PLACES OF INTEREST

NIVTI FORT

Nivti Fort in the village of Kochare (Vengurle Peta, p. 3543), 6½ miles south of Malvan and eight miles north or Vengurle, stands at the month of a small creek in rather a striking day. Nivti is also a minor port.

The volume of traffic that passed through the port in each of the three years 1953-54, 1954-55 and 1955-56, is given below:-

Nivti fort, on a very picturesque and well-wooded headland about 150 feet high, is a complete ruin. [Nairne's Konkan, 105.] In 1786, it was taken by the Kolhapur troops and soon after restored to Savantvadi. [A wing of the 89th Regiment; 2½ battalions Indian infantry; 3 troops of Indian cavalry and artillery. Nairne's Konkan, 127.] In "the early years of the nineteenth century (1803 and 1810), after being taken and retaken by these rival chiefs, it remained in the end with the Savants. In 1818, when British power was established, the southern villages continued to suffer from the raids of the Savantvadi garrisons of Nivti and Redi. A British force [The details were: the head-quarters of the IVth Rifles, crossing the river at Karli, arrived before Nivti on the 2nd February 1819. On the 3rd the batteries opened and on the following day the fort capitulated and was taken. Service Record of H. M.'s IV Rifles, 29.] was sent into the Konkan, and on the 4th February 1819, Nivti was invested and given up without resistance. [Gov. List of Civil Forts, 1862.] The nearest railway station is Belgaum, 87 miles to the south-east.

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