About

Why locate forts? Why not temples or migratory birds, celebrities or the bottle-shop that sells a wide range of single malt?

I had been fascinated by forts and fortifications for years before I started this blog. A large part of my fascination with forts stemmed from my interest in maps, history and military architecture.

Starting a blog was motivated by my frustration at other bloggers and writers. Every single one invariably described the architecture, how to get there, the environs, etc. None of them, however, pointed out where exactly on the map the forts are. I spent countless hours following the directions in these posts and travelogues to figure out the forts on a map, with most hunts ending up in frustration at the lack of an exact Lat/Long for the fort.

Fortmapper.in is driven by location, not history or the names of the forts and personalities involved with them, not even the people who built them. Anyone who has dealt with Indian history at a level deeper than that taught in our schools would know that sometimes even documented history can be misleading or confusing at best. The problem gets compounded when trying to find forts. They change hands, kingdoms and rulers come and go, rulers change names of forts, they redesign them, or construct new ones over older forts, they destroy them. Abandoned forts disappear under forests and foliage, under subsequent human activity or get re-purposed. Ultimately, a fort’s only identity that stands the test of time is its location. Therefore, the first step in locating a fort is to locate it, down to the exact map reference or co-ordinates.

That is what this blog will attempt to accomplish. It will not attempt to describe the history of the forts or attempt to analyse the military architecture, there are better qualified people for that. I may take that up if I find other sources lacking or find elements that fascinate me. Above all, it will document the exact location of as many forts in India as possible. I consider that in itself to be a major task, going by:

1. the number of books and websites that talk about the history, battles and personalities surrounding the forts but fail to mention the location or general area.
2. the amount of time I have spent in locating some forts despite the great historical and architectural descriptions in such books and webpages.

Finally, if there is a fort you are trying to find, looking for suggestions on forts to visit around a given area or have pictures of forts to share, email me at:

shehjar (AT) fortmapper (DOT) in

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