Bangalore Fort began in 1537 as a mud fort.[1] The builder was Kempe Gowda I, a vassal of the Vijaynagar Empire and the founder of Bangalore. Hyder Ali 1761 replaced the mud fort with a stone fort and it was further improved by his son Tipu Sultan in the late 18th century. It was damaged during an Anglo-Mysore war in 1791. It still remains a good example of 18th-century military fortification. The army of the British East India Company, led by Lord Cornwallis on 21 March 1791 captured the fort in the siege of Bangalore during the Third Mysore War (1790–1792). At the time the fort was a stronghold for Tipu Sultan. Today, the fort's Delhi gate, on Krishnarajendra Road, and two bastions are the primary remains of the fort. A marble plaque commemorates the spot where the British breached the fort's wall, leading to its capture. The old fort area also includes Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace and his armory. The fort has provided the setting for the treasure hunt in the book Riddle of the Seventh Stone.

The confirmed history of the Bangalore Fort is traced to 1537, when Kempe Gowda I (pictured), a chieftain of the Vijayanagara Empire, widely held as the founder of modern Bangalore, built a mud fort and established the area around it as Bengaluru Pete, his capital.