A fortification (also called a fort , fortress , fastness , or stronghold ) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare , and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime . The term is derived from Latin fortis ("strong") and facere ("to make").
155-628: Castle Clinton (also known as Fort Clinton and Castle Garden ) is a restored circular sandstone fort within Battery Park at the southern end of Manhattan in New York City , United States. Built from 1808 to 1811, it was the first American immigration station , predating Ellis Island . More than 7.5 million people arrived in the United States at Fort Clinton between 1855 and 1890. Over its active life, it has also functioned as
310-645: A beer garden , exhibition hall , theater , and public aquarium . The structure is a New York City designated landmark and a U.S. national monument , and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Fort Clinton was originally known as the West Battery or the Southwest Battery, occupying an artificial island off the shore of Lower Manhattan . Designed by John McComb Jr. , with Jonathan Williams as consulting engineer,
465-430: A ravelin like angular gun platform screening one of the curtain walls which is protected from flanking fire from the towers of the main part of the fort. Another example is the fortifications of Rhodes which were frozen in 1522 so that Rhodes is the only European walled town that still shows the transition between the classical medieval fortification and the modern ones. A manual about the construction of fortification
620-615: A New York City landmark. The LPC designated the fort as a city landmark in November 1965, seven months after the city's landmarks law was signed. Subsequently, Castle Clinton was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966, the day the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 went into effect. A restoration of Castle Clinton commenced in August 1968. The work included restoring
775-575: A New York state emigration clerk registered each immigrant and directed them to another desk, where a second clerk advised each immigrant about their destination. Each of the immigrants then received a bottle of bathwater and returned to the dock, where their baggage was collected. The New York Central Railroad and the New York and Erie Railroad sold train tickets at Castle Garden as well. Many of Castle Garden's original immigrant passenger records were stored at Ellis Island , where they were destroyed in
930-589: A New York state law that required steamship companies to pay a head tax or put up a bond for each immigrant. Afterward, the commissioners sought funding from the state legislature. Due to budgetary shortfalls, the Emigration Commissioners disbanded the labor bureau in 1875, although the German and Irish Emigrant Societies took over the labor bureau's operation. Congress passed the Page Act of 1875 ,
1085-538: A bill allowing the city government to create an aquarium within Castle Garden. Julius F. Munckwitz Jr. drew up preliminary plans for an aquarium, which he presented to New York City's board of park commissioners in mid-1892. The state government voted to allocate $ 150,000 for the construction of an aquarium within Castle Garden. The aquarium's architect of record , H. T. Woodman, reported in April 1894 that several of
1240-577: A curved wall. The walls were made of red sandstone quarried in New Jersey. The fort had 28 thirty-two-pounder cannons . A wooden bridge led from the fort to the rest of Manhattan. West Battery was intended to complement the three-tiered Castle Williams , the East Battery, on Governors Island . The fort was completed in late 1811, and it was garrisoned in 1812. However, the fort was never used for warfare, and British and American forces signed
1395-426: A demonstration of a telegraph machine at Castle Garden in 1835. Around 1845, Castle Garden was converted into a theater when a roof was built above the fort's interior. The structure contained 6,000 seats. Officials were planning to expand the nearby Battery Park by 1848, adding landfill around Castle Garden to bring the park to 24 acres (9.7 ha). In 1850, Swedish soprano Jenny Lind gave her first performances in
1550-521: A double wall of trenches and ramparts, and in the Congo forests concealed ditches and paths, along with the main works, often bristled with rows of sharpened stakes. Inner defenses were laid out to blunt an enemy penetration with a maze of defensive walls allowing for entrapment and crossfire on opposing forces. A military tactic of the Ashanti was to create powerful log stockades at key points. This
1705-478: A fire in 1897. Sources cite 7.5 million or 8 million immigrants as having been processed at Castle Garden. These account for the vast majority of the nearly 10 million immigrants who passed through the Port of New York between 1847 and 1890. The majority of immigrants processed at Castle Garden were from European countries, namely Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Scotland, and Sweden. The facility's name
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#17327876571771860-552: A maritime museum and a restaurant. In 1962, New York City parks commissioner Newbold Morris proposed relocating 18 columns from the soon-to-be-demolished Pennsylvania Station to a promenade outside Castle Clinton. This never happened, and the columns were instead dumped in a landfill in New Jersey. Castle Clinton was one of the earliest buildings that the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) considered protecting as
2015-590: A monument on the site. After the United States Congress declined to allocate funding for Fort Clinton's renovation, the Board of Estimate voted yet again to demolish the fort in July 1947. Some demolition work did take place, but the structure was not totally demolished due to a lack of funding. After Interior undersecretary Oscar L. Chapman indicated in August 1947 that Congress would allocate money to
2170-413: A necessity for many cities. Amnya Fort in western Siberia has been described by archaeologists as one of the oldest known fortified settlements, as well as the northernmost Stone Age fort. In Bulgaria, near the town of Provadia a walled fortified settlement today called Solnitsata starting from 4700 BC had a diameter of about 300 feet (91 m), was home to 350 people living in two-storey houses, and
2325-593: A peace treaty in February 1815. By then, West Battery was renamed Fort Clinton in honor of New York City Mayor DeWitt Clinton (who eventually became Governor of New York ). The castle itself was converted to administrative headquarters for the Army. Simultaneously, at the end of the war, there was a public movement to build a park in the Battery area. A 1816 proposal to construct two small office buildings at Fort Clinton
2480-501: A quadrangle of desks arranged around this waiting area, as well as restrooms flanking the main entrance. The waiting area also had wooden benches. Although there are no precise figures for the capacity of the waiting area, various sources give a capacity of between 2,000 and 4,000. An enclosed balcony was installed around the waiting area circa 1869. The residential outbuildings around the fort became offices. Before being processed at Castle Garden, immigrants underwent medical inspections at
2635-632: A registration center for immigrants. Although the board had acquired the Marine Hospital on Staten Island soon after its establishment, their efforts to open a registration center were unsuccessful for several years. Prior to the establishment of the registration center, unethical ticket-booking agents for transport lines frequently approached newly arrived immigrants, only to abscond with the immigrants' savings. The board took over Allen's lease of Castle Garden in May 1855 and made some modifications, leasing
2790-416: A renovation of Castle Garden. Despite ongoing disputes over the fort's fate, workers began removing metal from Castle Garden on September 25, while the rest of the building remained in place for the time being. The fort's original door, attached to the wall using 768 iron bolts, was also removed. An engineer hired by Moses to conduct a structural survey of Fort Clinton reported a "pronounced vertical crack" on
2945-591: A result, very very few kotas still stand to this day. Notable kotas: During Muhammad 's era in Arabia, many tribes made use of fortifications. In the Battle of the Trench , the largely outnumbered defenders of Medina, mainly Muslims led by Islamic prophet Muhammad, dug a trench , which together with Medina's natural fortifications, rendered the confederate cavalry (consisting of horses and camels ) useless, locking
