Fort Frederick, Eastern Cape

Port Elizabeth, South Africa, South Africa

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Fort Frederick is a historic stone fort located in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, built in 1799 by British troops to prevent French forces from conquering the Cape Colony during the Napoleonic Wars.

Named after Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, commander-in-chief of the British Army, the fort was constructed on a natural vantage point overlooking the strategic Algoa Bay and the mouth of the Baakens River to stop French troops from landing to assist rebels. The square fort has sides measuring 24 meters and is nearly 3 meters high, originally housing barracks, a magazine, powder house, and small officers' quarters.

Despite its military purpose, the fort famously never fired a shot from its guns and played a vital role in establishing British rule in South Africa combined with the Battle of Blaauwberg. The fort provided protection against French attacks, Xhosa attacks during the frontier wars, and internal unrest, while also protecting the fresh water source at the Baakens River mouth.

Today, what remains includes a gunpowder storage magazine (powder house) and the lower section of a blockhouse (the upper wooden section was destroyed in a fire), and the fort was declared a monument in 1936.