List of described fortifications
Here are listed fortifications described in this website.
Click on headings to sort the table!
| No | Name | Country | Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Sungbo's Eredo | Nigeria | circa 1000 AD |
| 59 | Ankai-Tankai hill forts | India | ? |
| 63 | Gorakhgad hill fort | India | ? |
| 193 | Nusa Roviana hillfort and shrines | Solomon Islands | circa 1350 AD |
| 269 | Morongo Uta | French Polynesia | circa 1450 - 1550 AD |
| 323 | Østerlars Church, Bornholm | Denmark, Bornholm | circa 1160 AD |
Map of described fortifications
Throughout history, efficient defense against military intrusions often has been the only way to save cities and states from otherwise inevitable destruction. To protect themselves, different civilisations have built some of the largest known structures on Earth - fortifications, defensive walls and military structures of diverse kind.
Aurelian walls - ancient fortifications in Rome, Italy. Photo: Lalupa from Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Basically, fortifications consist of walls and ditches, which help the defenders withstand a siege. Walls are usually built of stone or bricks, although sometimes wood has been used. However, one can find earthen ramparts, which can be reinforced by other materials. Ditches can be dry or filled with water.
Criteria
This category contains outstanding structures which were built for defence against military intrusions.
Classification of fortifications
Fortifications basically can be divided into the following categories:
- Walls - largest fortifications, enclosing larger regions and even whole states
- Walled areas - fortifications enclosing a medium sized area, for example an ancient city or a refuge such as a tableland
- Fortresses and forts - fortifications enclosing a garrison
Outstanding ancient fortifications
Below are listed some ancient fortifications (e.g. made by vanished cultures of more than 1000 years ago), which represent outstanding monuments of ancient military technologies:
Walls
Hadrian's Wall, United Kingdom. Photo: A.Cuerden, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
- Hadrian's Wall - United Kingdom, stone and turf wall across England. Total length 117 km. Construction started in 122 AD by Romans
- Great Wall of China - China, largest series of fortification in world with a total length 8900 km. Built in 5th c. BC - 16th c. AD by Chinese
- Sungbo's Eredo - Nigeria, 160 km long ring-wall enclosing ancient land of Sungbo. Built circa 1000 AD by local culture
- Great Wall of Gorgan - Iran, 195 km long brick wall near Caspian Sea. Built in 5th - 6th c. AD by Persians
- Limes Germanicus - Germany, Netherlands, simple earthern ramparts with a system of buildings. Total length 600 km. Built in 83 - 260 AD by Romans
Walled areas
- Walls of Jericho - West Bank (Palestine), oldest known large scale city walls built in 7000 - 8000 BC
- Aurelian walls - Italy, Rome, up to 16 metres high walls stretching for 16 kilometres around Rome, built in 271 - 275 AD
- Chittorgarh Fort - India, Rajasthan. 13 km long walls in dramatic setting, enclosing 280 ha large area. Built in 7th century AD
- Lugo walls - Spain, Galicia. The only intact system of Roman built city walls in Europe, 10 - 15 meters high and 2,1 km long. Built in 3 century AD
Fortresses
Sigiriya, Sri Lanka. Photo: B.Gagnon, Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA-3.0.
- Sigiriya - Sri Lanka. Unique rock shelter/ fortress/ monastery built in 477 - 495 AD
- Massada - Israel. Dramatic fortress/ refuge on top of table mountain, built in 37 - 31 BC, taken by Romans simultaneously with mass suicide of 960 defenders in 73 AD
- Por-Bazhyn - Russia, Tyva Republic. Prehistoric quadrangular fortress built on an island in the Tere-Hol lake, built by Uighurs
4 May 2010 Gatis Pāvils