3100-492: A series of straight lines creating the central fortified area that gives this style of fortification its name. Garrison A garrison (from the French garnison , itself from the verb garnir , "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters . A garrison
3255-538: A series of thefts and break-ins at Castle Clinton in the early 1980s, the NPS stationed several armed guards outside the fort. In the decade after it was rededicated, the fort was open nine months a year, operating five days per week. NPS officials estimated that the fort had no more than 100,000 annual visitors. The NPS closed Castle Clinton for renovations in December 1985. It announced plans to install two ticket booths and
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#17327876571773410-543: A small history exhibit and occasionally hosts concerts. The nonprofit Battery Conservancy is also housed within Castle Clinton. According to the NPS, Castle Clinton typically has over three million visitors a year, making it one of the most visited national monuments in the United States. The Castle Clinton National Monument was formally dedicated on October 24, 1950. Battery Park reopened to the public two years later, although Castle Clinton had not yet been restored at
3565-529: A waiting area for ferries to the Statue of Liberty National Monument . The NPS planned to spend $ 1.5 million to replace two structures, add exhibitions, restore the roof and parade ground, and reconstruct a doorway that had been sealed in 1974. The fort was to operate every day of the week, year-round, though the NPS subsequently decided to close all national monuments in Manhattan on Sundays. The NPS expected that
3720-561: Is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the generic fort or fortress in that they are a residence of a monarch or noble and command a specific defensive territory. Roman forts and hill forts were the main antecedents of castles in Europe, which emerged in the 9th century in the Carolingian Empire . The Early Middle Ages saw
3875-428: Is another example of a Gaulish fortified settlement. The term casemate wall is used in the archaeology of Israel and the wider Near East , having the meaning of a double wall protecting a city or fortress, with transverse walls separating the space between the walls into chambers. These could be used as such, for storage or residential purposes, or could be filled with soil and rocks during siege in order to raise
4030-548: Is employed when in the course of a campaign it becomes desirable to protect some locality with the best imitation of permanent defences that can be made in a short time, ample resources and skilled civilian labour being available. An example of this is the construction of Roman forts in England and in other Roman territories where camps were set up with the intention of staying for some time, but not permanently. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from
4185-519: Is formally known as poliorcetics . In some texts, this latter term also applies to the art of building a fortification. Fortification is usually divided into two branches: permanent fortification and field fortification. Permanent fortifications are erected at leisure, with all the resources that a state can supply of constructive and mechanical skill, and are built of enduring materials. Field fortifications—for example breastworks —and often known as fieldworks or earthworks, are extemporized by troops in
4340-534: Is usually in a city , town , fort , castle , ship , or similar site. "Garrison town" is a common expression for any town that has a military base nearby. "Garrison towns" ( Arabic : أمصار , romanized : amsar ) were used during the Arab Islamic conquests of Middle Eastern lands by Arab - Muslim armies to increase their dominance over indigenous populations. In order to occupy non-Arab, non-Islamic areas, nomadic Arab tribesmen were taken from
4495-746: 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 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 neighbouring communities bickered constantly about
4650-503: The Castle Clinton National Monument in 1946. The National Park Service took over the fort in 1950. After several unsuccessful attempts to restore the fort, Castle Clinton reopened in 1975 following an extensive renovation. Since 1986, it has served as a visitor center and a departure point for ferries to the Statue of Liberty National Monument . Castle Clinton stands slightly west of where Fort Amsterdam
4805-637: The Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece , large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece , such as the ancient site of Mycenae (known for the huge stone blocks of its ' cyclopean ' walls). A Greek phrourion was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison , and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or fortress. These constructions mainly served
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4960-1205: The 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 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 . Arthashastra , the Indian treatise on military strategy describes six major types of forts differentiated by their major modes of defenses. Forts in Sri Lanka date back thousands of years, with many being built by Sri Lankan kings. These include several walled cities. With
5115-586: The Mediterranean . The fortifications were continuously being expanded and improved. Around 600 BC, in Heuneburg , Germany, forts were constructed with a limestone foundation supported by a mudbrick wall approximately 4 metres tall, probably topped by a roofed walkway, thus reaching a total height of 6 metres. The wall was clad with lime plaster, regularly renewed. Towers protruded outwards from it. The Oppidum of Manching (German: Oppidum von Manching)
5270-569: 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
5425-473: The New York Aquarium , which opened in 1896 and continued operating until 1941. The fort was expanded and renovated several times during this period. In the 1940s, New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses proposed demolishing Fort Clinton as part of the construction of the nearby Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel . This led to a prolonged debate over the fort's preservation, as well as the creation of
5580-571: The New York City water supply system and salt water from the Hudson River. Salt water passed through two bronze filters, while fresh water passed through two copper filters; the four filters could collectively process over 200,000 U.S. gallons (760,000 L) per day. The New York City government had proposed converting Castle Garden into an aquarium in 1891. The following February, the New York State Legislature passed
5735-527: The Nordic states and in Britain , the fortifications of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the harbour archipelago of Suomenlinna at Helsinki being fine examples. During the 18th century, it was found that the continuous enceinte , or main defensive enclosure of a bastion fortress, could not be made large enough to accommodate the enormous field armies which were increasingly being employed in Europe; neither could
5890-707: The Old City of Shanghai , Suzhou , Xi'an and the walled villages of Hong Kong . The famous walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing were established in the early 15th century by the Yongle Emperor . The Forbidden City made up the inner portion of the Beijing city fortifications . During the Spanish Era several forts and outposts were built throughout the archipelago. Most notable is Intramuros ,
6045-618: The Siege of Ta'if in January 630, Muhammad ordered his followers to attack enemies who fled from the Battle of Hunayn and sought refuge in the fortress of Taif. The entire city of Kerma in Nubia (present day Sudan) was encompassed by fortified walls surrounded by a ditch. Archaeology has revealed various Bronze Age bastions and foundations constructed of stone together with either baked or unfired brick. The walls of Benin are described as
6200-545: The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island; the fort continues to sell tickets for the Statue of Liberty National Monument as of 2023. Statue Cruises , which operates the only ferry line to Liberty Island and Ellis Island, sells ferry tickets inside the fort. Admission to Castle Clinton itself is free, and the National Park Service gives guided tours when the monument is open to the public. The fort also contains
