Matara Fort
The Matara Fort (Sinhala: මාතර බලකොටුව; Tamil: மாத்தறைக் கோட்டை) is an ancient fort situated in Matara District, Sri Lanka. It has been erected on the land between the sea and the estuary of the Nilwala Ganga River .
. History Although the fort at Matara is believed to have been built by the Portuguese during the period of Dharmapala of Kotte (1550-1597 A.D.), the actual fort was built by the Dutch sometime after they took Matara, after the capture of Galle from the Portuguese in 1640 (Abeyawardana, 2004; De Silva, 1988; Mandawala, 2012). The fort was the sole Dutch defence at Matara when a rebellion took place there in 1760 mainly due to the Dutch endeavour to register peasants' holding of lands and either to dispossess or tax them if they couldn't prove title (De Silva, 1988). Sinhalese forces backed by the Kandyan Kingdom captured the Matara Fort in March 1761 and held it for nearly one year (Abeyawardana, 2004; De Silva, 1988; Wikramaratne, 2015). The Dutch retook the fort …
