Galle has a very long history and is marked in the island of Sri Lanka in Ptolemy’s world map prepared around 125 – 150 AD. During that time Galle was a busy port. Foreign traders like Greeks, Arabs, Chinese etc have been visiting Galle for trade.
There are two main gates in Galle Fort. The walls in front of the Fort were built by the Portuguese . The Dutch have reinforced them by building several bastions. – Star Bastion, Moon Bastion and Sun Bastion. In the Gate from where you enter towards the Harbor, outer walls contain the logo of the British while you see VOC, the logo of the Dutch East India Company on the inside walls. The Bread Fruit Tree inside the Fortis believed to be the oldest Bread Fruit Tree in Sri Lanka. Popular belief is that the Dutch introduced Bread Fruit to Sri Lanka thinking that the highly ‘heaty’ nature of Bread Fruit would either kill them or make them sick. But Sri Lankans ate Bread Fruit with Coconut and coconut neutralized the adverse effects of Bread Fruit. Ultimately it became a delicacy among the population. It is now considered to be very tasty and nourishing. It is so popular now that there is no part of Sri Lanka where you cannot find a Bread Fruit Tree if it could be grown there.
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