Bekal Fort was built by Shivappa Nayaka of Keladi in 1650 AD, at Bekal. It is the largest fort in Kerala, spreading over 40 acres; the fort appears to emerge from the sea. Three quarters of its exterior is in contact with water. Bekal fort does not include any palaces or mansions. An important feature is the water-tank and the flight of steps leading to an observation tower built by Tipu Sultan. Standing at the centre of the fort, this offers views of the coastline and the towns of Kanhangad, Bekal and Uduma; the fort's surrounding trenches reveal its defensive strategy. Holes on the outer walls are designed to defend the fort from naval attacks; the upper holes meant for aiming at the farthest targets. Its solid construction resembles the Thalassery Fort and the St. Angelo Fort at Kannur built by the Dutch. During the Perumal Age Bekal was a part of Mahodayapuram. Following the decline of Mahodayapuram Perumals, Bekal came under the sovereignty of the Mushika or Kolathiri or Chirakkal Royal Family in the 12th century.

The maritime importance of Bekal increased under the Kolathiris and Malabar became an important port town. After the Battle of Talikota in 1565 feudatory chieftains including the Keladi Nayakas became powerful in the region. Bekal served as a hub to first dominate later defend Malabar; the economic importance of this port town prompted the Nayakas to fortify Bekal subsequently. Hiriya Venkatappa Nayaka initiated the construction of the fort and it was completed in 1650 AD by Shivappa Nayaka. Chandragiri fort near Kasargod was built during this period; the struggles between the Kolathiries and Nayaks to hold this area ended when Hyder Ali conquered the Nayakas and Bekal fell into the hands of Mysore kings. It was an important military station for Tipu Sultan when he led a military expedition to capture Malabar; the coins and artefacts found in archaeological excavations at Bekal fort indicate the strong presence of Mysore Sultans. Tipu Sultan's death during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War ended Mysorean control in 1799.

The fort came under the British East India Company's control and became the headquarters of the Bekal Taluk of South Canara District in Bombay presidency. The political and economic importance of Bekal and its port declined. Nearby the Mukhyaprana Temple of Hanuman and ancient Muslim mosque bear testimony to the religious harmony that prevailed in the area. India declared Bekal Fort a special tourism area in 1992 and formed Bekal Tourism Development Corporation three years to promote it; the song'Uyire' from the movie Bombay was shot at Bekal Fort. Local roads connect to Mangalore in Calicut in the south; the nearest railway station is Bekal Fort Railway Station, Kanhangad Railway Station on Mangalore-Palakkad line. There are airports at Mangalore and Calicut. Mangalore Kasargod Kanhangad Hosdurg Fort Panathur Kannur Fort Thalassery Fort Mysore invasion of Kerala SI-MET College of Nursing, Uduma Sturrock, John. History of the Tuluvas. Madras District Manual. Madras Gazette. C, Balan. Kasargod: History & Society.

District Panchayat, Kasargod. Prashanth G. N.. "Fort by the Sea". The Hindu. "Bekal Fort, Kasargod". Archaeological Survey of India. Www.bekaltourism.com/bekal-fort.php

The 1975 Maghreb Athletics Championships was the seventh edition of the international athletics competition between the countries of the Maghreb. Algeria and Morocco were the competing nations. Organised by the Union des Fédérations d'Athlétisme du Maghreb Uni, it took place in Tunisia. A total of 37 athletics events were 22 for men and 15 for women; the tournament was contested between the three international teams, as Morocco narrowly won with thirteen gold medals to Algeria and Tunisia's twelve each. It was the second time that the Tunisian capital had hosted the tournament, becoming the first city to hold the event on multiple occasions. Track events were only timed to the tenth of a second, it was the final time. A women's 3000 metres featured on the programme, the first time a long-distance event had been held for female athletes at the championships; the 1975 edition marked the last in the first regular series of Maghreb Championships, as the competition did not return until six years and never again had a regular schedule.

ChampionsLes championnats maghrebins d athletisme. Union Sportive Oudja. Retrieved on 2015-02-20

USS Mattaponi was a Kennebec-class oiler which served in the United States Navy during World War II, periodically during the 1950s, in the Vietnam War. She was the only U. S. Navy ship named for the Mattaponi River in eastern Virginia. Mattaponi was laid down as a type T2-A tanker; the ship was built at Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. in Chester, Pennsylvania as hull number 222 and USMC number 149, launched on 17 January 1942. The ship was commissioned into the U. S. Navy on 11 May 1942. Mattaponi spent all of World War II in the Atlantic and Mediterranean theaters. From her commissioning until December 1942 she carried fuel from the Texas oil ports to the U. S. Navy's fuel storage depots at Craney Island, Newport and Casco Bay. On 12 December she departed New York Harbor for the first of 21 wartime transatlantic convoys, she carried, in addition to her cargo fuels, landing craft, provisions, medical supplies, passengers. Her medical complement as well as her engineers and mechanics were called on, at sea and in port, to remedy malfunctions and mechanical, on board other ships.