6355-634: The Tang dynasty (618–907 AD). The Great Wall of China had been built since the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC), although its present form was mostly an engineering feat and remodelling of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 AD). In addition to the Great Wall, a number of Chinese cities also employed the use of defensive walls to defend their cities. Notable Chinese city walls include the city walls of Hangzhou , Nanjing ,
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6510-828: The Theodosian Walls of Constantinople , together with partial remains elsewhere. These are mostly city gates, like the Porta Nigra in Trier or Newport Arch in Lincoln . Hadrian's Wall was built by the Roman Empire across the width of what is now northern England following a visit by Roman Emperor Hadrian (AD 76–138) in AD ;122. A number of forts dating from the Later Stone Age to
6665-622: The United States Armed Forces during the American Civil War , the County Bounty Committee erected a recruitment center next to Castle Garden. Two years later, the Board of Emigration Commissioners constructed a one-story labor exchange building, a waiting room, and an information office, and they made repairs to Castle Garden. The fort's exterior remained largely unchanged over the years, but
6820-597: The War of 1812 . Late that year, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Williams of the United States Army Engineers began planning a series of fortifications in New York Harbor . Williams was part of a group of three commissioners who, in 1807, submitted a report that recommended the construction of such fortifications. Fort Clinton, originally known as West Battery and sometimes as Southwest Battery,
6975-408: The first immigration depot in the U.S. from 1855 to 1890. Most of the fort, except for the section along the shoreline, was surrounded by a 1,000-foot-long (300 m) wooden fence. The fence, measuring 12 or 13 feet (3.7 or 4.0 m) high, was intended to keep out unauthorized immigrants. At the center of the fort was the waiting area, known as the rotunda. The immigrant registration depot included
7130-401: The "Great Wall of Brodgar" it was 4 metres (13 ft) thick and 4 metres tall. The wall had some symbolic or ritualistic function. The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces , temples and defensive walls. In Bronze Age Malta , some settlements also began to be fortified. The most notable surviving example is Borġ in-Nadur , where a bastion built in around 1500 BC
7285-434: The 'runners' who approached innocent Irish and German newcomers, offering them nonexistent lodgings for their money". By the early 1870s, Castle Garden's information bureau employed staff members who could speak over a dozen languages. The New York state government encouraged immigrants to use other ports of entry to reduce overcrowding, so it issued a head tax on every immigrant who passed through Castle Garden. This measure
7440-449: The 1882 act, the Emigration Commissioners earned 50 cents for each immigrant who passed through Castle Garden. Later that year, the Emigration Commissioners began collecting rent from the various companies and agents with offices at Castle Garden, and it started collecting taxes from boardinghouse operators. The Immigration Act of 1882 also prompted a jurisdictional dispute between the city, state, and federal governments. For example, in 1885,
7595-530: The 19th and early 20th centuries. The advances in modern warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations. Many United States Army installations are known as forts, although they are not always fortified. During the pioneering era of North America, many outposts on the frontiers, even non-military outposts, were referred to generically as forts. Larger military installations may be called fortresses; smaller ones were once known as fortalices. The word fortification can refer to
7750-840: The Arab-Islamic garrisons was the uprooting of the aforementioned nomadic Arab tribesmen from their original home regions in the Arabian Peninsula in order to proactively avert these tribal peoples, and particularly their young men, from revolting against the Islamic state established in their midst. In the United Kingdom , "Garrison" also specifically refers to any of the major military stations such as Aldershot , Catterick , Colchester , Tidworth , Bulford , and London , which have more than one barracks or camp and their own military headquarters , usually commanded by
7905-626: The Barge Office, where officers examined immigrants' baggage. The baggage-collection duties soon returned to Castle Garden, and the Barge Office became a storage area. New York state officials unsuccessfully attempted to reinstate a head tax at Castle Garden in 1881. The following year, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1882 , which imposed a head tax on non-U.S. citizens who passed through American ports, as well as restricted certain classes of people from immigrating to America. Under
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#17327876571778060-421: The Battery Park Association to advocate against the plans. By the late 1920s, there were plans to reconstruct Battery Park into a formal vista. As part of this plan, an amphitheater would have been constructed in the southern end of Battery Park, complementing Castle Garden at the northern end. The Castle Garden Aquarium remained popular in the 1930s, with two million visitors per year. Two laboratories were built on
8215-536: The Board of Estimate in March 1942, in which the fort was to be replaced by a landscaped promenade. The board voted in favor of removing the fort from Battery Park that June. City officials quickly placed the fort for sale, allowing potential buyers to preserve the fort by relocating it, but the officials rejected the sole bid from a Brooklyn junkyard operator who offered $ 1,120 (equivalent to $ 20,885 in 2023). The Fine Arts Federation of New York held an architectural design competition in August 1942, soliciting plans for
8370-412: The Board of Estimate to allocate $ 1.75 million to the renovation, but the board still had not funded the renovation of Castle Garden by 1916. Townsend said the aquarium's mechanical facilities needed major upgrades; according to Townsend, the mechanical equipment under the fort was flooded at high tide, and power was provided by coal bunkers, which had to be manually replenished every four days. In addition,
8525-419: The Board of Estimate voted to demolish the castle for the sixth time. The American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society continued to advocate for the fort's preservation, asking the New York Supreme Court to restrict the city from demolishing Fort Clinton in July 1948. The state Supreme Court issued an injunction that December, requiring the New York City Art Commission to approve any proposal to demolish
8680-458: The Indus Valley Civilization were fortified. Forts also appeared in urban cities of the Gangetic valley during the second urbanisation period between 600 and 200 BC, and as many as 15 fortification sites have been identified by archaeologists throughout the Gangetic valley, such as Kaushambi , Mahasthangarh , Pataliputra , Mathura , Ahichchhatra , Rajgir , and Lauria Nandangarh . The earliest Mauryan period brick fortification occurs in one of
8835-455: The Iron Age and peaking in Iron Age II (10th–6th century BC). However, the construction of casemate walls had begun to be replaced by sturdier solid walls by the 9th century BC , probably due the development of more effective battering rams by the Neo-Assyrian Empire . Casemate walls could surround an entire settlement, but most only protected part of it. The three different types included freestanding casemate walls, then integrated ones where
8990-409: The Marine Hospital on Staten Island , where ill immigrants were quarantined. Those who passed their medical inspection boarded a steamship, which traveled to a dock along the northern side of Castle Garden; the dock faced away from Battery Park, preventing immigrants from entering Manhattan before they had been processed. Immigrants were inspected a second time before entering the fort. Inside the depot,
