Fort Thomas or St. Thomas Fort or Fortaleza da São Tomé, also known as Tangasseri Fort, is a ruined

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

located in the beach town of

Tangasseri Tangasseri or Thangassery is a heavily populated beach area on the shores of the Arabian Sea in Kollam city, Kerala, India. Location Tangasseri is located about from the city centre and from Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. Archaeologi ...

on the shores of the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

in the city of Kollam, Kerala, India. It is located around from the city center of Kollam and from the state capital

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

History

Tangasseri was associated with the Chinese trade from the first millennium AD and later colonised by the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

and the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

to become the "gold village". According to Historians, Captain Rodriguez came to Quilon and was appointed as the captain of the

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. ...

and trade, with permission from the queen. St.Thomas Fort (once known as Fortaleza da São Tomé) was built by the Portuguese under

Afonso de Albuquerque Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa (; – 16 December 1515) was a Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across the Indian Ocean ...

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 Dutch Malabar (Dutch; ''Nederlandse Malabar''. Malayalam; ''ഡച്ച് മലബാർ''.) also known by the name of its main settlement Cochin, was the title of a commandment of the Dutch East India Company on the Malabar Coast between ...

. The Dutch occupied the fort for several years. In 1795, the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

took possession of the fort. In 1823 Fort St. Thomas accepted a lease by

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

from the British government for a period of twenty years. Fort St. Thomas was originally around tall. Today, the remains of the fort, popularly known as "Tangasseri fort" remain facing the beach. The government of India has taken over the fort and it is being considered an historical landmark. Restoration of the fort is ongoing. At present, the fort is managed by the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexand ...

(ASI).

Gallery

Thangassery Fort Right view.jpeg, Old – St.Thomas Fort – Right-view Thangassery Fort Kollam2.jpg, Right View Thangassery Fort Kollam1.jpg, Renovated St.Thomas Fort – Front-view Thangassery Fort Kollam - DSC03142.jpg, Back Side Entrance Thangassery Fort Kollam - DSC03149.jpg, Inside View Thangassery Fort Kollam - DSC03144.jpg, Main Wall Thangassery Fort Kollam - DSC03145.jpg, The Windows

References

External links

"Mining rampant at Tangasseri fort"

{{Kollam district Forts in Kerala Portuguese forts in India Buildings and structures in Kollam History of Kollam Colonial Kerala Dutch India Portuguese in Kerala Kingdom of Travancore 16th-century forts in India 1510s establishments in Portuguese India 1518 establishments in India Cities and towns in Kollam district Tourist attractions in Kollam Archaeological sites in Kerala Portuguese colonial architecture in India Monuments of National Importance in Kerala