El morro en san juan: San Juan National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)

El Morro (San Juan) | Encyclopedia.com

gale

views updated

The Castillo San Felipe del Morro (El Morro), located in San Juan, is one of the oldest military fortifications built by the Europeans in the Western Hemisphere. Defending Puerto Rico’s strategic position as the gateway to the Spanish possessions in the Americas, El Morro played a key role in a highly structured system of fortresses and massive walls enclosing the old colonial district of San Juan. El Morrow was designed to protect the harbor from attacks by sea, and it withstood four major attacks—three by the British (1595, 1598, and 1797) and one by the Dutch (1625)—and saw action for the last time during the Spanish-Cuban-American War of 1898.

The original construction dates from 1539, when a modest round tower and battery at the base of the promontory (morro) overlooked the entrance to the harbor. Between 1589 and 1597 new hornwork walls, bastions, and batteries buttressed the original structure. Work continued through the 1600s, transforming El Morro into a multiple-level defense. In the 1760s the strengthening of San Juan’s fortifications became central to the Bourbon reforms pursued by King Charles III of Spain. The town walls were expanded, a large new fort (Castillo San Cristóbal) was built, and El Morro gained a robust battery, huge new walls, and thicker parapets, becoming the colossal structure it is today. These improvements were funded by royal subsidies (situado) flowing from the viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico). The workforce was drawn from day laborers, slaves, prisoners, off-duty soldiers, and civilians from neighboring areas, who also supplied the building materials. Following the U.S. occupation of Puerto Rico in 1898, El Morro and all of the other Spanish-era fortresses passed into the control of the U.S. Army. In 1961 the U.S. National Park Service took responsibility over the fortifications in Old San Juan, preserving them as a museum of military history. Due to their historical importance and enduring architectural value, the walls and fortifications of San Juan became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

See alsoBourbon Reforms; Puerto Rico.

Manucy, Albert, and Ricardo Torres-Reyes. Puerto Rico and the Forts of Old San Juan. Old Greenwich, CT: Chatham Press, 1973.

                                 Luis A. GonzÁlez

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture

More From encyclopedia.com

El Paso , El Paso: History
Inhabited for centuries by various Indian groups, El Paso saw its first Europeans when Spaniards passed through in the mid-1500s. Du… Weser , Weser •Balthazar, Belshazzar, jazzer •bonanza, Braganza, Constanza, extravaganza, kwanza, organza, Panzer, stanza •parser, plaza, tabula rasa •Shevar… El Greco , El Greco (1541-1614), a Greek painter who settled in Spain, evolved a highly personal style with mannerist traits. He was a great religious painter o… El Misti , Misti, El
El Misti
More From Encyclopedia. com parser , parser •Balthazar, Belshazzar, jazzer •bonanza, Braganza, Constanza, extravaganza, kwanza, organza, Panzer, stanza •parser, plaza, tabula rasa •Sheva… San Juan (puerto Rico) , San Juan (city, Puerto Rico)
San Juan, city (1990 pop. 437,745), capital, largest city, chief port, and commercial and cultural center of Puerto Rico…

About this article

Updated About encyclopedia.com content Print Article

You Might Also Like

NEARBY TERMS

El Morro (HAVANA)

El Mirador

El Mestizaje

El Melekh Yoshev

El Melekh Ne’eman

El Matador

El Mariachi

El Malpais National Monument

El Male Rahamim

El Mahdy, Christine

El Koudia, Jilali 1954-

El Greco ca. 1541–1614 Greek Painter in Spain

El Gran Combo

El Giza

El Ferik Ibrahim Abboud

El Espiritu de la Colmena

El Dorado Bedstraw

El Diputado

El Diablo Rides

El Diablo

El Crimen Perfecto

El Cordobés

El Condor

El Cochecito

El Chico Restaurants, Inc.

