Tarapur Fort

Tarapur Fort stands in Tarapur, Palghar District, Maharashtra, and is first mentioned around 1280, when Bhima of Mahikavati captured it from the Naiks. The Portuguese took it in 1553 and made it a profitable trading outpost, driving off the Abyssinians in 1559 and the Mughals in 1612, and adding an artillery fortification and a Dominican mission.

On 24 January 1739 the Maratha commander Chimaji Appa assaulted it, with mines that broke a bastion and curtain wall. The Marathas repaired the walls, and the change in stonework can still be seen on the south and south-east sides. The British followed in 1803. A Portuguese description of 1728 records a heptagonal plan with 4 redoubts and low walls without parapets. Inside are two granaries, a guard room and several wells. The Peshwa gave custody to Vikaji Mehrji, and his descendants, the Chorge family, still hold the fort.