The history of the Galle Fort goes back to 1588 when king Rajasinghe (1581-93) of Sitawaka attacked the Portuguese capital of Colombo forcing them to retreat to Galle, one of the flourishing ports from the ancient times. Here they built a small fort out of palm trees, coral stones and mud. They called it the Santa Cruz and later in 1625, extended it with a watch tower and three bastions and a Fortaleza to guard the harbour.
After the Portuguese conceded Galle to Dutch in 1640, the fort was expanded to its current size in 1643 and they called Santa Cruz the “Black Fort” or “Zwart Fort” (Zwart Bastian).
