Fort Santo Estevão (''Fortaleza de Santo Estevão'' in Portuguese) is a military structure erected in Santo Estevão Island, in Goa, by the Portuguese. Built on the highest point of Santo Estevão Island, it was originally built as a watchtower to guard the

Mandovi River The Mandovi (International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) or Mahadayi (International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ), formerly known as the Rio de Goa, is a river described as the lifeline of the Indian state of Goa. The Mandovi and the Zuari River, Zua ...

, in 1550. It was the easternmost defensive structure in the ''

Velhas Conquistas The ''Velhas Conquistas'' or "Old Conquests" are a grouping of the areas in Goa which were incorporated into Portuguese India in the early half of the sixteenth century AD. Goa, Daman and Diu comprised the last remaining Portuguese possessions in ...

''. After the first

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

incursions against Goa, in 1666-1668, The structure was expanded into a small fort.Nuno Miguel de Pinho Lopes: ''O Sistema Defensivo de Goa'', Universidade de Coimbra, 2017, pp.111-120. In 1683, the

Marathas The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

attacked Goa and managed to breach into the island of Santo Estevão because the corps of auxiliaries tasked with defending it fled from their enemy. The Marathas captured the fort and massacred its garrison. After the annexation of the

Novas Conquistas The Novas Conquistas or "New Conquests" are a group of seven ''concelhos'' (municipalities) of Goa and Damaon, officially known as Portuguese India. They were added into Goa in the 18th century AD, a comparatively later date than the original th ...

, the fort lost its military purpose. It was abandoned in 1811 by decree of the Viceroy of India Dom Bernardo José Maria da Silveira e Lorena.Joaquim Pedro Celestino Soares:
Bosquejo das possessoes portuguezas no Oriente ou resumo de algumas derrotas da India e da China
', Imprensa nacional, 1851, p.32. Restoration works were undertaken on the fort in 2012.

References

{{Forts and fortresses of the Portuguese empire , state=collapsed

Santo Estevão Santo ('saint' in various languages) may refer to: People * Santo (given name) * Santo (surname) * El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor * Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwadwo ...

Portuguese forts Portuguese forts in India

See also

References