El Morro (San Juan)

El Morro National Monument

El Moutawakel, Nawal (1962–)

El Moutawakel, Nawal (1962—)

El Muerto

El Niño & La Niña

El Niño and La Niña

El Niño and La Niña Phenomena

El Nora Alilah

El Norte

El Otro Francisco

El Paraíso

El Paso Community College: Narrative Description

El Paso Community College: Tabular Data

El Paso Corporation

El Paso Electric Company

El Paso Natural Gas Company

El Paso Stampede

El Paso, Diocese of

El Plan de Santa Barbara

El Pollo Loco, Inc.

El Saadawi, Nawal (1931–)

El Saadawi, Nawal (1931—)

El Saadawi, Nawal (1932–)

El Saadawi, Nawal 1931–

El Saher, Kazem (1961–)

Our National Parks » El Morro has served San Juan for centuries

Posted December 6, 2007
By RENE BASULTO

School of Communication

University of Miami

SAN JUAN, P. R. — Inside the Santa Bárbara Battery of Fort San Felipe del Morro, more commonly known as El Morro, a fragment of a U.S. artillery shell can be seen lodged in the domed ceiling of an old tower.

While the fragment, fired during the Spanish-American War by U.S. Navy ships, is from 1898, the tower it lodged itself in dates back to 1539. It is the oldest structure of a fort that was expanded and used over the course of almost 400 years, until it was placed under the care of the National Park Service in 1961.

“The tower is medieval, the dome is Renaissance [style] and the fragment of the shell is [from] 1898, the Spanish-American War,” explained Carlos Almodóvar, one of the park ranger and interpreters at the San Juan National Historic Site. He is considered by his fellow interpreters to be the history expert of the group.

“There is no other place in the National Park Service, or the U.S., that can include those three original features,” said Almodóvar.

During its time of usage, El Morro was one of the most imposing and impressive forts in the New World. Its efficiency as a line of defense was extremely crucial not only to San Juan, but to the Spanish Empire that ruled over the island of Puerto Rico and much of the Caribbean for a sizeable amount of the past 500 years.

Fortification of San Juan

The position of Puerto Rico at the east end of the Caribbean made it an entry port for much of colonial Latin America. By the early 1500s, the Spanish had already conquered what are now Mexico and Peru and found them to be abundant in gold and other treasure. After mining these new acquisitions for precious metals and gems, they sent them back to Spain on galleons.

In order to protect these ships from enemies such as the English, French and Dutch, the Spanish Crown began ordering the building of fortifications at the important ports along the trade route. San Juan was not necessarily an important stop for commerce, but by being the first Spanish port that encountered ships, friendly or otherwise, entering the Caribbean, it was in dire need of being fortified.

With rocky shorelines near its harbor, the city was at an advantage for defending against attacks from the sea. Even more advantageous, however, was the steep, pointed cliff on one side of the only entrance into San Juan Harbor. “El Morro” is Spanish for “The Headland,” which can be viewed as its Spanish builders understanding how much the fort is supported by the natural topography it rests on.

Still, the fort obviously did not start out as the 145-foot tall marvel seen today. The initial structure only consisted of a masonry tower and a water battery, a platform at the bottom and near the water. Three cannons were placed there, but it involved some trial-and-error.

“The cannons and gunpowder were invented before, but the Spanish were just getting them by that time,” said Almodóvar.

The Spanish had attempted to fire cannons from within the domed, enclosed tower, only to discover that the resulting noise and smoke filling the room was too much for gunners to bear. This learning process would repeat itself over the years, as the fort would improve and expand after both attacks and the discovery of weaknesses.

At this time, El Morro was designed to only repel against attacks from sea and to prevent ships from entering San Juan Harbor.

El Morro’s First Additions and Attack

With the rising fear of enemy ships landing and pillaging Spanish settlements, King Philip II of Spain ordered two men, military veteran Juan de Tejeda and Italian engineer Juan Bautista Antonelli, to investigate which ports in the New World required extra protection. San Juan was one of these ports, and in 1589, Tejeda and Antonelli returned there with a main design to turn the tower at El Morro into a fort.

The main additions were a hornwork, two half-bastions connected by a wall, on the landside portion of the tower, along with a moat to give extra height to the walls and a drawbridge. These bastions are now known as Austria and Ochoa Bastion and make the sixth level of the fort that rises over visitors as they walk toward the entrance.

