San Juan National Historic Site, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, preserves the historic Spanish forts and walls built to protect this harbor city. Spain considered San Juan Harbor an important gateway to the Americas and invested heavily in its protection. The defenses at San Juan helped keep the city and Spanish ships safe from pirates and enemy naval forces.
The site consists of three forts in Old San Juan, the city’s historic district. El Castillo de San Felipe del Morro (commonly called El Morro) and El Canuelo protected San Juan Harbor from attack by sea. El Castillo de San Cristobal (Fort San Cristobal) was built to protect the city of San Juan from attack by land.
El Morro stands on a promontory, a high point of land extending from the coast. El Morro’s position allowed its cannons to fire on ships in either San Juan Harbor or the Atlantic Ocean. Built in the 1500’s, the fort defended against attacks from the Netherlands, England, and the United States. In 1595, the famous British naval commander Sir Francis Drake unsuccessfully attacked El Morro.
El Canuelo is the smallest of the three forts. Built on a tiny island in San Juan Harbor, El Canuelo helped El Morro block the harbor by providing cross fire. El Morro and El Canuelo once housed a large chain that could be stretched between them to block the harbor. Originally built of wood, El Canuelo was burned by Dutch attackers in 1625. The Spanish rebuilt the fort in stone in the 1660’s.
The Spanish built most of the defensive structures at Fort San Cristobal during the late 1700’s. The fort, which stands atop San Cristobal Hill, protected the city from invasion by ground forces. In 1865, a famous mutiny occurred there. Soldiers rebelling against Spain captured the fort for 24 hours and pointed its cannons at the city.
A ring of walls 5 miles (8 kilometers) long connected the forts of Old San Juan, surrounding the entire city. Five gates provided access to the walled city. Parts of the wall were dynamited in 1897 to allow the city of San Juan to expand. Portions of the wall and gates that still stand date from the 1630’s.
The forts of Old San Juan were declared a national historic site in 1949. However, the United States Army operated the site as a military base until 1961. In 1983, the United Nations recognized the San Juan National Historic Site as an area of unique cultural importance by naming it a World Heritage Site.
