1)Ranikot Fort:Located about 30 km southwest of Sann, in the Kirthar Range, approximately 120 kms from Hyderabad Toll Plaza and 262 kms form Karachi. It is one of the largest forts in the world.It has an approximate diameter of 9 km. Its walls are on the average 6 meters high and are made of gypsum and lime cut sandstone and total circumference is about 29 km. While originally constructed for bow and arrow warfare it was later expanded to withstand firearms.
World's largest Fort - Rani Kot - Sann - Dadu. It is reputed to be the largest unexplored fort in the world. The purpose of its construction and the reason for the choice of its location are still unknown.Ranikot is the most talismanic wonder of Sindh. Visible from five kilometers away its massive undulating walls twist and dip over the hills. With the circumference of more than twenty nine kilometers, its walls, built with dressed sandstone and reinforced with 45 bastions along the outer wall, of which 7 are rectangular and the remaining are round. All modified through the ages to accommodate the use of gunpowder, this perhaps makes it the largest fort in the world. Who constructed it first and why? Is an enigma yet to be resolved by researchers. Some historians attribute it to Arabs, built by Imran Bin Musa Barmaki, the Governor of Sindh in 836 A.D., some to Sassanians, and some to the Greeks or Romans and some to the Persians, and some even to the Great Wall of China! Though the prehistoric site of Amri (Aamri) is nearby, and fossils and animal skeletons are found inside the fort on the Lundi Hills, there is no trace of any old city inside the fort. The present structure doesn't appear to be 'prehistoric'. Some historians point to 17th century AD as its time of first construction but most agree that some of the present structure was constructed or reconstructed by Mir Karam Ali Khan Talpur and his brother Mir Murad Ali in 1812 AD at a cost of 1.2 million rupees (Sind Gazetteer, 677).
2)rohtas fort: is a garrison fort built by the great Afghan king Sher Shah Suri. This fort is about 4 km in circumference and the first example of the successful amalgamation of Pashtun and Hindu architecture in the Indian Subcontinent.Sher Shah Suri named Qila Rohtas after the famous Rohtasgarh Fort in Shahabad district near Baharkunda, Bihar which he captured from the Raja of Rohtas Hari Krishan Rai in 1539. Rohtasgarh is situated on the upper course of the river Son, 20 37’ N and 85 33’E. It was built by Harish Chandra of the Solar dynasty and was named after his son Rohitasva after whom the fort (Rohtasgarh) was named.
Sher Shah constructed Qila Rohtas to block Emperor Humayun's return to India after defeating him in the Battle of Kanauj. This fort lies on the old GT road between the North (Afghanistan) to the Plains of Punjab. It blocked the way from Peshawar to Lahore. The other reason was to suppress the local tribe of this region Potohar called Gakhars who were allies of Humayun and refused their allegiance to Sher Shah Suri. The Emperor instructed the local Janjua Rajput tribe to help construct the fort to crush the Gakhars when the latter became openly defiant and persecuting labourers who attended the construction.
3)Lahore Fort: The Lahore Fort, locally referred to as Shahi Qila is citadel of the city of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It is located in the northwestern corner of the Walled City of Lahore. The trapezoidal composition is spread over 20 hectares.
Origins of the fort go as far back as antiquity, however, the existing base structure was built during the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar (1556–1605), who was a Secular Emperor of Hindustan (India) and was regularly upgraded by subsequent rulers, having thirteen gates in all. However, it is said to be built first in 800B.C. Thus the fort manifests the rich traditions of Mughal architecture. Some of the famous sites inside the fort include: Sheesh Mahal, Alamgiri Gate, Naulakha pavilion, and Moti Masjid. In 1981, the fort was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with the Shalimar Gardens (Lahore).
The Pakistan Pavilion at Expo 2010 is designed as a replica of the fort.
The origins of Lahore Fort are obscure and are traditionally based on various myths. However, during the excavation carried out in 1959 by the Department of Archaeology, in front of Diwan-e-Aam, a gold coin of Mahmood of Ghazni dated AH 416 (1025 AD) was found at a depth of 7.62 metres from the level of the lawns. Cultural layers continued to a further depth of 5 metres, giving strong indications that people had lived here long before the conquest of Lahore by Mahmood in 1021 AD.[5] Further mention of the fort is traceable to Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Ghuri's successive invasions of Lahore from 1180 to 1186 AD.