9145-473: The New York City government opposed the move and accused the Emigration Commissioners of violating the terms of their lease. Many complaints about Castle Garden came from "runners" representing booking agents and boarding house operators, who could not intercept unwitting immigrants because of Castle Garden's strict policies. The New York state government's initial four-year lease of Castle Garden expired in 1859, and state officials renewed their lease annually for
9300-429: The New York premieres of two operas at Castle Garden: Gaetano Donizetti 's Marino Faliero on June 17, 1851, and Giuseppe Verdi 's Luisa Miller on July 20, 1854. The fort was leased to Theodore J. Allen for five years on May 1, 1854. Under the terms of the lease, Allen could expand the island around Castle Garden, but he could not infill the channel between Castle Garden and Battery Park. Castle Garden served as
9455-498: The United States with two concerts at Castle Gardens; tickets for these concerts cost up to $ 225 (equivalent to $ 8,240 in 2023). A year later, Castle Garden started selling concert tickets at "popular prices" of up to 50 cents (equivalent to $ 18 in 2023). In the early 1850s, European dancing star Lola Montez performed her "tarantula dance", and Louis-Antoine Jullien gave dozens of successful concerts mixing classical and light music. The Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company staged
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#17327876571779610-409: The ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its ' cyclopean ' walls). In classical era Greece , the city of Athens built two parallel stone walls, called the Long Walls , that reached their fortified seaport at Piraeus a few miles away. In Central Europe , the Celts built large fortified settlements known as oppida , whose walls seem partially influenced by those built in
9765-414: The aquarium to the Zoological Society in July 1902, and the Zoological Society took over on October 31, 1902, with Charles Haskins Townsend as the aquarium's director. Townsend soon made several modifications to Castle Garden's facilities. He covered the tanks' tiled surfaces with rocks, as well as reconfiguring each of the tanks' pipes to reduce energy usage. The Zoological Society added a classroom next to
9920-487: The aquarium was delayed by what the New-York Tribune characterized as "gross stupidity". For instance, the skylights on the roof acted as a greenhouse that raised the temperature of the water in the tanks, and the saltwater fish in the aquarium were dying off because of the low salinity of the Hudson River. The Tribune estimated that these mistakes had increased the project's cost by $ 35,000 (equivalent to $ 1,282,000 in 2023). Local media reported in September 1896 that
10075-543: The aquarium was largely completed. At the time, the tanks contained 45 species, some of which had been in the aquarium for two years. Ultimately, it cost $ 175,000 to renovate Castle Garden into an aquarium (equivalent to $ 6,409,000 in 2023). The aquarium opened on December 10, 1896, following a soft opening the previous day. The aquarium attracted thousands of visitors on its opening day, and it averaged over 10,000 visitors per day during its first several months. Visitors were not charged admission, which may have contributed to
10230-409: The aquarium was originally surrounded by about 100 tanks of varying sizes, placed on two levels. The tanks were up to 6 feet (1.8 m) deep, with 1-inch-thick (2.5 cm) plate-glass panes and white-tiled surfaces. By 1907, there were seven large tanks at the center of the ground story, 94 large tanks and 26 smaller tanks on the walls, and 30 reserve tanks. The tanks were supplied by fresh water from
10385-442: The aquarium's popularity. The aquarium had two million guests within a year, and it had 5.5 million total guests by May 1900. In March 1902, New York state legislators proposed transferring operation of the New York Aquarium to the New York Zoological Society . City officials had suggested the idea to remove political interference from the aquarium's operation. The New York City Board of Estimate authorized mayor Seth Low to lease
10540-410: The arrival of cannons on the 14th century battlefield . Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb and disperse the energy of cannon fire. Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes. This placed a heavy emphasis on the geometry of
10695-409: The basement, replacing a steam plant on the south side of the fort, and then install two tanks in the space formerly occupied by the steam plant. This work was funded by a bequest from Mrs. Russell Sage. The same year, a bust of Jenny Lind was dedicated and installed at the center of the fort. The Board of Estimate voted in December 1921 to provide $ 105,000 for the construction of an additional story atop
10850-414: The center of the fort was a green-and-yellow dome, with a verse of Scripture ( Habakkuk 1:15) inscribed into the dome's base. The aquarium could accommodate 10,000 fish and other species. At the center of the ground story was a large circular pool surrounded by six smaller elliptical pools. Fish and other marine species were loaded into the aquarium through a doorway at one end of the fort. The perimeter of
11005-399: The city government on December 31, 1890. By the next year, city officials had removed the wooden fence around Castle Garden, and they were planning to demolish the various outbuildings around the fort. The New York Naval Reserve's First Battalion considered relocating to Castle Garden at that time, and it subsequently used Castle Garden as a drill hall during the early 1890s. Castle Garden was
11160-667: The city to transfer the fort to the federal government. Separately, the New York City Council voted to allow the New York state government to take over Fort Clinton if the federal government did not want to take over ownership. The U.S. House voted in October to allocate $ 165,750 for the fort's restoration (equivalent to $ 2,123,000 in 2023), allowing the National Park Service (NPS) to start restoring
11315-601: The closure of the Castle Garden processing depot. The Chicago Daily Tribune wrote that the structure was "a dilapidated rotunda surrounded by equally ramshackle structures for the housing of the strangers on these shores". The Emigration Commissioners had dismissed many of Castle Garden's employees in September 1889 because of declining income, further compounding the facility's issues. Federal and state officials also had difficulty sharing jurisdiction of Castle Garden; state officials reportedly did not enforce federal laws, as it
11470-566: The control of prime agricultural land. The fortification varies by site. While Dholavira has stone-built fortification walls, 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
11625-407: The creation of some towns built around castles. Medieval-style fortifications were largely made obsolete by the arrival of cannons in the 14th century. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb and disperse the energy of cannon fire. Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so
11780-964: The current level of military development. During the Renaissance era , the Venetian Republic raised great walls around cities, and the finest examples, among others, are in Nicosia (Cyprus), Rocca di Manerba del Garda (Lombardy), and Palmanova (Italy), or Dubrovnik (Croatia), which proved to be futile against attacks but still stand to this day. Unlike the Venetians, the Ottomans used to build smaller fortifications but in greater numbers, and only rarely fortified entire settlements such as Počitelj , Vratnik , and Jajce in Bosnia . Medieval-style fortifications were largely made obsolete by
11935-490: The defences be constructed far enough away from the fortress town to protect the inhabitants from bombardment by the besiegers, the range of whose guns was steadily increasing as better manufactured weapons were introduced. Threfore, since refortifying the Prussian fortress cities of Koblenz and Cologne after 1815, the principle of the ring fortress or girdle fortress was used: forts, each several hundred metres out from
12090-418: The desert by the ruling Arab elite, conscripted into Islamic armies, and settled into garrison towns as well as given a share in the spoils of war . The primary utility of the Arab-Islamic garrisons was to control the indigenous non-Arab peoples of these conquered and occupied territories, and to serve as garrison bases to launch further Islamic military campaigns into yet-undominated lands. A secondary aspect of
