Batticaloa Fort

                                          

The Fort in Batticaloa lies on a one of the many small islands of Batticaloa in the east coast of Sri Lanka. It wa built by the Portuguese in 1628 after a Dutch fleet landed in Batticaloa in 1902 to visit the then King of Kandy to win foot hold of the country. This infuriated the Portuguese who had a firm holding in the Island and built a small fort 1628. It was captured by the Dutch in 1638 when King Rajasinghe of the Kandyan Kingdom requested them to banish the Portuguese from the country. The fort changed hands again in 1772 after it was surrendered to British.

The fort is a structure of four bastions and protected by the sea from 2 sides and with a moat from the other 2 sides. The fort has important ancient religious significance because of a Buddhist stupa and Chatra dating back to 1st centaury BC from the Ruhuna kingdom of King Kavantissa.