The tanker's convoy voyages during this period took her to Casablanca, Bizerte, Derry and Port Royal in addition to frequent runs to the Texas and Caribbean oil centers. After 10 December 1944, Mattaponi's transatlantic crossings became less frequent due to a change in logistic tactics. Navy tankers no longer accompanied convoys, but were assigned, instead, to stand by at terminal points on either side of the Atlantic and servicing convoy escorts as they passed the stations. Mattaponi was assigned, from 10 December 1944 to 28 May 1945, to a group which rotated between Bermuda and the Azores as terminus tankers. On 11 July 1945, following a month's availability at Portsmouth, Mattaponi departed Norfolk for duty with the 3rd Fleet in the Pacific, she arrived at Pearl Harbor the day after the cessation of hostilities and continued on to the Carolines, anchoring in Ulithi Harbor on 28 August. With the exception of two voyages to Pearl Harbor in December 1945 and January 1946, the tanker serviced the fleet in the western Pacific until January 1947.

During this period she made three runs to the Persian Gulf for the products with which to fuel the ships at Yokosuka, Jinsen, Taku and Manila. On 20 January 1947 she arrived San Francisco for overhaul, she departed on 20 April for further extended periods of duty on the high seas. During the next two and a half years, interrupted by overhaul August to December 1948, Mattaponi completed two round-the-world voyages in addition to making numerous runs to the Persian Gulf and one to Aruba from such ports as Yokosuka, Buckner Bay, Piraeus and Norfolk. On 21 October 1949, she entered the San Francisco Naval Shipyard for inactivation. In December she proceeded to San Diego, was placed in the Reserve Fleet, decommissioned on 17 April 1950. Soon recommissioned, after the outbreak of the Korean War, on 28 December 1950, Mattaponi served for four years as a Military Sea Transport Service vessel with the designation T‑AO‑41; until June 1951 she operated along the U. S. west coast. From June through September she carried fuel from Aruba to east coast ports, making one run to Iceland before returning to the west coast.

With one interruption, a cruise to the Marshalls, August to September 1953, she continued to operate off the west coast with periodic voyages to the Aleutian and Hawaiian Islands until decommissioning again 12 October 1954. She reentered the Reserve Fleet at San Diego. On 12 December 1956 Mattaponi was recommissioned. In service for the next 11 months, she made one round-the-world voyage, several runs to Bahrain from Norfolk, Sasebo and Pozzuoli, one between Aruba and Norfolk as well as a cruise to Cherbourg and Invergordon, before mooring at New Orleans on 10 November 1957. There, the next day, she decommissioned. On 1 February 1959 her name was stricken from the Navy List. Mattaponi was reinstated on the Navy List on 1 September 1961, recommissioned for a third time at Mobile, Alabama on 30 November 1962. Home-ported at San Francisco, she spent all of 1962 on the west coast. On 2 July 1963, she departed for the western Pacific where she serviced ships of the 7th Fleet in the Japanese and East and South China Seas.

Returning to the west coast on 14 January 1964, she spent the remainder of that year in operations in the eastern Pacific, including joint exercises involving United States and Canadian naval units. From January to July 1965, Mattaponi again deployed for duty with the 7th Fleet. In 1966 she operated off the west coast until 28 March, when she commenced overhaul in Richmond, California, her overhaul completed on 27 July, Mattaponi resumed underway operations along the west coast. On 3 September the veteran oiler left San Francisco for the West Pacific, providing services for the 7th Fleet until the end of March 1967, she arrived back at San Francisco on 17 April. Mattaponi operated locally out of her home port through most of the summer departed again 8 September for duty off Vietnam, returning on 17 April 1968. After a leave and upkeep period, followed by local operations, she left once more for the Far East in early October, was providing services to the fleet there into 1969 and 1970. Mattaponi was decommissioned in 1970 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in October of the same year.

She was transferred to the Maritime Administration on 22 January 1971, for disposal, sold for scrapping, on 15 December 1973, to Union Minerals and Alloys Corporation, New York City, for $50,184.50 and subsequently scrapped. Mattaponi's