12245-607: The desolate, cratered parade ground". In 1954, the New York City Council passed a resolution asking Congress to establish a committee to provide suggestions for restoring Castle Clinton, the Federal Hall National Memorial , and the Statue of Liberty National Monument. The next year, the federal government created the New York City National Shrines Advisory Board. The board first convened in February 1956, and
12400-728: The escalation of the Sri Lankan Civil War ; Jaffna fort , for example, came under siege several times. Large tempered earth (i.e. rammed earth ) walls were built in ancient China since the Shang dynasty ( c. 1600 –1050 BC); the capital at ancient Ao had enormous walls built in this fashion (see siege for more info). Although stone walls were built in China during the Warring States (481–221 BC), mass conversion to stone architecture did not begin in earnest until
12555-571: The exterior and interior walls; adding a shingle roof; removing a moat and other facilities related to the fort's use as an aquarium; and repairing officers' quarters, parade ground, and ammunition storage areas. This renovation was supposed to last one year. The federal government postponed funding for further restoration because of the Vietnam War. The NPS commenced a wider-ranging restoration project c. 1972, which cost about $ 750,000 (equivalent to $ 5,463,000 in 2023). As part of this project,
12710-479: The federal government allocated $ 498,500 that July for a renovation of Castle Clinton (equivalent to $ 5,587,000 in 2023). In February 1957, the board recommended allocating $ 3 million for the restoration of the three sites. The United States Department of the Interior subsequently postponed the repair project to 1966. This led architect Frederick G. Frost Jr. to propose in 1958 that the fort be renovated for use as
12865-419: The ferries to the Statue of Liberty National Monument were not operating at the time. That December, the NPS erected a tent with seven body scanners at Castle Clinton, where visitors to the Statue of Liberty National Monument underwent a security screening. The facility could not handle large crowds, often resulting in waits of more than one hour. The NPS considered relocating the security-screening facilities to
13020-400: The field, perhaps assisted by such local labour and tools as may be procurable and with materials that do not require much preparation, such as soil, brushwood, and light timber , or sandbags (see sangar ). An example of field fortification was the construction of Fort Necessity by George Washington in 1754. There is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. This
13175-411: The first restrictive federal immigration law in the United States, during this time. The structure was severely damaged in a fire on July 30, 1876. Castle Garden's exterior remained intact, as did the outbuildings to the north of the fort, but the interior was completely destroyed. In the aftermath of the fire, several city officials proposed shuttering the Castle Garden immigration center and restoring
13330-483: The fish to become blind. The Zoological Society installed new pipes at Castle Garden in 1908. Meanwhile, by the early 20th century, city officials were planning to rebuild Battery Park, and they considered replacing Castle Garden with a skyscraper. By January 1911, officials instead planned to expand Castle Garden, adding semicircular wings to the west and east for over $ 1 million. Each wing was to contain three tiers of tanks and classroom space. The Zoological Society asked
13485-559: The fort "afterward became associated with scenes of peace and popular amusement". One critic described Castle Garden in 1828 as "a favored place of public resort". The fort reopened as Castle Garden on July 3, 1824. One of the fort's first events was in September 1824, when 6,000 people attended an event honoring General Lafayette . Over the years, the fort hosted other political figures such as U.S. presidents Andrew Jackson , John Tyler , and James K. Polk , as well as Hungarian governor-president Lajos Kossuth . Inventor Samuel Morse hosted
13640-429: The fort after the federal government gained ownership. The city's mayor William O'Dwyer supported the fort's preservation, but, due to legal technicalities, the city government did not transfer ownership of the fort for several months. On July 18, 1950, the city deeded the land and castle to the federal government. The modern-day Castle Clinton is a one-story structure with a radius of 92 feet (28 m). The roof above
13795-438: The fort as a venue for "public enjoyment". Nonetheless, the New York state government awarded a contract for Castle Garden's reconstruction in September 1876, and it reopened on November 27, 1876. As part of the $ 30,000 project (equivalent to $ 858,375 in 2023), officials installed windows in the embrasures along the facade, and they added two doorways. After the nearby Barge Office was completed in 1879, immigrants disembarked at
13950-406: The fort contains a portico with wooden columns surrounding a canopy. There is also a gravel courtyard, brick powder magazines , and two subterranean water tanks covered by wooden trapdoors. The SeaGlass Carousel is just southeast of the modern-day fort. Since 1986, the fort's interior has housed an information kiosk and ticket booths for the Statue of Liberty National Monument , which comprises
14105-505: The fort for $ 8,000 annually (equivalent to $ 261,600 in 2023). Several local residents attempted to prevent the fort from being converted into an immigrant registration depot, claiming that the state government's lease was illegal and that the newly arrived immigrants would spread disease. A judge for the state's Superior Court ruled in June 1855 that work on the immigrant-processing depot could proceed. The Emigrant Landing Depot opened within
14260-471: The fort had never been properly renovated for the aquarium's use, and the second story's wooden frame was flammable. Townsend said the annexes would not only provide additional exhibition space but also allow the mechanical facilities to be upgraded. In 1921, Townsend announced that the Zoological Society would spend $ 75,000 (equivalent to $ 1,281,000 in 2023) to construct an electric plant in
14415-554: The fort in 1821, and it was ceded to the city by an act of Congress in March 1822. By then, the bridge leading to Fort Clinton was frequently used by fishermen who were catching fish from the bridge, which was connected to the shore at the foot of Broadway . The fort was leased to the New York City government as an entertainment venue in June 1824; the city originally paid $ 1,400 a year for five years. The city government subleased
14570-405: The fort on August 1, 1855, and the depot began processing immigrants two days later. The identity of the first migrant processed at the fort is unknown. Of the first five ships to arrive at Castle Garden, English laborer Richard Richards was the first person on the manifest of the largest ship. Although the New York state government endorsed Castle Garden's conversion to an immigrant-processing depot,
14725-420: The fort to Francis Fitch, Arthur Roorbach, and J. Rathbone. Fort Clinton became Castle Garden, which served as a beer garden , exhibition hall , and theater . The venue contained 50 boxes , each with a table and eight seats. Atop Castle Garden was a circular promenade with a canopy above it. Castle Garden was surrounded by a gravel promenade and shrubbery atop a seawall. The New-York Daily Tribune wrote that
14880-404: The fort was garrisoned in 1812 but was never used for warfare. In 1824, the New York City government converted Fort Clinton into a 6,000-seat entertainment venue known as Castle Garden, which operated until 1855. Castle Garden then served as an immigrant processing depot for 35 years. When the processing facilities were moved to Ellis Island in 1892, Castle Garden was converted into the first home of
15035-491: The fort would attract up to five million visitors a year. A ferry pier was also installed behind Castle Clinton. The fort reopened the weekend of July 4, 1986, as a visitor center and ticket office for the Statue of Liberty National Monument. Castle Clinton also began selling ferry tickets to Ellis Island in 1990, when that island's main building was converted into a museum. By 1996, the Conservancy for Historic Battery Park
