A moat full of crocodiles, rocks and boiling oil – when fortresses guarded Asia’s vital places, and nine that have survived to this day
- Carp or crocodiles? The occupants of moats around the fortresses of Hiroshima and Agra, India, tell their own story. They are among nine in Asia you should see
- Some are spectacularly situated, like Jiayuguan Fortress at the western end of the Great Wall of China, others have intriguing histories, such as Fort Belgica
Whether as a means of defence or to emphasise power and control during peacetime, forts have been around since at least the 6th century BC, when the Persians built a stronghold near a toll point on the River Nile, in Egypt.
Over time, simple earthwork structures with wooden fences evolved into the elaborate walled cities of the Middle Ages. The invention of cannons ushered in an era of low-rise bastions, or star forts, in the 18th century, followed by concrete and steel bunkers constructed in the 19th and 20th centuries to resist heavy artillery.
The following fortresses are all in Asia. They were built by emperors, feudal lords, officers of China’s Ming dynasty, and colonising powers.
Four thousand labourers toiled for eight years to complete Agra Fort, residence of the Mughal dynasty emperors until they moved their capital to Delhi, in 1638. Work began in the 1560s under the supervision of Emperor Akbar but it was his grandson, Shah Jahan, who transformed the photogenic fort into the structure we see today.
White marble was his building material of choice, further evidence of which can be seen at the nearby Taj Mahal, another jewel in the prince’s impressive architectural portfolio.
A drawbridge that once lowered over a moat full of crocodiles leads to an inclined walkway where boiling oil was poured to stop invaders in their tracks. They would then be bombarded with rocks thrown from the 20-metre-high walls. The magnificent monument has appeared on Indian postage stamps and features in the Sherlock Holmes mystery The Sign of the Four (1890).
