Was Azkaban based off Alcatraz?
Was Azkaban based off Alcatraz? And in the clip below, Rowling reveals something that may not be widely known: She says that Azkaban, the prison fortress on an island in the north sea, was directly inspired by Alcatraz. To create the name, she mashed up the name Alcatraz with Abaddon, an ancient Hebrew word for hell. What is this?
What was Alcatraz originally built for?
Begun in 1849, the fortress was originally intended to guard against foreign invasion of San Francisco which had boomed during the gold rush. Alcatraz also played an important role in the Civil War, protecting San Francisco from Confederate raiders.