Raigad Fort

Raigad was the capital of Shivaji's kingdom. It is a hill fortress situated in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. It was constructed by Shivaji between 1657 and 1670. He was crowned King of Hindawi Swaraj, the formal name of what later developed into the Maratha Empire, here in 1674.

Shivaji had seized the site, then the fortress of Rairi, from the royal house of the Mores, an junior or Cadet dynasty descended from the Maurya imperial dynasty that once ruled large swathes of the subcontinent. The last More king ("Raja") was a feudatory of the Sultan of Bijapur. Shivaji renovated and expanded the Fortress of Rairi and renamed it Raigad, or the King's Fort, the name he gave it when he selected it for his capital when he was in the process of assuming the royal character.

Raigad is also the name of a district in the Indian state or province of Maharashtra (The technical and legal name is "Pradesh" which strictly is a province not a state or "Rajya"), located in the Konkan section or "vibhag". The district was renamed after the fort and former capital of Shivaji, which is located in the interior forests of the district, on a spur of the Sahyadri range or the Western Ghats facing west.

The district was called Colaba and Kulaba during British rule, a name that is derived from it ancient form, and which means the "Land of the Koli" (The Koli are an aborigine tribe).

Later the district was renamed to Alibaug, after the Muslim African principality of Murud-Janjira was merged into it after 1947; the town of Alibaug is the largest urban settlement and the capital of the district.

The fort of Murud was being built by minor Koli chieftains as part of their defense against piracy when, by a stratagem, Siddis (African Muslims from Somalia), slaves and employees of the Bahamani Sultanate, seized it and made it their headquarters.

The tiny Muslim state of Murud-Janjira withstood attempts by many local powers, such as the Portuguese, English, Marathas, etc. to seize it but was never conquered. It allied at different times with different powers, often with the Mughan Empire and thrived off piracy. The Siddis even attempted to seize Bombay from England, and actually succeeded in overwhelming the English force but were driven out by a militia organized by a Parsi settler from among the natives who had immigrated from Surat. Finally, it entered the system of Subsidiary Alliance with England, becoming a feudatory, in which condition it remained until 1947, when it acceded to the Indain Union.

The district borders the districts of Thane and Bombay (Urban) and Bombay (Suburban) on its north, Pune on its east, Ratnagiri on its south, and the Arabian Sea on its west. It includes the large natural harbor of Pen-Mandwa, which is immediately south of Bombay Harbor or Front Bay, and forming a single landform with it.

The district includes Kashid and Kihim beaches, besides the towns of Mahad and Panvel.

Part of the district is included in the planned metropolis of New Bombay, and its port, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port.

The district also includes the isle of Gharapuri or Elephanta, located in Front Bay (Bombay Harbor) which has ancient Hindu and Buddhist caves.