Fort St.Geoge, one of the oldest British monuments, Mumbai


Fort St. George - Bombay

Fort St. George - Bombay, extension to the fortified wall. in.search.yahoo.com
St. George Fort built in 1769 at the site of the Dongri Fort,  in the Fort area of Mumbai, Maharastra, India  is one of the earlier forts built by the British who first landed in India in 1600s with the main intention to engage in maritime trade.  It is  a damaged structure now and was built as an extension of the fort area. Named in honor of  King George III, the fort was constructed not only to safeguard the British interest in this part of India , but also to beef up defense against  possible French attack during the reign of  Napoleon Bonaparte. The British, few centuries ago, never had good relationship with the French  and had to compete with them in their maritime mercantile trading activities where ever they expanded their trade. Though the British defeated the French  and established their supremacy in the later years, the Maratha rulers - Peshwas  continued to pose threats to them. The British became a dominant military and administrative authority only after the decline of Maratha rulers.
 

The fort  once covered a large area of about 1.6 kilometers in length and 500 meters in breadth. The British mainly used the fort to store arms and ammunition for military and civil purposes. The end of Sepoy mutiny (1857 to 1859) saw the end of East India company and direct establishment of the British Crown. Three years later  the fort was pulled down (1862-65) by the British Raj under Sir Barter Fier  (1862-65) for the simple reason that the British had  no longer needed the fort for defense. St. George Hospital was built  at the fort site  between 1889 and 1892 and its remains can  be seen today. Among the many British monuments in Mumbai , this old  monument reminds us of how successfully the English established their hegemony in the early part of their stay in India through careful planning and military power long before their complete take over of the Indian subcontinent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_George,_Bombay