The first true test of El Morro’s capabilities came from an attack by Sir Francis Drake, a privateer for the British that was hailed in his home country as a hero. In Spain, however, Drake’s exploits of looting cities in the Caribbean and his role in defeating the Spanish Armada made him a pirate whose name was used to scare children.

In 1595, Drake and his ships attempted to enter San Juan Harbor in order to conquer the city and make it a permanent English base. Word of such an attack had reached San Juan beforehand and the city was well prepared when Drake arrived.

One of Drake’s largest mistakes was attempting to attack El Morro head on from the sea. After being defeated by El Morro’s defenses and San Juan’s planning, His fleet was forced to retreat, and he died of dysentery the next year.

One of the main reasons El Morro was so successful against attacks from the sea over the years was its system of multi-level cannons. The current design, in fact, resembles the front of a battleship.

“What it’s doing is sort of imitating or mirroring the aggressor, which are tall, skinny ships,” said Juliana Smith, a SJNHS interpreter working at El Morro.

“So what the Spaniards are doing [is that] they’re putting cannons on all the six different levels to shoot different parts of the ship. Simple as that.”

But despite its strength against sea attacks, El Morro was, at the time after Drake’s attack, not as well protected from attacks coming from the land behind it.

El Morro Captured

Merely three years after Drake’s attack, the English returned, led by Sir George Clifford, the Third Earl of Cumberland. It was this attack that proved to be the only one to ever break through and capture El Morro.

“The first attack was with Drake, [and it] was from the front and was unsuccessful,” said Almodóvar.

“But after the first attack, the enemy tried from the back, because they learned the lesson there.”

In addition to Cumberland realizing the advantage of a land attack, the troops that had been present from Drake’s attack were now non-existent after having only been brought to protect a treasure ship that had been forced to dock at San Juan. This left the city with around only 300 troops, including volunteers, a number that dropped over the years due to famine and disease to around 150.

By the time Cumberland arrived from the east end of San Juan, he and his 1,700 men found the land bridge ill-protected, and Spanish deserters were quick to point out how to take El Morro by siege and how to prevent supplies from reaching the fort’s around 80 defenders.

This victory would be short-lived, however, as the same dysentery that had crippled the Spanish troops spread to Cumberland’s men, incapacitating 400 of them and killing another 400. They left just a few weeks after taking El Morro, but pillaged and destroyed the city just before their departure.

In the wake of the attack, Spain sent more soldiers, supplies and weapons to rebuild the city and its defenses. From 1601 to 1609, the reconstruction of El Morro saw its toppled hornwork strengthened with the foundations still used today. A small fort now known as El Cañuelo was built at the opposite end of the San Juan Harbor entrance in order to work in tandem with El Morro’s guns to create crossfire to deter invading enemy ships.

The Dutch Attack

Still, the next attack came quickly in 1625, this time from the Dutch led by Boudewijn Hendricksz. They attacked from the sea at first, and were able to anchor within San Juan Harbor and mount a siege against El Morro from the landside.

Luckily, the time gap between their anchoring and landfall allowed for the citizens to flee into the woods in the east and for El Morro to be stocked up on volunteers and supplies.

While the city was easily taken due to the lack of resistance, the siege on El Morro lasted 21 days, with many of the Dutch troops being killed. In desperation, Hendricksz threatened to burn the town if there was no surrender.

“We have enough courage and wood and stone to build again,” responded Governor Juan de Haro, who was holed up inside the fort.

The Dutch did indeed burn all of San Juan to the ground, but the city was eventually won back and the enemy was driven out. After this attack, the 1600s were a peaceful time for Puerto Rico. Construction on the city walls enclosing San Juan began in 1634 and was finished in 1678.  Around this time, the original tower of El Morro was also covered over in a U-shaped battery.

“Defense of the First Order”

In 1765, though, a tremendous boom of construction and refortification began in San Juan. King Charles III declared the city a “Defense of the First Order” after receiving a report from Field Marshall Alexander O’Reilly on the strategic importance of Puerto Rico. O’ Reilly and Royal Engineer Thomas O’Daly, another Irish-born Spanish soldier, set about both restructuring the troops in San Juan and strengthening its defenses.