15190-434: The fort's interior has largely been removed, and there is a nearly circular, open-air parade ground at the center of the fort. It is surrounded by a wall measuring 8 feet (2.4 m) thick. The stucco on the facade was removed under the National Park Service's ownership, and the brownstone-and-ashlar exterior walls were restored to their original condition. Underneath the walls is a rough stone foundation. The circumference of
15345-558: The fort's preservation for nine years. Moses opposed efforts to preserve Castle Garden, saying that the old fort "never fired a shot". The city government closed the New York Aquarium and moved some fish and turtles to other aquariums in late 1941; other fish were released into the Atlantic Ocean. A new aquarium was ultimately built on Coney Island in 1957. Moses presented plans for a reconstruction of Battery Park to
15500-408: The fort's walls. Preservationists asked a New York state judge to grant an injunction to prevent demolition, but a judge declined the request in April 1943. Preservationists again petitioned the Board of Estimate to preserve the building, but the board voted in October 1945 to demolish the fort. Albert S. Bard , Walter D. Binger , and other civic reformers continued to advocate in favor of preserving
15655-420: The fort, and it installed a 100,000-U.S.-gallon (380,000 L) tank underneath the fort to store saltwater. The organization also repainted the interior for the first time in Castle Garden's history. These modifications cost over $ 30,000 (equivalent to $ 1,056,000 in 2023). The fort's design continued to pose issues; for example, aquarium officials discovered in 1905 that the roof skylights were causing some of
15810-549: The fort, but the Supreme Court's Appellate Division struck down this injunction in March 1949. By early 1949, U.S. president Harry S. Truman had also expressed support for preserving Fort Clinton. The Assembly voted in March 1949 to cede the fort to the federal government, and the New York State Senate passed an identical bill. New York governor Thomas E. Dewey signed the bill the next month, allowing
15965-430: The fort. By early 1923, the Zoological Society was carrying out the renovations at a cost of $ 86,000 (equivalent to $ 1,538,000 in 2023). In June 1923, the board voted to give $ 76,500 for the construction of an additional story above the fort. The Zoological Society planned to add deeper tanks on the second floor, expanding exhibition space by 20 percent. By then, the aquarium had two million annual visitors. The expansion
16120-592: The fort. In July 1946, U.S. representative Sol Bloom introduced a bill to designate Castle Garden as a U.S. national monument . Both the House and the Senate approved the legislation, and president Harry S. Truman signed the bill into law on August 12, 1946, enabling the United States Department of the Interior to determine whether to take over the fort. At the time, the city government still owned
16275-475: The fortification to allow defensive cannonry interlocking fields of fire to cover all approaches to the lower and thus more vulnerable walls. The evolution of this new style of fortification can be seen in transitional forts such as Sarzanello in North West Italy which was built between 1492 and 1502. Sarzanello consists of both crenellated walls with towers typical of the medieval period but also has
16430-532: The frontiers of the Nile Valley to protect against invaders from neighbouring territories, as well as circle-shaped mud brick walls around their cities. Many of the fortifications of the ancient world were built with mud brick, often leaving them no more than mounds of dirt for today's archaeologists. A massive prehistoric stone wall surrounded the ancient temple of Ness of Brodgar 3200 BC in Scotland . Named
16585-504: The generic fort or fortress in that it describes a residence of a monarch or noble and commands a specific defensive territory. An example of this is the massive medieval castle of Carcassonne . Defensive fences for protecting humans and domestic animals against predators was used long before the appearance of writing and began "perhaps with primitive man blocking the entrances of his caves for security from large carnivores ". From very early history to modern times, walls have been
16740-532: The height of the Maguindanao Sultanate 's power, they blanketed the areas around Western Mindanao with kotas and other fortifications to block the Spanish advance into the region. These kotas were usually made of stone and bamboo or other light materials and surrounded by trench networks. As a result, some of these kotas were burned easily or destroyed. With further Spanish campaigns in the region,
16895-413: The inner wall was part of the outer buildings of the settlement, and finally filled casemate walls, where the rooms between the walls were filled with soil right away, allowing for a quick, but nevertheless stable construction of particularly high walls. The Romans fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls. The most famous of these are the largely extant Aurelian Walls of Rome and
17050-414: The interior and many of the fort's wooden outbuildings were frequently renovated. Battery Park was expanded circa 1869 using landfill , at which point the island containing Castle Garden was incorporated into the rest of Manhattan Island. The rotunda was extensively restored at this time, and a wooden balcony was installed. By then, The New York Times wrote that the surrounding Battery Park was "a haven for
17205-402: The intervals between them. The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification. Star forts did not fare well against the effects of high explosives and the intricate arrangements of bastions, flanking batteries and the carefully constructed lines of fire for the defending cannon could be rapidly disrupted by explosive shells. Worse,
17360-413: The large open ditches surrounding forts of this type were an integral part of the defensive scheme, as was the covered way at the edge of the counter scarp . The ditch was extremely vulnerable to bombardment with explosive shells. In response, military engineers evolved the polygonal style of fortification. The ditch became deep and vertically sided, cut directly into the native rock or soil, laid out as
17515-480: The main antecedents of castles in Europe , which emerged in the 9th century in the Carolingian Empire . The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of some towns built around castles. These cities were only rarely protected by simple stone walls and more usually by a combination of both walls and ditches . From the 12th century, hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe, which very often obtained
17670-498: The monument the next month. When it reopened, Castle Clinton hosted concerts for the public during summer weekends, and it also hosted exhibits and guided tours. The fort contained dioramas depicting Manhattan at various points in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1979, the NPS and the Manhattan Cultural Council commissioned four sculptures, which were installed within Castle Clinton's central courtyard. Following
17825-572: The nearby City Pier A in 2003 but decided against it. Although the security tent in front of Castle Clinton had been intended as a temporary measure, it remained in place for more than a decade. The security screening facilities were supposed to have been relocated to Ellis Island in 2013; as of 2024, the screening facilities were located southeast of Castle Clinton. Fort From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest . Some settlements in
17980-434: The next ten years. By then, state and city officials could not agree on who owned the depot. The city, state, and federal governments continued to fight over the depot's ownership through the 1870s. Although Castle Garden staff often mistreated immigrants, historian George J. Svejda wrote that the depot "was still the best place for immigrants upon their landing on America's shores". In 1864, to convince immigrants to enlist in
18135-550: The officers' quarters were restored, and an exhibit was placed inside a former powder magazine. Preservationists were advocating for Castle Clinton to be used as a performing-arts center by late 1972. The following June, the fort hosted its first concert since the 1850s, a performance commemorating Jenny Lind. Castle Clinton reopened on May 25, 1975, with a performance of Beethoven's 9th by the American Symphony Orchestra . City and federal officials rededicated
