Question

The Fort of Masulipatnam was built by the____________.
A. English
B. Dutch
C. French
D. Portuguese

Answer 1

Hint: The fort was built in the 17th century as an attachment to a textile factory by officials. After the cyclone of 1864, it was transformed into a memorial to those who lost their lives in the disaster.

Step by step answer:
The city of Masulipatnam or Machilipatnam is situated in the Krishna River delta. Fish harbor town is the literal sense of Masulipatnam. The indication of presence regarding this town was first published in the Greek text ‘Periplus of The Eritrean Sea’ in which Masulipatnam is referred to as ‘Maisolia port’. Even the great Greek philosopher Ptolemy indicates a port named ‘Naisolos’ in his text, ‘Geographia’. Sathavahana rulers of 1st century BC to 2nd century AD made the delta into a port while considering international trade.it became one of the major trading points in the southern coastal area connecting Amravathi, Sopara(Mumbai), and Paithan(Aurangabad).In the 17th century, it was a center of intensive trade activities and battles between the Bahamani empire, The Kings of Odisha, and the Vijayanagara empire. As the trade increased, Royal monopolies were imposed on the sale of textiles, spices, and other items by the Qutb Shahi rulers of Golconda. This was done to avoid the trade from passing entirely into the hands of the various companies of East India. Among the various trading classes, the Golconda nobles, Persian merchants, Telugu Komati Chettis, and European traders, there was a cut-throat rivalry. The town was made populated and prosperous by this rivalry. Later, the trade was affected by the clashes between rulers and the Dutch started their trading deck on the port in 1605 under Qutub Shahi Sultan. They made a textile factory on the port and a fort to attract foreign traders. Iron and steel started coming from neighboring lands like Jakarta during this time. In 1764 Asaf Jah II signed the Treaty of Machilipatnam, providing the liberty of handling the entire coastal Andhra region to the British. A massive cyclone swept through the Bay of Bengal on 1 November 1864 and reached the coastal area (The present-day Andhra Pradesh area) near the town of Machilipatnam. Residents hunkered down in their houses, very used to regular annual cyclones, waiting for a passing storm. But it was different this time. A giant tidal wave, 13 feet long, charged for 27 kilometers Inland, killing around 30,000 people and destroying everything. In memory of this disaster, the Dutch dedicated the fort in the bay to those who lost their lives, calling it Bandar Kota.

So, the correct answer is Option B

Note A cyclone memorial was also created by the Dutch for the victims in the port area by renovating one of the victim’s houses who was a Dutch official along with his family of four.