. It is a monument with a lot of history behind it.
It is now a protected monument, and was declared so by the Archaeological
Survey of India. This fort, facing the Arabian Sea, has massive walls and a deep moat. It is also known as Kannur Fort. From the Moppila Bay, a fishing harbour close by, you can also get a classic view of Dharmadam Island a hundred metres from the shore.
The fort three km from Kannur town and was captured and owned by different people in its history. In 1663 the Dutch captured it and they sold it to the Arakkal Royal Family in 1772. And in 1790 the British captured it and transformed it into one of their main military stations on the Malabar Coast.
You can imagine the importance and fame of this fort-you can see, in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, a painting of this fort and the fishing ferry behind it.
Visitors to this fort can have a glimpse of Kerala’s history. Among the other places
to see near the fort is the Arakkal Mosque. It is open on all days from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Kannur railway station is only three km from the fort and the nearest airport is at Karipur.
Sathyan Edakkad has written a Malayalam book Vasco da Gamayum Charitrathile Kaanapurangalum (Vasco da Gama And The Unseen Pages of History), where he describes the fort’s history.