San Cristóbal Hill was once the location of just a small platform for cannons. It was eventually carved out to build the Fort San Cristóbal seen today, meant to defend from land attacks just as strongly as El Morro had defended the sea.

El Morro was also transformed into its current six-level form. The battery that covered the original second-level tower was expanded into the fourth- level Santa Bárbara Battery and its number of cannons nearly tripled from 11 in the 1600s to around 37 in the 1780s. The casemate battery, now covered in grass and inaccessible, was the third level, and the Carmen Battery, the fifth level, was built to both support the Santa Bárbara Battery and protect both the western and eastern parts of San Juan.

The most significant improvement, however, was the addition of a tremendous wall behind the Santa Bárbara Battery. It provided a level of cannon fire equal in height to the Carmen Battery at the San Juan Harbor entrance, and also shielded the sixth-level improved hornwork and its bastions that fired towards the esplanade on the landside entrance.

Both forts were completed in the early 1790s, just in time for another attack by British forces from the land in 1797. However, this attack never reached El Morro, as the rest of the city was now so well protected.

For 101 years afterwards, El Morro and the rest of San Juan saw no military action against them.

Spanish-American War

Then, in 1898, a U.S. Navy ship fired on El Morro and San Juan during the Spanish-American War. The three-hour bombing destroyed parts of the walls and the lighthouse on the Ochoa Bastion built in 1876.

This would be the final attack on El Morro as the United States took control of Puerto Rico at the end of the war. El Morro became a part of the Navy’s Fort Brooke complex, and the U.S. still saw fit to improve even more on the fort.

The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1906 and, during World War II, a bunker was placed near the entrance and an observation post meant to detect German U-boats was built into part of the main wall near the Carmen Battery.

After all of the rebuilding, modifications and improvements made on El Morro over the course of 400 years, the fort still stands as imposing as when it was used to defend San Juan.

“This was built to create an impression, an intimidation [to say to people] ‘You stay away. This is my entrance, this is my domain, you are entering my land, so stay away.’” said Almodóvar.

Now, as a part of the San Juan National Historic Site, El Morro almost quite the opposite, attracting visitors to be in awe of its grand stature.

If You Go

• Fort San Felipe del Morro is open every day of the week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from June to November, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from December to May.
• Admission for adults ages 16 and older is $3 for El Morro, with a ticket being valid for 24 hours; or $5 for both forts, with a ticket being valid for seven days.
• Children ages 15 and under can enter the fort free of charge.
• If you are arriving from the piers, there is a trolley that runs, free of charge, to all of the attractions, including stops in front of the walkway to El Morro and the fort itself. Its stop near the piers is in front of Pier 2 on La Marina Street. Taxi cabs are also available from this area.
• To reach El Morro from the cruise ship piers by walking, go to west on St. Marina Street until you reach the end, and then go up the road and make a left onto Comerico Street. Take the first right you see and go north up San Justo Street. Walk all the way up San Justo Street, and once it ends, go west (left) on Norzagaray Street. You will see El Morro on your right around where the street ends.
• In a car, from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport: Take Exit 26 (Baldorioty de Castro Avenue) going west. Take exit 25 (Muñoz Rivera Avenue) until you reach Old San Juan. To reach El Morro, continue on Muñoz Rivera Avenue and make a right onto Norzagaray Street. Continue on this street, then make a left onto Morovis Street, where there is underground parking on your left.
• Please be aware that driving in Old San Juan is not recommended due to very narrow streets and fairly limited parking.

