Bithnah Fort | |
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Near Bithnah in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates | |
Coordinates | 25°11′20″N 56°13′58″E / 25.18889°N 56.23278°E |
Site information | |
Condition | Restored 2008 |
Site history | |
Built | 1745-1800 |
Materials | Rock, adobe, mud brick |
Battles/wars | Battle of Bithnah, 1845 Taken by Sharqiyin 1884 |
Bithnah Fort is a traditional double story rock, coral and mudbrick fortification located in the Wadi Ham, near the village of Bithnah in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. The fort has played a significant role in the history of the Emirates, particularly in the emergence of Fujairah as an independent emirate in the early 20th century. With a controlling position overlooking the Wadi Ham, the fort replaced an Iron Age fortification.
Prior to the construction of the metalled road between Fujairah City and Masafi in the 1970s, traffic to the interior from the coast passed through the bed of the wadi, controlled by Bithnah Fort, which has through the ages been a keenly contested strategic holding and was to form a key mainstay in the fortunes of the Sharqiyin through the 18th and early 19th centuries.[1]