Kannur, Kerala. With limited time and knowledge of the area, we approached a local asking directions to St. Angelo’s Fort. “St. Angelo’s Fort?” A blank stare, rather many a blank stare and wild gesticulations from one old man (his hands flew like a compass gone haywire), and later from a couple of auto rickshaw drivers. The auto-stand quickly emptied itself of all available autos leaving us worried that the fort might after all be a figment of the tourist department’s imagination.

Finally a driver relented and we piled in, zipping through by-lanes. After a short discussion with a shop keeper, the auto driver exclaimed, “Kannur Kota (fort)! I know where ‘that’ is but I have never heard of the Angelo fort that you mention!” and turned in a different direction. Ten minutes later we faced a large board with writing in metal - St. Angelo’s Fort! Also known as ‘Kannur Kota’, it stood towering over us, immense and dwarfing everything around it.

The roughly triangularly planned fort is built of solid laterite towers on top of a rocky promontory overlooking the Mappila Bay on one side and a cliff that drops into the Arabian Sea on the other. After having won the local Kolathiri Raja’s confidence, Dom Francesco d’Almeida, the first Portuguese Viceroy to India, oversaw the construction of the fort during 1502-07. Protected by the sea on three sides, the only entrance was from the land, and even that would be cut off when the Portuguese at a later stage built a water moat. 

Colonial supremacy being the favorite European pastime from 16th century onwards, St. Angelo’s fort changed keepers from the Portuguese to the Dutch in 1663, and was later sold to the local Ali Rajas and finally seized by the British in 1790, who transformed it into the largest military base on the Malabar Coast.

The architecture too reflects the colonial imperialism: the Portuguese built the chapel, prison, administrative offices and other amenities for the officers stationed there; the Dutch added horse stables and ammunition stores; the Ali Rajas probably did not have much time to settle in to modify it to their tastes. As for the English, military affairs overrode architectural and interior designer issues. Cannons, now rusting, lie astride the bastions pointing out towards the sea, evoking bygone days of heavy artillery action. We walked along the rampart as fishing boats quietly plied in the distance.
 
The waves and rocks were probably witness to glorious battles unfolding at sea. All those have transformed into memories and stories though, for what remains is the sweeping vista of the sun, the sea, the sky and the weathered but tall and majestic St. Angelo’s Fort.