Rachol Fort

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Arch of Rachol Fort

The Fort of Rachol was located in the village of Rachol, Salcette municipality, in the state of Goa on the west coast of India.

History[]

It was originally erected by the Sultanate of Bijapur, then ruled by Ismail Adil Shah, to defend the left bank of the river Zuari. Conquered in 1520 by Krishnaraya, the emperor of the Vijayanagara kingdom, he gave this in the same year to the Portuguese in exchange for protection against the northern Muslims.^[1]

Occupied by Portuguese forces, it was renovated and rebuilt, and two bastions were added in 1604. Between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it had a hundred pieces of artillery, a significant number for those times.

After the siege that was imposed by the Maratha leader Sambaji in 1684, it was remodeled as decided by the Viceroy of Portuguese India, Dom Francisco de Tavora, 1st Earl of Alvor, as epigraphic inscription, which reads:

"THE EARL OF ALVOR, VICEROY OF INDIA, ORDERED THIS FORTRESS'S RENOVATION AFTER DEFENDING THE SIEGE OF SHAMBAJI, ON 22 1684. APRIL"

It underwent a new reform campaign in 1745, on the order of Pedro Miguel de Almeida Portugal e Vasconcelos, the first Marquis of Alorna.

The fort's cannons were later sent to other forts and abandoned as a military post.^[2]

This fort is currently severely ruined, but one can still see the old gate of arms surmounted by the coat of arms of the Portuguese monarchy, and some sections of the walls and the moat.

Its gate has been a monument protected by the government of Goa, Daman and Diu since 1983.

References[]