English
Fort
Cabo de Rama, Goa, India
Military Architecture
The ruins of the Cape Rama fort are situated on a small peninsula about 38 km south of the port of Mormugao, after a long stretch of sand. The Cape Rama promontory for a long time marked the northern boundary of the territories held by the Raja of Sunda, a neighbouring potentate. The Portuguese captured the fort in 1763 during the governorship of Viceroy Manuel de Saldanha e Albuquerque, thus expanding Goa’s territory southward and dominating the province of Canacona. Control of the fort facilitated patrolling of the nearby coast, an area much used by smugglers and pirates. Most of the structures at Cape Rama predate the Portuguese period and were adapted to the existing Muslim fortification. The Portuguese probably limited themselves to building a few artillery positions on the lower levels and raising a chapel inside the fort precinct. The main line of the wall faces east and includes four cylindrical bastions, besides the small two-storey structure above the main gate, which seems to be a more recent construction. Along the north flank are vestiges of another wall, with several artillery emplacements interspersed. It also contains a water tank, probably of Hindu origin. At the northwest end of the fort are vestiges of a round bastion, closer to the coastline. Here stands a new wall which closes the precinct on the west side; next to it are the ruins of a military structure. Several more bastions and the ruins of two couraça outworks which descend toward the sea are also found along the south coast. A number of artillery pieces remain at the bastions. A few metres from the fort’s entrance stands Saint Anthony’s Chapel, built at an undetermined date for the military garrison. Its main façade indicates recent restoration work; the layout, besides the two side porches, is quite simple. Close by the chapel are a number of small crosses, perhaps related to a procession route. In the last decades of Portuguese administration in Goa, Cape Rama Fort served as a penal colony. This is indicated in an apparently private inscription next to the fort’s entrance.