Jaffna Fort

Built by the Portuguese

The ancient Jaffna Fort is the second largest existing fort in Sri Lanka. Originally built by the Portuguese in 1619 and re-built and expanded by the Dutch during the second half of the 17th and the 18th centuries to facilitate trading activities of Sri Lanka’s northern region, it indicates not only Jaffna’s strategic importance to Europeans but its significance throughout Sri Lanka’s history. Nelson in his book ‘Dutch Forts of Sri Lanka’ claimed that “it was, as a technical fort, everything was done to the latest design at each successive stage and final result was the strongest fortress in the East’’