Information on Belapur Fort (Mumbai, Maharashtra) - History & Architecture

Belapur Fort is a marvelous hilltop fort. It is a 454 years old fortress built by the Siddhi tribal's of the Jinjira. This is an important fort in the history of colonial era and Maratha Kingdom. This is a wonder full architecture made of stones located in the creeks of Palm Beach Road, Belapur City, Navi Mumbai of Maharashtra State in India.

Belapur Fort Architecture

Belapur Fort is built over a hillock beneath the estuary lands of Belapur. The Siddhi tribal's had built it as a defensive fort to safe guard their community interest. There is no special designs dealt with their community but has the Indian fort designs of the medieval era. It is well surrounded with sea rocks and estuary sands. This makes it little bit inaccessible to this fort area. Since, during high tide it is always surrounded with saline water. It has also got many sea weeds surrounded by it, which are very thick and dense around this fortification. This fort is totally made of granite blocks and lime stones. Its ramparts are very strongly built. This holds the mound of many artillery holes and gaps. These are very beautifully designed. Its gate way is an arched entrance of massive stone blocks. This has very good curved bastions to support its walls. On the inner side of this fort is found with many pillared complexes. There are many residential complexes here meant for the tribal community. It has got a very good granary and other storage areas built very strongly. The inner complexes are built in Cyclopean masonry, which is an uneven laying of stone blocks in different size and shape in a structure. This is mostly found in the ancient Greek architecture. These are very wonder full to look if noticed in varying size of stones. It is a difficult part of a mason to do this job and require special skills to place these uneven stones. The fort ramparts and the inner complexes have many observation gaps, these are mostly in a square shapes. Its doors and pillars are designed in the Indian traditional style of construction.

Belapur Fort History

Belapur Fort is the only fort built by a minority ethnic people in India. They were known as the Siddhis. These peoples came to the Indian sub continent from the long back of medieval time by the Arabs and portages as slaves to work in their ships which traveled to India for trade purposes. These peoples were left here for unforeseen reason like local conflicts on arrival at sea shores and unable to return to their mother and settled here. Or these peoples were totally ignored by the owners who never made them to return back. These slave peoples are majorly from the African continents. This fort was built in the year 1560 AD and took a decade time to complete its full structure. From 1570 AD these tribal's dominated this area and the beneath village known as Killa Gaothan. But they were defeated by the Portuguese troops and were detained from this fort in 1682 AD. This fort was under the attack of the Marathan Empire. The Chimnaji Appa, a commander in the Maratha Kingdom captured this fort in the year 1733 AD by defeating the Portugal colonialist. In 1817 AD the British East India Company took over this fort from the Marathas and destroyed few main structures so as to not get in favor of the Marathas once again.

Belapur Fort Tourism Importance

Belapur Fort in Navi Mumbai is a clean and neat fort with naturally picturesque surroundings. This is a great place to see for its architecture and history. It is well maintained by the Archeological department and preserves it as a heritage monument in Maharashtra. Even after so many years, the fort is well maintained and carries long history that portrays the long glorious past of India. It would be wonderful experience to visit this fort as one can unveil and see how the fort has survived over the years and how the rulers over the years manipulated according to their will and whim. So in order to feel the essence of historical beauty and architectural significance, visit this heritage fort and witness the past that is enliven by the heritage Belapur Fort.