Fort Lupin

Fort Lupin, also known as Fort de la Charente, is an artillery battery in Saint-Nazaire-sur-Charente, in the department of Charente-Maritime, France. It was built in the 1680s to a design by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, and it is now in good condition.

History

Fort Lupin was built on the southern bank of the Charente, and commanded the approach to Rochefort and its arsenal along with Fort Lapointe on the opposite bank of the river.

The first proposal to build a fortification in the area was made in 1672 by the engineer La Favolliere, and it was eventually built between 1683 and 1686. The fort's initial design was made by François Ferry, but the plans were extensively modified by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, who reduced its size due to a lack of funds.

The fort consists of a semi-circular gun battery ringed by a parapet with twenty-two embrasures. A tour-réduit and two blockhouses are located at the gorge. The fort is further protected by a ditch, a covertway and a glacis.

Fort Lupin was never attacked, and it never fired its guns in anger. It was decommissioned in the late 19th century, and was subsequently abandoned and vandalized.

Lupinus

Lupinus, commonly known as lupin or lupine (North America), is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. The genus includes over 200 species, with centers of diversity in North and South America. Smaller centers occur in North Africa and the Mediterranean. Seeds of various species of lupins have been used as a food for over 3000 years around the Mediterranean (Gladstones, 1970) and for as much as 6000 years in the Andean highlands (Uauy et al., 1995), but they have never been accorded the same status as soybeans or dry peas and other pulse crops. The pearl lupin of the Andean highlands of South America, Lupinus mutabilis, known locally as tarwi or chocho, was extensively cultivated, but there seems to have been no conscious genetic improvement other than to select for larger and water-permeable seeds. Users soaked the seed in running water to remove most of the bitter alkaloids and then cooked or toasted the seeds to make them edible (Hill, 1977; Aguilera and Truer, 1978), or else boiled and dried them to make kirku (Uauy et al., 1995). Spanish domination led to a change in the eating habits of the indigenous peoples, and only recently has interest in using lupins as a food been renewed (Hill, 1977).

Lupin (disambiguation)

Lupin is a flowering plant.

Lupin may also refer to:

Titled expressive works

Companies

Fictional characters

Music

Other

See also

Lupin (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the lupin is a humanoid with a dog-like appearance.

Publication history

The lupin first appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules Castle Amber (1981),The Savage Coast (1985), and Night Howlers (1992). The lupin also appeared in the Creature Catalogue (1986), and the Creature Catalog (1993).

The lupin appeared in second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons for the Mystara setting in the Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994).

The lupin appeared in third edition in Dragon #325 (November 2004).

Description

Sages believe lupins to be a result of crossbreeding between humans and gnolls. They are intelligent and productive craftsmen and are friendly towards most races. In the Mystara campaign settings Lupins are most commonly found on the Savage Coast.

A lupin is usually of good in alignment.

References

Additional reading

Fortification

Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and also used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs. The term is derived from the Latin fortis ("strong") and facere ("to make").

From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in an ever changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its 'cyclopean' walls). A Greek Phrourion was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or English fortress. These construction mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and lands that might threaten the kingdom. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch and maintain the border.

Fort (Mumbai precinct)

Fort is a business district in Mumbai, India. The area was the heart of the city during the 18th century. The area gets its name from the defensive fort, Fort George, built by the British East India Company around Bombay Castle. The area extends from the docks in the east, to Azad Maidan in the west; Victoria Terminus in the north to Kala Ghoda in the south. This area is the heart of the financial area of the city. Institutions such as the Bombay Stock Exchange, Reserve Bank of India and Tata Group headquarters are located in this area.

History

The Fort area was declared protected under regulations of the Maharashtra Government Urban Development Department. An advisory committee now oversees the development, repairs and renovations of structures in the precinct.

The area today

Dadabhai Naoroji Road (or D. N. Road) is an important road in Fort area. Siddharth College of Law, J. N. Petit Library, Dawoodi Bohra Administrative office, Khadi Bhandar are on this road. The sidewalks are filled with vendors selling books, music cassettes, clothes, imported items such as audio equipment's, digital cameras, musical instruments, calculators etc. The side streets from D. N. Road lead to schools, playgrounds, restaurants, cinemas and other important business houses. This street is famous for its software vendors. The area is famous for its street shopping and the book stalls sell myriad books at negligible prices.

Fort (Colombo)

Fort is the central business district of Colombo in Sri Lanka. It is the financial district of Colombo and the location of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and the World Trade Centre of Colombo from which the CSE operates. It is also the location of the Bank of Ceylon headquarters. Along the foreshore of the Fort area is the Galle Face Green Promenade, built in 1859 under the governance of Sir Henry George Ward, the Governor of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) during British colonial administration. Fort is also home to the General Post Office, hotels, government departments and offices.

History

Known as Kolonthota, the area became notable as the site of the first landings of the Portuguese in the early 16th century and became one of their trading posts in the island. The Portuguese developed their trading post into a fortified base and harbour to extend their control of the interior of the island. The fort constructed by the Portuguese was conquered by the Dutch in 1656 and was used to protect their prosperous trading of resources. With Colombo gaining prominence as the center for Dutch administration in the island it was expanded to protect against both the sea and the interior of the island. The Dutch demolished part of the Portuguese-built fortification and reconstructed it to take advantage of the natural strength of the location between a lake and the sea. Due to the conflicts between the Dutch and the Sinhalese kings of the interior, the fort was a major military base as it came under siege on several occasions.