Editing Fortification (section)

===Indian subcontinent===
{{Main|Forts in India|List of forts in India|List of forts in Pakistan|List of forts in Nepal}}
[[File:Dholavira gujarat.jpg|thumb|Defensive wall of the ancient city of [[Dholavira]], Gujarat 2600 BCE]]

A number of forts dating from the [[Later Stone Age]] to the [[British Raj]] are found in the mainland [[Indian subcontinent]] (modern day [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]] and [[Nepal]]). "Fort" is the word used in India for all old fortifications. Numerous [[Indus Valley civilisation|Indus Valley Civilization]] sites exhibit evidence of fortifications. By about 3500 BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted the [[Indus]] floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets. The stone and mud brick houses of [[Kot Diji]] were clustered behind massive stone flood dykes and defensive walls, for neighboring communities bickered constantly about the control of prime agricultural land.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Encyclopedia of World History: ancient, medieval, and modern, chronologically arranged  |first1=Peter N. |last1=Stearns |first2=William Leonard |last2=Langer |date=2001 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books |isbn=0-395-65237-5 |page=17}}</ref> The fortification varies by site. While  [[Dholavira]] has stone-built fortification walls, [[Harappa|Harrapa]] is fortified using baked bricks; sites such as [[Kalibangan]] exhibit [[mudbrick]] fortifications with bastions and [[Lothal]] has a quadrangular fortified layout. Evidence also suggested of fortifications in [[Mohenjo-daro]]. Even a small town—for instance, Kotada Bhadli, exhibiting sophisticated fortification-like bastions—shows that nearly all major and minor towns of the Indus Valley Civilization were fortified.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/19437/Agressive%20Architecture.pdf?sequence=1|title=Agressive Architecture: Fortifications of the Indus Valley in the Mature Harappan phase &#124; Student Repository}}</ref> Forts also appeared in urban cities of the Gangetic valley during the second urbanization period between 600 and 200 BC, and as many as 15 fortification sites have been identified by archeologists throughout the Gangetic valley, such as [[Kosambi|Kaushambi]], [[Mahasthangarh]], [[Pataliputra]], [[Mathura]], [[Ahichchhatra]], [[Rajgir]], and [[Lauria Nandangarh]]. The earliest [[Maurya Empire|Mauryan period]] brick fortification occurs in one of the stupa mounds of Lauria Nandangarh, which is 1.6&nbsp;km in perimeter and oval in plan and encloses a habitation area.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Barba|first=Federica|date=2004|title=The Fortified Cities of the Ganges Plain in the First Millennium B.C.|journal=East and West|volume=54|issue=1/4|pages=223–250|jstor=29757611}}</ref>[[Mundigak]] ({{Circa|2500 BC}}) in present-day south-east [[Afghanistan]] has defensive walls and square [[bastion]]s of sun dried bricks.<ref>{{cite book |title=Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture |first1=Banister |last1=Fletcher |first2=Dan |last2=Cruickshank |date=1996 |publisher=Architectural Press |isbn=0-7506-2267-9 |page=100}}</ref>
[[File:Jaisalmer forteresse.jpg|thumb|[[Jaisalmer Fort]], [[Rajasthan]], India]]

India currently has over 180 forts, with the state of [[Maharashtra]] alone having over 70 forts, which are also known as ''durg'',<ref>''Durga'' is the [[Sanskrit]] word for "inaccessible place", hence "fort"</ref><ref name="Nossov-8"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hiltebeitel |first=Alf |author-link=Alf Hiltebeitel |year=1991 |title=The Cult of Draupadī: Mythologies: From Gingee to Kurukserta |location=Delhi, India |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |volume=1 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=VncomfRVVhoC&pg=PA62 62] |isbn=978-81-208-1000-6}}</ref> many of them built by [[Shivaji]], founder of the [[Maratha Confederacy|Maratha Empire]].

A large majority of forts in India are in North India. The most notable forts are the [[Red Fort]] at [[Old Delhi]], the [[Agra Fort|Red Fort]] at [[Agra]], the [[Chittor Fort]] and [[Mehrangarh Fort]] in [[Rajasthan]], the [[Ranthambhor Fort]], [[Amer Fort]] and [[Jaisalmer Fort]] also in Rajasthan and [[Gwalior Fort]] in [[Madhya Pradesh]].<ref name="Nossov-8">{{Cite book|author=Nossov, Konstantin|year=2012|title=Indian Castles 1206–1526: The Rise and Fall of the Delhi Sultanate|edition=second|location=Oxford|publisher=Osprey Publishing|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=pMydaF1yzM8C&pg=PA8 8]|isbn=978-1-78096-985-5}}</ref>

[[Arthashastra]], the Indian treatise on military strategy describes six major types of forts differentiated by their major modes of defenses.

==== Sri Lanka ====
{{Main|Forts in Sri Lanka}}
[[File:Beauty of Sigiriya by Binuka.jpg|thumb|Rock fort of [[Sigiriya]] built by King [[Kashyapa I of Anuradhapura]].]]

Forts in [[Sri Lanka]] date back thousands of years, with many being built by Sri Lankan kings. These include several walled cities. With the outset of colonial rule in the [[Indian Ocean]], Sri Lanka was occupied by several major colonial empires that from time to time became the dominant power in the Indian Ocean. The colonists built several western-style forts, mostly in and around the coast of the island. The first to build colonial forts in Sri Lanka were the [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]]; these forts were captured and later expanded by the [[Dutch colonial empire|Dutch]]. The [[British Empire|British]] occupied these Dutch forts during the [[Napoleonic wars]]. Most of the colonial forts were garrisoned up until the early 20th century. The coastal forts had [[coastal artillery]] manned by the [[Ceylon Garrison Artillery]] during the two world wars.
Most of these were abandoned by the military but retained civil administrative officers, while others retained military garrisons, which were more administrative than operational. Some were reoccupied by military units with the escalation of the [[Sri Lankan civil war|Sri Lankan Civil War]]; [[Jaffna fort]], for example, came under siege several times.