🏰 Exploring Karnala Fort: History, Trekking, and More | Smit Treks 🌿

🏰 Karnala Fort (also called Funnel Hill)is a hill fort in Raigad district, Maharashtra, India, about 10 km from Panvel city. Currently it is a protected place lying within the Karnala Bird Sanctuary. It was a place of strategic importance since it overlooked the Bor pass, which connected the Konkan coast to the interior of Maharashtra (Deccan Plateau) on the main trade route between these areas.
The fort was likely constructed before 1400, under Devagiri Yadavs(1248-1318) and the Tughlaq rulers (1318-1347), Karnala was the capital of the north Konkan districts of their respective empires. It later fell under the command of the Gujarat Sultanate but in 1540 was taken over by Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar. The Gujarat sultans then requested the help of the Dom Francisco de Menenzes the commanding officer of the Portuguese at Bassien (modern day Vasai) to win it back. He ordered 500 of his soldiers to Karnala fort and they were able to capture it. The fort was left in charge of the Gujarat Sultanate but with Portuguese garrisons.
The Gujarat sultans fled to Vasai, surrendering the fort to the Portuguese. The loss of Karnala enraged Nizam Shah, who sent 5,000 men to reclaim the fort and the surrounding countryside. The attempt was unsuccessful, and the Portuguese continued to hold the fort. Deciding that the forts of Sangli and Karnala were of little strategic value, however, the Portuguese viceroy agreed to return them to Nizam Shah for an annual payment of Rs. 17,500 (or 5,000 gold Pardoas).
Chhatrapati Shivaji conquered it from the Mughals in 1670 by building breastworks as he advanced. After his death in 1680 it was taken over by Aurangzeb. After this the Mughals occupied it for some time after which it in 1740 with the rise of the Peshwas of Pune it went to them. It remained under the command of killedar (garrison commander) Anantrao until a colonel Prother won the fort and established the rule of the British East India Company there in 1818.
Vasudev Phadke, An Unsung Hero And Prominent Figure In India's Freedom Movement
Born on November 4, 1845, in Shirdhon, Vasudev Balwant Phadke's lineage included his grandfather, the Commander of Karnala Fort until the British seized it in 1818. He was also regarded as the 'Father of the Armed Struggle for India's Freedom.'
On August 15, 1947, the country marked its liberation, ending around two centuries of British rule in the subcontinent. Independence Day is celebrated with patriotic fervour and the national flag is being hoisted across the nation as the mark of independent India. The day also serves as a tribute to the sacrifices of countless freedom fighters who made the ultimate sacrifice to free their homeland from British colonialism. India's freedom was possible because of the freedom fighter who sacrificed their lives to make their motherland free from the Britishers. One such unsung hero is Vasudev Balwant Phadke, who is also regarded as the 'Father of the Armed Struggle for India's Freedom.'
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