The Portuguese Empire, under the Crown of Portugal was founded seven years after the discovery of the first sea route to Calicut, Malabar area of (present day Kerala) of Indian subcontinent by Vasco da Gama in May 1498. It provided them unopposed ses route to access Kerala's rich spices. Later, the center of Portuguese power and administration in the settlement took care of several maritime and military ports scattered along the west coast of India. Their increasing presence became a cause of concern for the native rulers and the other European colonists, in particular, England.
 |
| Fort_São_Jerónimo/ Ft. Jerome, India en.wikipedia.org |
Fort_São_Jerónimo or Fort São Jerónimo, a former Portuguese fortress is on the bank of the Daman Ganga River, on the coast of the Gulf of Khambat. It was the former parish of Damão Pequeno, in Daman (now the Union territory of India), once under the Portuguese colonists, The Portuguese were facing constant threats from the Mughal army in 1611 and also from the competitors Dutch India company and the East India company. They already faced invasions from other local rulers. The Portuguese were prompted to build a strong fort to safeguard their trade posts and operations in other areas in the future. The Portuguese Naval forces attacked the ships coming from Jeddah. (Saudi Arabia) and imprisoned the cargo ships from Surat (Gujarat) and this provoked the Mogul ruler who was keen to teach a lesson or two to the Europeans.
D |
| Damen Fort, Portuguese colony, India, en.wikipedia,org |
 |
| Dom Jerónimo de Azevedo |
Above image: Dom Jerónimo de Azevedo (Estate of Barbosa, Entre-Douro-e-Minho, Portugal, circa 1560 - Lisbon, São Jorge Castle, 1625) was a Portuguese fidalgo, Governor (captain-general) of Portuguese Ceylon and Viceroy of Portuguese India. He was the 20th Viceroy of Portuguese India and assumed office in December, 1612. image. Pradeep........
With the population on the increase, the Portuguese settlers made up their mind to focus more on the tradem welfare and safety of the increasing population in Daman. The present fort was beefed up to support the defense of this region along with other forts on the other side of the river Damanganda.
Viceroyalty of Dom Jerónimo de Azevedo took the step quickly with adequate planning and the work began in 1615, under the guidance of Chief engineer Júlio Simão. The Jesuits of the local missions took the responsibility of managing the fortification works in Daman despite their other responsibility. The fort was almost completed in 1827 and finally with additional facilities in 1698 the garrison with a capacity for about 400 soldiers got ready. Later in 1808 about 631 residents were allowed to reside in fort São Jerónimo. Inside fort the of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Seas (Nossa Senhora dos Mares Portugues Tortres) came up for the residents.
According to historians, the frightful public capital punishment had been in force in the Portuguese settlement for some time and it was here the last public execution was carried out before it was abolished for good.
The plan of the fort is triangular - 132 meters long with high walls on the two smaller sides and 143 meters on the longer one. The fort was built on sturdy a foundation for durability with thick entry doors. On the tall entrance doors over the arch a niche has an image of Saint Jerome, crowned by the Portuguese coat of arms and a cross. The wooden doors are fixed with sharp spikes, perhaps to prevent war elephants jamming the door.
The fort was carefully planned to successfully confront the enemy attacks from the land and other sides. The bastions at top were built as per fort design norms at strategic locations. Some bastions have triangular plan to resist the raiding army carefully. Self contained, inside the fort, they had built enough storage space for arms and ammunitions and comfortable barracks for the soldiers. To slow down the progress of the offensive army on the move, they built a moat all around.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort
.jfif)
.jfif)
, Daman former Portuguese Colony, India: Built to defend against Mogul army and others){kind=link}