Bombay Castle

Bombay Castle (also Casa da Orta) is one of the oldest defensive structures built in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay). The current castle is a structure built by the British on the site of the Manor House built by a Portuguese nobleman Garcia de Orta. Orta had leased the island of Bombay from the King of Portugal between 1554 and 1570.

The castle was built of local blue Kurla stone and red laterite stone from the Konkan region to the south. In 1662, after the islands came under the hands of the English, the East India Company took possession of the castle in 1665. Over the next ten years, they built a defensive structure around the manor. Around the same time, a wall was being built around a new urban centre. Although the wall was demolished in 1865 after the city grew rapidly, fragments still exist in some areas.

Few records of the original Portuguese castle remain and historians are trying to piece together the original location of the manor. Two gates of the manor are located within INS Angre, a naval station in South Mumbai. A sundial thought to date back to the Portuguese era is also present. This sundial does not mark out the 12 hours of a day, but rather marks out certain periods that the people of the time deemed important.

Bombay Castle (disambiguation)

Bombay Castle is a fort in Mumbai (formerly Bombay)

Bombay Castle may also refer to:

Bombay Castle (South China Sea)

Bombay Castle (Vietnamese Bãi Ba Kè, Chinese : Pi-p'o pao chiao / Pengbo Bao) is a shoal with a lighthouse in the Rifleman Bank of the southern Spratly Islands. It is occupied by Vietnam.

Location and Topography

Bombay Castle consists of a submerged reef located between 07°50′N 111°40′E / 7.833°N 111.667°E / 7.833; 111.667Coordinates: 07°50′N 111°40′E / 7.833°N 111.667°E / 7.833; 111.667 and 07°56′N 111°42′E / 7.933°N 111.700°E / 7.933; 111.700 (between 07°50′N 111°40′E / 7.833°N 111.667°E / 7.833; 111.667 and 07°56′N 111°42′E / 7.933°N 111.700°E / 7.933; 111.700) at the northern end of Rifleman Bank. At its shallowest point, it has a depth of 3 meters consisting of sand and coral. It lies 80 miles east of Huyền Trân (Alexandra Bank) and nearly 80 miles west of An Bang (Amboyna Cay). Bombay Castle has a 22.5 metre tall lighthouse (built:1995) on steel pilings. The lighthouse is two storied, with accommodation for the lighthouse keepers and a dish antenna.