For the area in Mumbai see Colaba

Colaba

Colaba is a part of the city of Mumbai, India, and also a Lok Sabha constituency. During Portuguese rule in the 16th century, the island was known as Candil...

Kolaba Fort (sometimes Kulaba Fort) is an old military fortification

Fortification

Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...

 in India. It is situated in the sea at a distance of 1–2 km from the shores of Alibag

Alibag

Alibag or Alibaug or Alibagh is a coastal town and a municipal council in Raigad District in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, India. It is also the headquarters of the Raigad district. The town and its surrounding villages are the historic hinterland of Bene Israeli Jews...

, 35 km south of Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, in the Konkan

Konkan

The Konkan also called the Konkan Coast or Karavali is a rugged section of the western coastline of India from Raigad to Mangalore...

 region of Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It is a popular tourist destination.

History

The first mention of Kolaba fort is when it was chosen by Shivaji to be fortified after the whole of South Konkan came under his command. In 1662, he strengthened and fortified Kolaba fort to make it one of his chief naval stations. The command of the fort was given to Darya Sagar and Manik Bhandari under whom Kolaba fort became the centre of Maratha attacks on British ships.

In 1713 under a treaty with Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath

Balaji Vishwanath

Balaji Vishwanath Bhat , better known as Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath, was the first of a series of hereditary Peshwas hailing from the Brahmin family who gained effective control of the Maratha Empire during the 18th century...

, Kolaba along with several other forts was given over to Kanhoji Angre

Kanhoji Angre

Kanhoji Angre or Conajee Angria or Sarkhel Angre was the first notable chief of the Maratha Navy in 18th century India. He fought successfully all his life against the British, Dutch and Portuguese naval interests in the Indian Ocean during the 18th century, and hence was alleged by them to be a...

. He used it as his main base from which to launch raids on British ships. In 1722, the Bombay Government incensed at Angre's activities, joined the Portuguese in an expedition against Kolaba. A Portuguese land force and three English ships of the line under Commodore Mathews co-operated but the attempt failed owing to the "cowardice of the Portuguese". About this time Kolaba is described by Hamilton as a fort built on a rock, a little way from the mainland and at high water an island.

Major features

The average height of the fort walls is 25 feet. It has two main entrances, one on the sea side and the other towards Alibag. An interesting feature of this fort is that it has freshwater

Freshwater

Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...

 wells in its premises even though it is a seaside fort. In the monsoons, the fort can be reached by wading through waist-deep water at low tide. However, at high tide, boats must be used to reach it.

The Siddhivinayak temple inside the fort was built by Raghoji Angre in 1759.