Explore UNESCO World Heritage Site, Fort Cornwallis In Penang, Malaysia

If you’re planning to take a trip to Penang, one place not to be missed is definitely Fort Cornwallis. This is the one spot that contributed to the listing of George Town as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Fort Cornwallis in Penang is a historical fortress that’s prized as one of Malaysia’s monumental gems. It has a long and varied history that dates back to 1786 when the British first settled on the island.

According to history, Captain Francis Light from the British East India Company claimed possession of a plot of land by the sea upon stepping ashore in Penang. He then built the original fort at the exact spot of the structure we see today!

The fort was named after the Governor-General of Bengal at the time of the fort’s construction, Lieutenant-General The 2nd Earl Cornwallis, who had been involved in the American War of Independence.

Though the fort was originally intended to be a military base, it functioned more as an administrative site. It once housed the Supreme Court of Penang in 1808 and was reputedly a base for the Sikh and European Police Force after that.

One of the main highlights of the monumental site is the old mounted cannons that decorate the outer ramparts of the fort. The largest and the most well-known cannon is the Seri Rambai, a 17th-century Dutch artillery weapon that was originally presented to the Sultan of Johor.