18290-539: The old walled city of Manila located along the southern bank of the Pasig River . The historic city was home to centuries-old churches, schools, convents, government buildings and residences, the best collection of Spanish colonial architecture before much of it was destroyed by the bombs of World War II . Of all the buildings within the 67-acre city, only one building, the San Agustin Church, survived
18445-440: The original enceinte, were carefully sited so as to make best use of the terrain and to be capable of mutual support with the neighbouring forts. Gone were citadels surrounding towns: forts were to be moved to the outside of the cities some 12 km to keep the enemy at a distance so their artillery could not bombard the city center. From now on a ring of forts were to be built at a spacing that would allow them to effectively cover
18600-738: 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 ; these forts were captured and later expanded by the Dutch . The British occupied these Dutch forts during
18755-689: The park was rebuilt during the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel 's construction. He justified the demolition by saying that the fort had poor lighting and ventilation and that it required extensive repairs. In response, the New-York Historical Society proposed restoring the fort and turning it into a maritime museum. George McAneny , a former mayor and the chairman of the Regional Plan Association 's board, proposed restoring Castle Garden; he continued to advocate
18910-409: The practice of improving an area's defense with defensive works. City walls are fortifications but are not necessarily called fortresses. The art of setting out a military camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called castrametation since the time of the Roman legions . Laying siege to a fortification and of destroying it is commonly called siegecraft or siege warfare and
19065-403: The project in 1948, the board voted to delay further action for one year. In the meantime, the city allocated $ 50,000 (equivalent to $ 682,000 in 2023) to shore up the fort's southeastern corner while the tunnel was being built. In March 1948, a New York State Assembly committee refused to vote on a bill that would have allowed the federal government to take over Fort Clinton. Two months later,
19220-467: The property, and the fort could not become a national monument unless the federal government took ownership. Engineers estimated that it would cost between $ 40,000 and $ 100,000 to preserve the fort while the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel was being constructed. The city government would only retain the fort if the federal government agreed to pay for its restoration, though Moses did suggest constructing
19375-471: The purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and borders. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch and maintain the border. The art of setting out a military camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called "castrametation" since the time of the Roman legions . Fortification is usually divided into two branches: permanent fortification and field fortification. There
19530-656: The resistance of the outer wall against battering rams. Originally thought to have been introduced to the region by the Hittites , this has been disproved by the discovery of examples predating their arrival, the earliest being at Ti'inik (Taanach) where such a wall has been dated to the 16th century BC . Casemate walls became a common type of fortification in the Southern Levant between the Middle Bronze Age (MB) and Iron Age II, being more numerous during
19685-429: The right of fortification soon afterward. The founding of urban centres was an important means of territorial expansion and many cities, especially in eastern Europe , were founded precisely for this purpose during the period of Eastern Colonisation . These cities are easy to recognise due to their regular layout and large market spaces. The fortifications of these settlements were continuously improved to reflect
19840-491: The site of the New York City Aquarium from 1896 to 1941. The structure was extensively altered and roofed over to a height of several stories, though the original masonry fort remained. When the fort was converted into an aquarium, the adjacent section of Battery Park was extended into the Hudson River. The interior of Castle Garden contained two circular colonnades, which supported a roof with skylights. Above
19995-474: The state government refused to allocate $ 10,000 for repairs to the depot's ferry dock because the city technically owned Castle Garden. The state government finally provided money for repairs in 1887. By the late 1880s, Castle Garden had become overcrowded and unhygienic, and there were numerous reports that Castle Garden officials were mistreating immigrants. Robert Chesebrough , a businessman who owned several structures around Battery Park, had also advocated for
20150-489: The stockades by mounting old-fashioned bayonet charges, after laying down some covering fire. Defensive works were of importance in the tropical African Kingdoms. In the Kingdom of Kongo field fortifications were characterized by trenches and low earthen embankments. Such strongpoints ironically, sometimes held up much better against European cannon than taller, more imposing structures. Roman forts and hill forts were
20305-401: The structure's third story in 1940, and a new metal dome was installed above the fort the same year. By then, the aquarium's acting director Charles M. Breder Jr. wished to develop a new building nearby, as he believed the aquarium had outgrown Castle Garden. In February 1941, Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Commissioner Robert Moses announced that he would demolish Castle Garden when
20460-438: The stupa mounds of Lauria Nandangarh, which is 1.6 km in perimeter and oval in plan and encloses a habitation area. Mundigak ( c. 2500 BC ) in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun dried bricks. India currently has over 180 forts, with the state of Maharashtra alone having over 70 forts, which are also known as durg , many of them built by Shivaji , founder of
20615-636: The sultanate was subdued and a majority of kotas dismantled or destroyed. kotas were not only used by the Muslims as defense against Spaniards and other foreigners, renegades and rebels also built fortifications in defiance of other chiefs in the area. During the American occupation, rebels built strongholds and the datus, rajahs, or sultans often built and reinforced their kotas in a desperate bid to maintain rule over their subjects and their land. Many of these forts were also destroyed by American expeditions, as
20770-431: The tanks were ready for use. During the renovation process, the architect alleged that the tiles in the tanks had not been installed properly, which led to a protracted dispute. The city government allocated another $ 25,000 for the aquarium's completion at the end of 1894 (equivalent to $ 880,000 in 2023). The aquarium was supposed to have been completed by mid-1894, but it did not open for another two years. By mid-1895,
20925-478: The time. The NPS announced in early 1952 that it would begin restoring the fort's exterior; the project was expected to cost $ 117,000 (equivalent to $ 1,342,000 in 2023) and take two years. As part of this project, the NPS reconstructed the fort's original door. Following the partial demolition of Fort Clinton in the 1940s, only the exterior wall remained intact. The interior of the fort was so dilapidated that, according to The New York Times , "not even grass grew in
21080-485: The two sides in a stalemate. Hoping to make several attacks at once, the confederates persuaded the Medina-allied Banu Qurayza to attack the city from the south. However, Muhammad's diplomacy derailed the negotiations, and broke up the confederacy against him. The well-organized defenders, the sinking of confederate morale, and poor weather conditions caused the siege to end in a fiasco. During
21235-499: The walls were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes to improve protection. The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to another stage in the evolution of fortification. Star forts did not fare well against the effects of high explosives, and the intricate arrangements of bastions, flanking batteries and the carefully constructed lines of fire for the defending cannon could be rapidly disrupted by explosive shells. Steel -and- concrete fortifications were common during
