Geo-Historical Study of Fort Tourism in District Satara of Maharashtra: An Overview

Tourism offers great opportunities for emerging economies and developing countries. It creates jobs, strengthens the local economy, contributes to local infrastructure development and can help to conserve the natural environment and cultural assets and traditions, and to reduce poverty and inequality. These are various types of tourism viz Pilgrimage tourism, Ecotourism, Cultural tourism , Wellness tourism, Business tourism, Heritage tourism, Leisure tourism, Sports tourism, Wildlife tourism , Medical tourism and so on. Fort tourism is a historical cultural tourism and its scope is a vast . Now, Maharashtra is a famous for existence Maratha Empire Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja in 16th century and there were more than 350 forts constructed under these reign. Most of the forts were constructed in Sahyadri Ghat from the geo-political strategy point of safety and security from enemy. Satara district is counted amongst the richest districts in Maharashtra in terms of cultural and historical tradition. The district occupies a total geographical area of 11219 Km² and it is divided into 11 tahsils viz Satara, Karad, Wai, Mahabaleshwar, Phaltan, Man, Khatav, Koregaon, Patan, Jaoli and Khandala. As per 2011 census, the population of district was 30, 40000 persons and literacy rate was 89.42 % . The total surfacial length of roads is 7040.49 km including NH, SH, District Highways. The average rainfall is 10071.6 mm throughout the year. The culture of the district is Maharashtrian and the people like to follow various customs. Satara district has some of the most prominent tourist destinations in the state of Maharashtra. The district largely contributes to the tourism sector of the district, as several people visit the tourist places every year. Vasota, Pratapgad, Makrandgad, Vairatgad, Kamalgad, Sadashivgad, Kalyangad, Vardhan, Ajinkyatara, Sajjangad, Nandgiri and Chandan Vandan are the forts in the district to be considered for adventure tourism