Aligarh Fort one of the strongest forts in India, is located in the city of Aligarh (The city was earlier named as Kol or Koil), Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

. It is also called "Aligarh Qila". It is situated on the Grand Trunk road and consists of a regular polygon, surrounded by a very broad and deep ditch.

History

It was built during the time of Ibrahim Lodi by Muhammad, son of Umar the governor of Kol, in 1524-25. Sabit Khan, who was the governor of this region during the time of Farrukh Siyar and Muhammad Shah, further rebuilt the fort. It became a fortress of great importance under Madhavrao I Scindia in 1759, and was the depot where he drilled and organized his battalions in the European fashion with the aid of French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 soldier Benoît de Boigne

Benoît de Boigne

Benoît Leborgne , better known as Count Benoît de Boigne or General Count de Boigne, was a military adventurer from the Alps of French Savoy, who made his fortune and name in India...

. During the Battle of Ally Ghur

Battle of Ally Ghur

The Battle of Aligarh pronounced by British Colonialists as Battle of Ally Ghur was fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the British East India Company during the Second Anglo-Maratha War at Aligarh, India....

, it was captured from the Maratha

Maratha

The Maratha are an Indian caste, predominantly in the state of Maharashtra. The term Marāthā has three related usages: within the Marathi speaking region it describes the dominant Maratha caste; outside Maharashtra it can refer to the entire regional population of Marathi-speaking people;...

s under the leadership of a French officer Perron

Pierre Cuillier-Perron

Pierre Cuillier-Perron , French military adventurer in India, whose name was originally Pierre Cuillier, was born at Luceau near Château-du-Loir in France, the son of a cloth merchant....

 by Lord Gerard Lake

Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake

General Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake was a British general. He commanded British forces during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and later served as Commander-in-Chief of the military in British India.-Background:...

's British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 army, in September 1803, since which time it has been much strengthened and improved. In the rebellion of 1857 the troops stationed at Aligarh mutinied, but abstained from murdering their officers, who, with the other residents and ladies and children, succeeded in reaching Hathras .

Aligarh fort, as it stands today, is the work of the French engineers under the control of de Boigne and Perron .

Now aligarh fort is in the control of Aligarh Muslim University

Aligarh Muslim University

Aligarh Muslim University ,is a residential academic university, established in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan as Mohammedan Angelo-Oriental College and later granted the status of Central University by an Act of the Indian Parliament in 1920...

 under the Department of Botany, which uses the fort internal area for maintaining the botanic garden and other plantations.