Mahim Fort

Mahim Fort stands on Mahim Bay in Mumbai, looking towards Worli to the south and Bandra to the north, beside the causeway linking the suburbs to the city. Its origins are unclear, but the site was long contested. In 1516 the Portuguese commander Dom João de Monoy defeated its garrison, and the Portuguese took the island from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat in 1534. In 1661 Mahim passed to Charles II of England as part of a royal dowry.

Sir Thomas Grantham strengthened the fort in 1684 as a lookout against the Portuguese and later the Marathas. In 1772 its guns drove off a Portuguese attack, during which Mount Mary's Basilica was damaged. The fort is a Grade I heritage structure, but slums crowd it and tidal erosion has brought down parts of the walls, leaving boulders on the sand and deep cracks in what remains.