Delft_Island_fort
Delft Island fort
Fort in Sri Lanka
Delft Island Fort (Tamil: நெடுந்தீவுக் கோட்டை, romanized: Neṭuntīvuk Kōṭṭai; Sinhala: ඩෙල්ෆ් බලකොටුව, romanized: Delf Balakotuwa, locally known as Neduntheevu fort and Meekaman fort) are ruins of a fort located on the island of Neduntheevu in the Palk Strait in northern Sri Lanka.
Traditionally attributed to the Karaiyar king Meekaman, the fort was probably built by the Portuguese.[1][2] Later, it was taken over by Dutch, who built a barrack nearby. The island was known to the Portuguese as Ilha das Vacas ("Island of the Cows"), was renamed by the Dutch as Delft Island.[3][4]
The fort was constructed out of limestone and coral. Though now in ruins, Ralph Henry Bassett describes the fort as a "very strongly fortified fort" in his book Romantic Ceylon: Its History, Legend, and Story.[5]