Tellicherry Fort is a fortress located in

Thalassery Thalassery () (also called Tellicherry) is a city and municipality on the Malabar Coast in Kannur district in the state of Kerala, India, bordered by the districts of Mahe and Kozhikode. Thalassery municipality has a population of just under ...

(Tellicherry), a town in

Kannur District Kannur () is one of the 14 Districts of Kerala, districts along the west coast in the state of Kerala, India. The city of Kannur is the district headquarters and gives the district its name. The old name, Cannanore, is the anglicized form of th ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

state,

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

. Thalassery was one of the most important European trading centers in Kerala. The Fort lies on a group of low wooden hills running down to the sea and is protected by natural waters. It has been the main outlet for the rich spices, hill products, and timber of the vast hinterland. The French were the first to engage in trading at Tellicherry, establishing a stronghold at Mahé, Puducherry, 5 km south of Tellicherry town. Toward the end of the 17th century, 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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

opened a factory north of Tellicherry. Later, they obtained a site from Vadakkelamkur, the de facto ruler of Kolathunad, and established a factory at Tellicherry in 1708. However, the Udayamangalam branch of the Kolathiri family and Korangoth Nair, the local chieftain, resented this action and launched an attack, causing serious damage to English property. In order to safeguard their trade activities, with the support of the Kolathiri Raja, they built a fort around the outlying hills of Tellicherry. The French occupation of Mahé in 1725 compelled the British Company to strengthen the fortification to establish a stronghold on the

Malabar Coast The Malabar Coast () is the southwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. It generally refers to the West Coast of India, western coastline of India stretching from Konkan to Kanyakumari. Geographically, it comprises one of the wettest regio ...

. In 1736, the British took possession of Dharmadam Island. They maintained a strong military establishment at Tellicherry from 1776 to 1784. In 1781,

Hyder Ali Hyder Ali (''Haidar'alī''; ; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the attention of Mysore's ...

, ruler of the

Kingdom of Mysore The Kingdom of Mysore was a geopolitical realm in southern India founded in around 1399 in the vicinity of the modern-day city of Mysore and prevailed until 1950. The territorial boundaries and the form of government transmuted substantially ...

, unsuccessfully attempted to capture the Fort during his campaign to control Malabar. His successor,

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (, , ''Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu''; 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799) commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery ...

, was forced to cede the

Malabar District Malabar District, also known as British Malabar or simply Malabar was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792–1800), Madras Presidency (1800–1950) and finally, Madras State (1950–1956) in ...

to the British in 1792, at the conclusion of the

Third Anglo-Maratha War The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire, Maratha Confederacy in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an in ...

. The Tellicherry fort, overlooking the sea, rises to a height of 10m and is oblong in plan. It was built out of

laterite Laterite is a soil type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and prolo ...

blocks with high round-holed walls and strong flanking bastions. Although the small redoubts on most of the outlying hills have long since disappeared, the Tellicherry fort is in a fair state of preservation. The square fort, with its massive walls, strong flanking bastions, secret

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

s to the sea, and intricately carved huge doors, is an imposing structure. A lighthouse marks the site of an old redoubt. The fort was once the nucleus of Thalassery's development. Tellicherry was also famous for the cricket matches played between Europeans and local teams near the seashore, which used to attract enormous crowds during those days. This is a centrally protected monument under the control of 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 Alexander ...

since 1921.

References

External links

1708 establishments in the British Empire Forts in Kerala Mysorean invasion of Malabar Tourist attractions in Kannur district Archaeological sites in Kerala Buildings and structures in Thalassery Monuments of National Importance in Kerala Star forts {{india-struct-stub

See also

References

External links