List of Portuguese colonial forts

This article will list all fortifications that were built, or ordered to be built by the Portuguese throughout the globe. All forts in this list are outside the modern territory of Portugal, and were built for the purpose of colonialism and the Portuguese Overseas Empire.

A map of the Portuguese Empire and its claims, strongholds, trade waters, and economic interests.

Portuguese explorers have discovered many lands and the sea routes in the 15th-18th centuries during the Age of Discovery. Along the way they built outposts and fortresses, many of which still exist today all over the world. Similar in design they are often easy to recognize although not in Portuguese hands for many years or centuries already.

List of forts by continent

Africa

Name	Built	Condition	Image	City	Current country	Historical rulers
Cacheu Fort	1588	Intact		Cacheu	Guinea-Bissau	Portugal (1588-1974)
Castelo Real	1506	Demolished		Essaouira	Morocco	Portugal (1506-1510)
Elmina Castle	1482	Intact		Elmina	Ghana	Portugal (1482-1637) Netherlands (1637-1872) Britain (1872-1957)
Fort Jesus	1593-1596	Intact		Mombasa	Kenya	Portugal (1593-1698, 1728-1729) Oman (1698-1741, 1837-1895) Local rule (1741-1837) Britain (1895-1963)
Fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá	1721	Intact		Ouidah	Benin	Portugal (1721-1961)
Forte Real de São Filipe	1587-1593	Intact		Cidade Velha	Cape Verde	Portugal (1587-1975)
Fort Saint Anthony	1515	Intact		Axim	Ghana	Portugal (1515-1642) Netherlands (1642-1872) Britain (1872-1957)
Fort San Sebastian	1520-1526	Intact		Shama	Ghana	Portugal (1520-1642) Netherlands (1642-1872) Britain (1872-1957)
Fort São Caetano	1505	Decimated		Sofala	Mozambique	Portugal (1505-1975)
Fort São Sebastião	1558	Intact		Island of Mozambique	Mozambique	Portugal (1558-1975)
Fort São Sebastião	1575	Intact		São Tomé	São Tomé and Príncipe	Portugal (1575-1641, 1644-1975) Netherlands (1641-1644)
Fortaleza de São José da Amura	1697	Restored		Bissau	Guinea-Bissau	Portugal (1697-1974)
Forte Duque de Bragança	1820	Ruins		Ilhéu de Sal Rei	Cape Verde	Portugal (1820-1975)
Fortim de São Lourenço	1695	Intact		Island of São Lourenço	Mozambique	Portugal (1695-1975)
Fortress of Kambambe	1604	Ruins		Cambambe	Angola	Portugal (1604-1975)
Fortress of Muxima	1599	Intact		Muxima	Angola	Portugal (1599-1641, 1648-1975) Netherlands (1641-1648)
Fortress of São Miguel	1576	Intact		Luanda	Angola	Portugal (1576-1641, 1648-1975) Netherlands (1641-1648)
Mazagão Fort	1514	Intact		El Jadida	Morocco	Portugal (1514-1769) Morocco (1769-1912) France (1912-1956)
Royal Walls of Ceuta	1540s	Intact		Ceuta	Spain	Portugal (1415-1668)

Americas

Name	Built	Condition	Image	City	Current country	Historical rulers
Fort Santana	1775	Ruins		Fernando de Noronha	Brazil	Portugal (1775-1822)
Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora da Assunção	1812	Intact		Fortaleza	Brazil	Portugal (1812-1822)
Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora da Conceição	1718	Intact		Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	Portugal (1718-1822)
Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres	1767-1769	Intact		Paranaguá	Brazil	Portugal (1767-1822)
Fortaleza de Santa Cruz da Barra	1612	Intact		Niterói	Brazil	Portugal (1612-1822)
Fortaleza de Santa Cruz de Anhatomirim	1739-1744	Intact		Governador Celso Ramos	Brazil
Fortaleza de Santa Teresa	1762	Intact		Santa Teresa National Park	Uruguay	Portugal (1762-1763) Spain (1763-1816) Portugal (1816-1822) Brazil (1822-1828)
Forte de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios	1737	Ruins		Fernando de Noronha	Brazil	Portugal (1737-1822)
Forte de Santa Maria	1614	Intact		Salvador	Brazil	Portugal (1614-1822) Netherlands (1624-1625)
Forte de Santo Antônio Além do Carmo	1695-1703	Intact		Salvador	Brazil	Portugal (1695-1822)
Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra	1596	Restored		Salvador	Brazil	Portugal (1596-1822) Netherlands (1624-1625)
Forte de São Diogo	1609	Intact		Salvador	Brazil	Portugal (1609-1822) Netherlands (1624-1625)
Forte de São Lourenço	1631	Restored		Itaparica	Brazil	Portugal (1631-1822) Netherlands (1647)
Forte dos Reis Magos	1599	Intact		Natal	Brazil	Portugal (1599-1633, 1654-1822) Netherlands (1633-1654)
Fuerte San Miguel	1737	Intact		Dieciocho de Julio	Uruguay	Portugal (1737-1763) Spain (1763-1816) Portugal (1816-1822) Brazil (1822-1828)
São Marcelo Fort	1608-1623	Intact		Salvador	Brazil	Portugal (1608-1822) Netherlands (1624-1625)

