Description of the attraction
Fort Cornwallis, the main attraction of the colonial part of Georgetown, is located on the east coast of Penang Island. It was built at the end of the 18th century on the very spot where Francis Light first landed on the island in 1786.
The history of its construction is very interesting. To anchor on the island and protect against pirates from the sea, the British needed the fort immediately. In the original version, it was decided to build it from palm trees. This simultaneously solved the problem of clearing the jungle for a construction site. However, there were not enough workers, and the locals were not eager to help. Francis Light solved the issue in an original way: he loaded the cannon with silver coins and shot deep into the jungle. The motivation turned out to be the strongest - the jungle was cleared in less than two months. At the beginning of the 19th century, the wooden palisades and buildings were surrounded with bricks and stones - now with the help of the inmates of the local prison. The fort was named in honor of the Governor-General of the East India Company, Charles Cornwallis, commander-in-chief of the British forces in India.
Although the fort was built as a military one, it has never been used in this capacity in its history. For the British living on the island, it has become more of an administrative center. And the Christian chapel built on its territory was visited by all Europeans of Penang.
Fort Cornwallis is now a historical landmark. The moat with water surrounding the fortress was filled up in the twenties of the last century - as part of the fight against malaria. Several original buildings have survived on the territory of the fort: a chapel, barracks, ammunition depots. Old cannons are still installed on the four-meter-high walls.
A bronze cannon has been preserved in the fortress, from which the first governor of the island, Francis Light, sent the natives an "advance payment" for the construction of the first fortifications. The history of this gun is very entertaining. It first came to the British at the beginning of the 17th century as a gift from the Dutch, who owned the insular part of the Johor sultanate. Later, in one of the clashes between the British and the Portuguese during the struggle for the "spice islands", the gun hit the latter. The Portuguese took her to the island of Java, where she was soon captured by pirates. Still later, from a pirate ship she was thrown into the sea in the area of the Malaysian islands, from where she got … the British. After all the adventures, the cannon took its place in Fort Cornwallis. It is not surprising that knowing the incredible history of the cannon, the locals endow it with a wide variety of magical properties.
The fort houses a small but interesting naval history museum, souvenir shops and a small city park. And from the walls of the bastion a memorable panorama of Georgetown harbor opens.