The Sikhstyeryretr Sikhs in 1758 under Maharaja Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (1718-1783) captured Lahore Fort, and with it the city.
Sikhs again in 1761 took Lahore and the Fort and declared Maharaja Jassa Singh Ahluwalia as the King of Lahore and the Fort.
Then the Bhangi Sikh Dynasty (1716-1810), one of the 12 Sikh Kingdoms (Misl) of Punjab ruled Lahore City from 1760s until 1799 and expanded the City of Lahore. When Ranjit Singh, another Sikh chief from the Gujranwala area took Lahore from the Bhangi Misl the Lahore Fort fell to Ranjit Singh and in 1801 he was crowned as the emperor of all of the Punjab.
Lahore Fort and the city from (1799-1849) remained under the control of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Sher-e-Panjab, and his sons, grandsons and wives, until the fall of the last Sikh empire or the Lahore Darbar in 1849.
It cannot be said with certainty when the Lahore Fort was originally constructed or by whom, since this information is lost to history, possibly forever. However, evidence found in archaeological digs gives strong indications that it was built long before 1025 AD.
4)Attock Fort: Attock fort was built at Attock Khurd during the reign of Akbar the Great from 1581 to 1583 under the supervision of Khawaja Shamsuddin Khawafi to protect the passage of the Indus.
Attock (Attock Khurd) is a fort and small town in the Punjab Punjab, on the left or east bank of the Indus, 942 miles from the sea, and close below the place where it receives the water of the Kabul River, and first becomes navigable. The name, signifying obstacle, is supposed to have been given to it under the presumption that no scrupulous Hindoo would proceed westward of it; but this strict principle, like many others of similar nature, is little acted on. Some state that the name was given by the Emperor Akbar, because he here found much difficulty in crossing the river. The river itself is at this place frequently by the natives called Attock. Here is a bridge, formed usually of from twenty to thirty boats, across the stream, at a spot where it is 537 feet wide. In summer, when the melting of the snows in the lofty mountains to the north raises the stream so that the bridge becomes endangered, it is withdrawn, and the communication is then effected by means of a ferry.
5)Kot Diji Fort: The Kot Diji Fort, formally known as Fort Ahmadabad, dominates the town of Kot Diji in Khairpur District, Pakistan about 25 miles east of the Indus River at the edge of the Nara-Rajisthan Desert. The fort was built between 1785 to 1795 by Mir Sohrab Khan Talpur, founder of the Kingdom of Upper Sindh in 1783. In addition to the fort, a 5 kilometer, 12 feet wide mud wall was built around the city. This defensive wall had bastions throughout its length and a huge iron gate served as the city's only entrance.
The fort was considered invincible and served as the residence of the Emirs of Khairpur in times of peace. It is, therefore, the ancestral home of royal house. During war time the zenana (female members of the royal family), would be shifted to Shahgarh Fort, formerly within the realm but since 1843, after the conquest of the rest of Sindh, it is in the Thar and Jaisalmer desert, now in India. When the Zenana moved into the comfort of palaces, it stood mainly as a decorated reminder of more violent times. Throughout its whole history, however, Fort Kot Diji was never attacked.
6)majestic fort: It is located near Mangla dam. The only access is through boat. You can hire a boat at Mangla Lake and it is a majestic fort perched on top of a steep hill overlooking the lake on one side and river Jehlum on the other side. It is a part of the three forts in that area namely Mangla, Rohtas and Ramkot it self.
7)Derawar Fort: Derawar Fort is a large square fortress in Pakistan near Bahawalpur. The forty bastions of Derawar are visible for many miles in Cholistan Desert. The walls have a circumference of 1500 metres and stand up to thirty metres high.
The first fort on the site was built by Hindu Rajput, Rai Jajja Bhati of Jaisalmer. It remained in the hands of the royal family of Jaisalmer until captured and completely rebuilt by the nawabs of Bahawalpur in 1733. In 1747, the fort slipped from the hands of the Abbasis owing to Bahawal Khan's preoccupations at Shikarpur. Nawab Mubarak Khan took the stronghold back in 1804.
The nearby mosque was modelled after that in the Red Fort of Delhi. There is also a royal necropolis of the Abbasi family, which still owns the stronghold. The area is rich in archaeological artifacts associated with Ganweriwala, a vast but as-yet-unexcavated city of the Indus Valley Civilization.
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