Surat Castle, Surat

History

Though in context of the identity of Surat in medieval times many views have been expressed by different historians, in all the historical narratives Surat has emerged as one of the major ports of international importance on the map of the world trade. A Portuguese traveller named Barbosa during his visit to Gujarat in 1514 has described Surat as a city of great trade in all classes of merchandise, a very important seaport yielding a large revenue to the king, and frequented by many ships from Malabar and many other ports.Shortly before Barbosa was in Gujarat, Surat is said to have been burnt by the Portuguese in 1512. Surat reportedly suffered from a wholly unprovoked, and piratical raid, in 1530, a second time by the Portuguese under the leadership of Antonio da Silvaria. Though the assailants were opposed by a guard of 300 horses and 10000 foot, but at the first charge the defenders fled, and the town was taken and burnt. As they were still at the war with the Gujarat King, the Portuguese again burnt Surat in the next year, 1531. The Ahmedabad king Sultan Mahmud Shah III (1538-1554), who was very much annoyed by these frequent destruction of Surat, ordered for building a very strong castle and entrusted the work to Safi Agha, a Turkish soldier who had been ennobled with the title of Khudawand Khan. He was provided with substantial budget and was ordered to plan and build a very strong castle. Khudawand Khan initially selected three alternative sites for building the castle.