El Morro (San Juan)

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.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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

                                 Luis A. GonzÁlez