Asia and Oceania

Name	Built	Condition	Image	City	Current country	Historical rulers
A Famosa	1511	Fragments		Malacca	Malaysia	Portugal (1511-1641) Netherlands (1641-1795, 1818-1824) Britain (1795-1818, 1824-1956) Japan (1942-1945)
Al Jalali Fort	1586	Restored		Muscat	Oman	Portugal (1586-1650) Muscat (1650-1820) Muscat & Oman (1820-1892) Britain (1892-1970)
Arippu Fort	17th century	Ruins		Mannar	Sri Lanka	Portugal (17th century-1658) Netherlands (1658-1796) Britain (1796-1948)
Balibo Fort	1645-1665	Intact		Balibo	East Timor	Portugal (1645-1975) Indonesia (1975-1999) UNTAET (1999-2002)
Batticaloa Fort	1622-1628	Intact		Batticaloa	Sri Lanka	Portugal (1622-1638) Netherlands (1638-1796) Britain (1796-1948)
Castella de Aguada	1640	Intact		Mumbai	India	Portugal (1640-1661) Britain (1661-1947)
Chapora Fort	1717	Ruins		Chapora	India	Portugal (1717-1961)
Cranganore Fort	1523	Ruins		Kodungallur	India	Portugal (1523-1662) Netherlands (1662-1796) Britain (1796-1947)
Dongri Fort [1]	1596	Ruins (Church preserved)		Mumbai	India	Portugal (1596-1661) Britain (1661-1947)
Fort Aguada	1612	Intact		Sinquerim	India	Portugal (1612-1961)
Fort Al-Mirani	16th century	Restored		Muscat	Oman	Portugal (16th century-1650) Ottoman Empire (1552, 1581-1588) Muscat (1650-1820) Muscat & Oman (1820-1892) Britain (1892-1970)
Fort Anjediva	1505	Demolished		Anjediva Island	India	Portugal (1505-1961)
Fort Diu	1535	Intact		Diu	India	Portugal (1535-1961)
Fort Emmanuel	1503	Ruins		Kochi	India	Portugal (1503-1663) Netherlands (1663-1795) Britain (1795-1947)
Fort Kastela	1522	Ruins		Ternate	Indonesia	Portugal (1522-1575) Ternate (1575-1606) Spain (1606-1663) Netherlands (1663-1942, 1945-1946) Japan (1942-1945) East Indonesia (1946-1950)
Fort of Our Lady of the Conception	1515	Fragments		Hormuz	Iran
Fort St. Anthony of Simbor	16th century	Restored		Simbor	India	Portugal (16th century-1961)
Fort Tarout	1515-1520	Intact		Tarout Island	Saudi Arabia	Portugal (1515-1559)
Fortaleza do Monte	1617-1626	Intact		Macau	China	Portugal (1617-1999)
Galle Fort	1584	Intact		Galle	Sri Lanka
Ghodbunder Fort	1550-1730	Ruins		Thane	India	Portugal (1550-1737) Maratha (1737-1818) Britain (1818-1947)
Guia Fortress	1622-1638	Intact		Macau	China	Portugal (1622-1999)
Khasab Fort	17th century	Restored		Khasab	Oman
Korlai Fort	1521	Ruins		Korlai	India	Ahmadnagar (1521-1594) Portugal (1594-1739) Maratha (1739-1818) Britain (1818-1947)
Madh Fort	17th century	Intact		Mumbai	India	Portugal (17th century) Britain (1661-1947)
Malé Fort	17th century	Demolished		Maldives	Maldives	Portugal (1558-1650) Netherlands (1650-1796) Britain (1796-1953)
Mutrah Fort	1580s	Intact		Muscat	Oman	Portugal (1580s-1650) Muscat (1650-1820) Muscat & Oman (1820-1892) Britain (1892-1970)
Pallipuram Fort	1503	Intact		Kochi	India	Portugal (1503-1663) Netherlands (1663-1795) Britain (1795-1947)
Pooneryn Fort	17th century	Ruins		Pooneryn	Sri Lanka	Portugal (17th century-1658) Netherlands (1658-1796) Britain (1796-1948)
Portuguese Fort	17th century	Intact		Jepara Regency	Indonesia	Mataram (17th century-1743) Netherlands (1743-1811, 1814-1942) Britain (1811-1814) Japan (1942-1945)
Portuguese Fort of Qeshm	16th century	Ruins		Qeshm	Iran
Reduto do Conselheiro Jacinto Candido	1655	Intact		Batugade	East Timor	Portugal (1655-1975) Indonesia (1975-1999) UNTAET (1999-2002)
Revdanda Fort	1524	Ruins		Revdanda	India	Portugal (1524-1806) Maratha (1806-1818) Britain (1818-1947)
St. Angelo Fort	1505	Intact		Kannur	India
St. Thomas Fort	1518	Ruins		Kollam	India	Portugal (1518-1661) Netherlands (1661-1795) Britain (1795-1947)

See also

• Architecture of Portugal

References

1. Burnell, John (2007). Bombay in the Days of Queen Anne - Being an Account of the Settlement Also: Burnell's Narrative of his Adventures in Bengal. Read Books. ISBN 9781406755473. Retrieved 22 August 2014.

Notes