21390-559: The war. Partial listing of Spanish forts: The Ivatan people of the northern islands of Batanes built their so-called idjang on hills and elevated areas to protect themselves during times of war. These fortifications were likened to European castles because of their purpose. Usually, the only entrance to the castles would be via a rope ladder that would only be lowered for the villagers and could be kept away when invaders arrived. The Igorots built forts made of stone walls that averaged several meters in width and about two to three times
21545-410: The width in height around 2000 BC. The Muslim Filipinos of the south built strong fortresses called kota or moong to protect their communities. Usually, many of the occupants of these kotas are entire families rather than just warriors. Lords often had their own kotas to assert their right to rule, it served not only as a military installation but as a palace for the local Lord. It is said that at
21700-634: The world's second longest man-made structure, as well as the most extensive earthwork in the world, by the Guinness Book of Records, 1974 . The walls may have been constructed between the thirteenth and mid-fifteenth century CE or, during the first millennium CE. Strong citadels were also built other in areas of Africa. Yorubaland for example had several sites surrounded by the full range of earthworks and ramparts seen elsewhere, and sited on ground. This improved defensive potential—such as hills and ridges. Yoruba fortifications were often protected with
21855-430: Was a large Celtic proto-urban or city-like settlement at modern-day Manching (near Ingolstadt), Bavaria (Germany). The settlement was founded in the 3rd century BC and existed until c. 50–30 BC . It reached its largest extent during the late La Tène period (late 2nd century BC), when it had a size of 380 hectares. At that time, 5,000 to 10,000 people lived within its 7.2 km long walls. The oppidum of Bibracte
22010-533: Was built in 1626, when New York City was known by the Dutch name New Amsterdam . Fort Amsterdam was demolished by 1790 after the American Revolutionary War . Proposals for a new fort were made after two separate war scares involving Britain and France in the 1790s, but neither plan was ultimately carried out. By 1805, there were growing tensions between Britain and the U.S., marking the run-up to
22165-425: Was built on an artificial island , created just off shore when the fort was built. Construction began in 1808, and the fort was completed in 1811, although modifications continued through the 1820s. Designed by John McComb Jr. with Jonathan Williams as consulting engineer, West Battery was roughly circular with a radius of approximately 92 feet (28 m). About one-eighth of the circle had a straight wall instead of
22320-427: Was canceled due to public opposition, and the castle lay dormant for three years. The Common Council of New York proposed in May 1820 that the United States government transfer ownership of the castle to the city government, but the United States Congress declined to pass legislation to that effect. By 1820, Fort Clinton was being used as a paymaster's quarters and storage area. The United States Army stopped using
22475-476: Was completed in November 2001, although the tensile structure was not installed. The Battery Park Conservancy had selected Thomas Phifer in 2001 to redesign Castle Clinton as a performing-arts center, but the redesign was stalled for several years. The National Guard occupied Castle Clinton for six weeks after the September 11 attacks in 2001. Castle Clinton reopened to the public on October 22, 2001, though
22630-658: Was employed in later wars against the British to block British advances. Some of these fortifications were over a hundred yards long, with heavy parallel tree trunks. They were impervious to destruction by artillery fire. Behind these stockades, numerous Ashanti soldiers were mobilized to check enemy movement. While formidable in construction, many of these strongpoints failed because Ashanti guns, gunpowder and bullets were poor, and provided little sustained killing power in defense. Time and time again British troops overcame or bypassed
22785-521: Was encircled by a fortified wall. The huge walls around the settlement, which were built very tall and with stone blocks which are 6 feet (1.8 m) high and 4.5 feet (1.4 m) thick, make it one of the earliest walled settlements in Europe but it is younger than the walled town of Sesklo in Greece from 6800 BC. Uruk in ancient Sumer ( Mesopotamia ) is one of the world's oldest known walled cities . The Ancient Egyptians also built fortresses on
22940-435: Was found. Exceptions were few—notably, ancient Sparta and ancient Rome did not have walls for a long time, choosing to rely on their militaries for defence instead. Initially, these fortifications were simple constructions of wood and earth, which were later replaced by mixed constructions of stones piled on top of each other without mortar . In ancient Greece , large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece , such as
23095-476: Was largely completed by early 1924. Townsend announced in 1926 that Castle Garden would undergo further modifications at a cost of $ 225,000 (equivalent to $ 3,872,000 in 2023). The plans included constructing a third story for workrooms and laboratory space, installing tanks behind the fort, adding a new mechanical plant in the basement, and covering the facade with a gray cement finish. Several local residents expressed opposition to these modifications and created
23250-426: Was largely ineffective, as The New York Times wrote in 1874: "Castle Garden is so well known in Europe that few emigrants can be induced to sail to any other destination." By then, the immigration depot was in poor condition, with rotting floors and "tottering" offices and benches. The Board of Emigration Commissioners lost a significant source of income in 1875, when the Supreme Court of the United States invalidated
23405-406: Was not part of their duties. The federal government notified New York state officials in February 1890 that it would take over immigrant-processing duties at Castle Garden within sixty days. Federal officials planned to construct a new immigrant-processing center at another location, ultimately selecting a site on Ellis Island . Castle Garden closed on April 18, 1890, The immigrant-processing center
23560-636: Was pronounced Kesselgarten by German immigrants and by Yiddish-speaking Eastern European Jews. The word kesselgarten became a generic term for any situation that was noisy, confusing or chaotic, or where a " babel " of languages was spoken (a reference to the multitude of languages heard spoken by the immigrants from many countries at the site). In 2005, The New York Times estimated that one-sixth of all Americans were descended from an immigrant who had passed through Castle Garden. The New York state government's Board of Emigration Commissioners had been established in 1847 to operate medical facilities and
23715-478: Was published by Giovanni Battista Zanchi in 1554. Fortifications also extended in depth, with protected batteries for defensive cannonry, to allow them to engage attacking cannons to keep them at a distance and prevent them from bearing directly on the vulnerable walls. The result was star shaped fortifications with tier upon tier of hornworks and bastions , of which Fort Bourtange is an excellent example. There are also extensive fortifications from this era in
23870-464: Was raising $ 350,000 (equivalent to $ 680,000 in 2023) for a seasonal tensile structure , to be placed above the fort between April and October of each year. The conservancy wished to raise another $ 25 million to $ 30 million and convert Castle Clinton into an educational and cultural center. This was part of a $ 5.5 million renovation of the adjacent waterfront promenade within Battery Park, which
24025-642: Was temporarily relocated to the Barge Office. The state's Commissioners of Emigration had forbidden the federal government to continue to use Castle Garden until the Ellis Island immigrant depot was completed. The new registration office on Ellis Island was completed in 1892. In its last year of operation, Castle Garden processed 450,394 travelers, 364,086 of whom were immigrants. When the immigrant-registration depot closed, city officials contemplated converting Castle Garden into an "amusement resort". The New York state government formally transferred Castle Garden to
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