The Spanish Main 1492–1800

Introduction

When Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492, he thought he had arrived in India, and so the exotic islands were referred to as the ‘Indias’ – the Indies. Two years later, the Treaty of Tordesillas imposed some sort of legislation on the world of exploration, when Pope Alexander VI divided the new lands between Spain and Portugal. An imaginary line was drawn 370 leagues west of the Azores: land to the east of this line belonged to Portugal, while land to the west devolved to Spain. As it was soon realized that they had discovered a whole new continent, the land became the Spanish Indies, which theoretically encompassed the whole American continent except for Portuguese Brazil. The early Spanish settlements were located in the sea of the Carib Indians, which became known as the Caribbean Sea. The news of fabulous wealth found by the Spaniards soon aroused the interest of the French and the English in overseas ventures. The English term ‘Spanish Main’ originally applied to the northern shores of South America, but during the 16th century it came to refer to the whole West Indian area and the Spanish settlements on the shores of the adjacent mainland.

Changing fort styles

The forts the Spanish built in America can be loosely separated into three distinct categories that broadly equate to three periods in time. The initial era could be termed the ‘castle period’, which lasted from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 16th century. The casas fuertes or strong houses, also called castillos or castles, appeared from 1492 and thrived until the later part of the 16th century. Simple but sturdy structures, these castles were essentially European medieval castles transposed to America. They consisted of turrets connected by walls on a square or rectangular plan. In some cases, these would form a large single tower, which was meant to be a stronghold. The first such substantial work was built at Santo Domingo (now Dominican Republic), followed by others in Havana (Cuba) and San Juan (Puerto Rico).

The next era, from c.1550 until c.1760, could be called the ‘bastion period’. From the middle of the 16th century, seaports in the Spanish Main were subject to devastating attacks by pirates, corsairs and enemy fleets, and the existing medieval-style defences were clearly inadequate. Bastioned forts were replacing castles in Europe, and in 1558 the first fort in America featuring bastions was built in Havana. King Felipe II responded to these incursions by approving ‘A Defence Plan for the Caribbean’ in 1588. It called for the construction of a large network of forts at ten key points in the Spanish Main, either by reinforcing existing fortifications or erecting new ones. These forts were built according to the latest designs in military engineering, featuring lower walls, triangular bastions and other refinements. Over the years, important secondary sites were also fortified. As Spain’s naval and military power declined during the 17th century, towns were still taken by pirates and corsairs and this prompted the construction of city walls as well as substantial bastioned forts. By the early 18th century, Spain was regaining its place as a major power so that more ships and troops became available for colonial defence. By then, the towns of the Spanish Main were far better fortified and usually managed to repulse sizeable attacks.

The third and last era could be referred to as the ‘citadel period’. With the fall of Havana, the city considered the key to the entire network, in 1762 the defence of the Spanish Main was revealed to be inadequate. The fortifications that had mostly been built in the two preceding centuries were shown to be antiquated, and the whole system of garrisons and militias manning the forts failed when facing large, well-trained expeditionary forces. King Carlos III, one of Spain’s most enlightened rulers, ordered a complete, rapid and thorough revamping of the Spanish Main’s defence system, from the fortifications to the garrisons and local militias. From the 1760s, truly outstanding and impressive works were built in the main seaports that made them virtually impregnable by the standards of the time. The speed at which all these measures were ordered and implemented is remarkable, even by today’s standards. Over the next dozen years, tremendous Vauban-style fortifications were built in Havana and at San Juan in Puerto Rico, while great improvements were made elsewhere, notably at Cartagena de Indias and, later on, at Veracruz. At the same time, the colonial troops were restructured and the rotation of metropolitan units was introduced, while the militias were totally reorganized and greatly expanded.