Weather in El Morro for 14 days ⋆ Weather forecast for El Morro for 2 weeks ⇒ Temperature in San Juan » METEOPROG.COM

Puerto Rico, San Juan

• Happy

• At night

• 8 m/s
• 6 m/s
• 5 m/s
• 6 m/s
• 5 m/s
• 5 m/s
• 5 m/s
• 6 m/s
• 3 m/s
• 4 m/s
• 3 m/s
• 3 m/s
• 3 m/s
• 2 m/s

• 75%
• 81%
• 78%
• 80%
• 79%
• 76%
• 75%
• 80%
• 87%
• 83%
• 85%
• 84%
• 83%
• 87%

• 761
  mm
• 761
  mm
• 760
  mm
• 761
  mm
• 761
  mm
• 761
  mm
• 761
  mm
• 759
  mm
• 747
  mm
• 747
  mm
• 747
  mm
• 746
  mm
• 746
  mm
• 747
  mm

• 15%
• 67%
• 37%
• 45%
• 21%
• 30%
• 34%
• 29%
• 38%
• –
• –
• –
• –
• –

Today

22 22

+24 ° C

+28 ° C

Tomorrow

23 November

+24 ° C

9015

Thursday

November 24

+24°C

+29°C

Friday

20002

+24 ° C

+28 ° C

Wednesday

November 30

+24 ° C

+29 ° C

+21 ° C

+29 ° C

Friday

December 2

+21 ° C

+20 ° C

+30 ° C

Sunday

4 December

+21 ° C

+30 ° C

9000

+22°C

+30°C

Weather map

Interesting weather facts

23 November 00:23

Weather in Ukraine for tomorrow

22 November 23:22

Weather and catastrophes

22 November 22:30

Interesting weather facts

22 November 21:11

Interesting weather facts

22 November 20:40

Weather in Ukraine for tomorrow

22 November 19:02

Weather elements and catastrophes

22 November 18:04

All news

Weather in other regions

San Juan

+25°

Bayamon

+24°

Carolina

+25°

Ponce

+24°

Guayaramerin

+24°

Arecibo

+25°

Mayages

+25°

Aguadilla

+25°

Cabo Rojo

+25°

Sidra

+21°

Malecon

+25°

Yauco

+24°

Parghera

+25°

Penuelas

+25°

Playa de Guanica

+22°

Playa de Humacao

+24°

Playa de Ponce

+24°

Luquillo

+24°

Punta Santiago

+23°

Quebradillas

+25°

All cities

Fortifications of San Juan (Puerto Rico).

– ¡AUR, AUR, DESPERTA FERRO! — LiveJournal

The history of the fortification of San Juan is the history of the Spanish Maine, colonial military architecture evolved in response to changing threats. I am glad that the main part of the fortifications is perfectly preserved.

Even on the tourist map, the wall with bastions around the old city and 2 powerful fortresses are clearly visible. San Juan Bay below the islet, Atlantic above,

City wall, view from the bay, the entrance to which is visible on the left

And vice versa: view into the depths of the bay, batteries of city walls

And it all started with this house, Casa Blanca (“White House”).

Juan Ponce de Leon began the conquest in 1508, and at first he did not build any permanent fortifications, the natives were already afraid. But soon they stopped being afraid, the Taino rebellions and the raids of the Caribbean tribes turned into a problem. Then this house (where the de Leon family lived), built in 1521, became a fort and an arsenal. Since then, it has been rebuilt more than once, but the essence is clear – an ordinary house, perhaps quite large and stone. Typical of this period is the casa fuerte, “fortified house”. This was enough to protect against the natives.
Then a new enemy appeared. In the 1520s and 30s, French pirates came to Maine, and a real fort with artillery was needed to stop a European ship from entering the bay. In 1537 La Fortalesa was built on the shore of the bay:

Fortalesa in the center, gray-blue-white with 2 towers. Only the upper part is visible, because later Fortaleza was outside the city wall. Despite the ridiculous coloring, it is clear that this is no longer a house, but a fortification, the thickness of its walls is over 2m. But the construction is still medieval, without bastion frills. Previously, the fort was surrounded by its own fortress wall. Part of the building was destroyed and then restored, but the original towers have been preserved.
The place for Fortaleza was chosen poorly, it is too far from the entrance to the bay. Therefore, at the very end of the island, on a ledge, they built a small turret for 4 guns, which they called “El Morro” (“ledge”). This was considered sufficient to protect against pirates of that time.

