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Santa Cruz – The Portuguese Black Fort Of Galle-by Juliet Coombe Under fire in the Galle Forts Black Fort Source:Dailynews The writer takes a look at one of the worlds most flourishing ports in ancient times and the reason it got the name Black Fort Walking along the ancient walls it is easy to distinguish the black smoke covered walls of the Portuguese from the lower walls with the cannon positions built by the Dutch and later added to by the English. Although we consider the fort started with the colonisation of the Portuguese, legend has it that Galle was originally the biblical city of Tarshish to which, many moons ago, King Solomon came in search of glittering gemstones to the woe the Queen of Sheba, along with purchasing exotic spices grown along the coastline, apes and peacocks to ward off the evil eye. There must be some truth in ...