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5. Fort William

Fort William is situated on the banks of the Hooghly River in Kolkata. It was built during the early years of the British Raj in India. It was named after King William III of England and Ireland. There are in reality two forts, the old and new. The first one was built in the year 1696 by the East India Company. When it was attacked by Siraj Ud Daulah and it was temporally conquered by him, the east India built another fort in the Maidan. The new fort was completed in 1781. After the old fort was reclaimed in 1766 it was repaired and used as a customs house.

The fort is made up of mortar and brick and is in unsymmetrical octagon shape. The shape closely matches a star fort and was built to defend against cannon fire. There are six gates to the fort including Chowringhee and the Treasury Gate.

The fort is currently the property of Indian army and can house up to 10,000 troops. It is heavily guarded and civilian entry is restricted. It has all kinds of facilities such as swimming pool and cinema hall etc. Though the fort is known as the only fort in the world where not even a single shot was fired, but its splendour and magnificence has been unaffected by time.