By the 1580s the situation had changed again. Francis Drake took Maine seriously, now the city was threatened not by individual vessels with a hundred people and a dozen falconets, but by squadrons with strong weapons and thousands of landing forces. El Morro was rebuilt according to the bastion model, and by the end of the 16th century. the fortifications of San Juan looked like this:

1 – Casa Blanca 2 – Fortaleza 3 – El Morro. The city itself is not shown

From the side of the city, the tower was protected by a hornwork with a moat and ravelin. At the same time, one of the semi-bastions controlled the side of the bay, the other – the side of the Atlantic. On the hornwork there were 2 more batteries aimed at the ocean and the bay, at the foot of the tower (almost at water level) there was a semicircular platform for 5 guns, bateria flotante (4). In addition, the bay was kept under fire by the St. Helena Battery (5) built next to the fort. It is characteristic that at the same time the city itself was protected from the sea only by shallow water, and from land almost nothing, but the bay was covered.
These fortifications plus 5 frigates in the bay washed away Drake in 1595. The search for a weak point in the defense yielded nothing, an attempt to break into the bay at night was repulsed with heavy losses. Having lost several hundred people in this attack, he was forced to leave.

But fortifications do not fight by themselves. In 1598 the island nearly died out from dysentery and famine. 80 goners remained in the garrison of the fortress, after a short siege they surrendered El Morro to the successfully entered Earl of Cumberland. Which, however, did not rejoice for long: immediately dysentery came to his detachment. Of the 1,700 Englishmen, 400 died, and the same number fell ill, so they had to urgently leave. The city was burned down before.
After his departure, the fortifications were restored, the hornwork was made much more massive, a small fort El Cañuelo was added on the other side of the bay. The rebuilt El Morro performed well in 1625, withstanding both a sea attack by 17 Dutch ships and a serious land siege. However, as the same campaign showed, the fortress could not close the bay alone from a strong fleet. The Dutch were able to break into the bay, and then, albeit with great difficulty, go back. The city, of course, was again burned to zero.

Therefore, the entire 17th-18th centuries. El Morro continued to be completed and strengthened, gradually acquiring the current impressive appearance:

El Morro now

At the same time, the entire fortification of the city developed. The last stage was underway: instead of separate fortifications, a coherent system of multi-level defense appeared, developed taking into account the terrain. Now the city was reliably protected from attack from any direction.
The result looked like this:

The whole of San Juan (which occupied half of the island of the same name) was surrounded by a high wall with numerous bastions and batteries, keeping both the bay and the Atlantic under fire. Around shallow water, you can moor only in the bay. The entrance to it is controlled by the powerful fortress of El Morro, plus the small fort of El Cañuelo on the island opposite. From the land side, the city is protected by an even more powerful fortress complex of San Cristobal. But still try to get to it: the approach to the island itself from the side of Puerto Rico is covered by forts Escambron and San Geronimo, and behind them are 2 lines of defense.

View from the cavalier of the fortress of San Cristobal on the Atlantic side of the island. A solid bastion wall is visible, going to El Morro (he is on the horizon).

The last English attempt to capture Puerto Rico in 1797 ended in poof. The 7,000-strong detachment of General Abercrombie, having a huge fleet and hundreds of guns, did not even dare to meddle in the bay, went overland and was stopped on the 1st line by two small forts. From the English cannons abandoned during the retreat, a pretty monument to Ponce de Leon was later cast, standing on the square of the old city.

Battery Escambron

The same monument to Juan Ponce de Leon.

Fort San Geronimo

Few people know the little fort of San Geronimo, and no one visits at all – it is located behind a fence on the territory of a hotel, and is now closed for restoration. But the place is so significant that it was a sin not to look (fortunately, the guard walked away).
The fort is located on a narrow spit that juts out into Boqueron Bay, the “back door” of the island.
Therefore, this is the first line of defense against any land attack on San Juan. The current structure dates back to the end of the 18th century, but a small wooden or brick fort was here in the 16th century. It is from here at 1595 fired the famous shot that sent the cannonball into Drake’s cabin. The fort was then called Matadiablo (“devil’s killer”) for some time, as the Spaniards erroneously thought that among those killed by the shot was John Hawkins.