Fort Emmanuel

Fort Emmanuel, additionally known as Fort Manuel, is a ruined citadel located at Fort Kochi seaside in Kochi, Kerala, India. Named after Manuel I, the king of Portugal, it became the first Portuguese fortress in Asia. The first part of the prevailing call of the vicinity - Fort Kochi - comes from this fortress. Fort Kochi is also called Old Kochi or West Kochi, adjoining to Mattancherry. In September 1503 the leader of Kochi granted permission to Afonso de Albuquerque to construct Fort Emmanuel near the waterfront of the Arabian Sea.

The creation become started out on 26 September, and "it took the shape of a rectangular with flanking bastions on the corners established with ordnance". The partitions had been fabricated from double rows of coconut tree stems securely mounted collectively and with earth rammed firmly between; it was similarly blanketed by way of a wet ditch. The castle became christened on the morning of 1 October 1503 "Emmanuel", after the King of Portugal. The citadel changed into constructed on the water-bound location toward the south-west of the Kochi mainland. The fortifications had been bolstered in 1538.