Compared to a great spider at the centre of a complex net of imperial power, Charles V, the "lanky, gangly, curiously featured youth with the ever open mouth", was the heir of three of Europe's leading dynasties: the House of Habsburg of the Habsburg Monarchy; the House of Valois-Burgundy of the Duchy of Burgundy; and the House of Trastámara of Crown of Castile-León & Aragon. He ruled over extensive domains in Central, Western, and Southern Europe and the Spanish Empire from 1516 until 1556.

Charles V Holy Roman Emperor

Charles' empire grew massively to include Spanish colonies in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

"Not one of his European kingdoms or all of them together, equalled in vastness and greatness the transatlantic possessions."

Christopher Columbus Claiming San Juan Bautista for Spain photo by G. Wilson

On 12 October, 1492, Christopher Columbus is thought to have stepped ashore on San Salvador pictured here. (now known as Bahamian Watling island)

When Christopher Columbus arrived in Puerto Rico during his second voyage on 19 November 1493, the island was inhabited by a group of Arawaks known as Taínos. Columbus named the island in honor of Saint John the Baptist. It has since become known as 'Puerto' Rico' and 'San Juan', the name of the main trading/shipping port.

San Juan Sights

Fountain photo by G. Wilson

Park Statues photo by G. Wilson

Walled San Juan photo by G. Wilson

San Juan Wall photo by G. Wilson

Gateway to Old San Juan photo by G. Wilson

Inscribed in Latin over the entrance:

"Blessed are they who come in the name of the Lord."

Travelling on galleons less than 100 tons, which formed the backbone of the their squadrons, the Spanish crisscrossed the Americas less than 40 years after the continent's discovery. Over time island after island and large sections of the new continents became imprinted forever with the Spanish language and religion.

Spanish Galleon of mid-sixteenth century from contemporary engraving.

"We came to serve God and his Majesty, to give light to those in darkness, and also to acquire that wealth which most men covet."

Charles sought to establish control of the recently discovered continent's boundless area, whose 'golden age' was accompanied by, "thunder and fury, conquests and battles, arguments and denunciations and slaughters and sufferings".

Bartolome de las Casas

A Spanish priest, Bartolome de las Casas, cautioned the king, that development of his colonies was being accompanied by atrocious cruelties perpetrated on the Natives by Spaniards motivated mainly by their greed for gold.

Gold bought Grief!

Juan Ponce de León became Puerto Rico's first governor in 1508. As the Spanish began to colonize the island, the Taínos indigenous population were exploited, forced into slavery and within 50 years, reduced to near extinction by European infectious diseases, to which they had no natural immunity, and the harsh conditions of work imposed by the conquerors.

Ponce de Leon

San Juan was founded in 1511 by Juan Ponce de León. The district that today is known as El Viejo San Juan or Old San Juan was the personal vision of Ponce de León. He helped plot the layout of the city, supervised the construction of its massive walls and determined which structures were to be built and where. Situated on an easily defensible isthmus, Old San Juan is bounded by two fortresses: El Morro and Fort San Cristóbal, both built as military strongholds. Old San Juan's forts and its city walls are among the best preserved in the hemisphere.

Fuerte San Felipe del Morro

EL MORRO

In 1539 to protect the strategic port of San Juan from numerous European invasion attempts, Charles decided to fortify the entrance of the San Juan harbour and commissioned the construction of a fortification on a rocky promontory ("morro" in Spanish).

Located at the northwestern-most point of the islet of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Fuerte San Felipe del Morro was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. The fortress covers enough ground to accommodate a nine-hole golf course.

Engineers Juan de Tejada and Juan Bautista Antonelli in 1587 designed the actual appearance of the fortress following well-established Spanish military fortification design principles. Designed to guard the entrance to the San Juan Bay and defend the city of Old San Juan from seaborne enemies, this fortification, considered one of the greatest in the New World, was for nearly a hundred years, the only effective part of the Spanish defensive system in Puerto Rico.

Towering above the sea, the fort boasts six massive levels that rise from the sea to 154 feet (44 m.) and is a labyrinth of dungeons, ramps, barracks, turrets, towers and tunnels. Its outer walls are six meters thick. Built to protect the port, it has a commanding view of the harbour. Its cannon emplacement walls are "as thick as a child's arm is long" and its dank, dark, secret passageways are a wonder of engineering mastery. Its history can be traced in the museum.

All along the walls are dome-covered sentry boxes known as, garitas,, which have become a cultural symbol of Puerto Rico itself.

On Guard in the Garita photo by G. Wilson

The Black Bastion

Looming out of the darkness, the formiddable fortress had threatened death and destruction from stone and cannon for any who dared to daunt the great bastion or the settlement it secured.

As the cruise ship sailed into San Juan Bay, our first sight of the great citadel was but a dot on the distant horizon. The dot dominated the mouth of San Juan Bay for centuries and told endless tales of failed flings at taking the town and its treasures. The superb strategic location and its fiercesome fire power made it impossible to capture, almost, for its battlements were bested only once in four hundred years.

"Dead ahead!" El Morro photo by G. Wilson

Nearer! G. Wilson

Clearer! photo by G. Wilson

Deadlier than before! photo by G. Wilson

photo by G. Wilson

photo by G. Wilson

photo by G. Wilson

photo by G. Wilson

photo by G. Wilson

photo by G. Wilson

El Morro (promontory)

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Sections of El Morro

Entrance to El Morro

La Garita

La Garita, the sentry box, symbolizes Puerto Rico and El Viejo(Old) San Juan.

Inside walls of El Morro

Wide walls of El Morro photo by G. Wilson

View from the Walls of El Morro photo by G. Wilson

Fire! photo by G. Wilson

Shot of Shoreline from El Morro photo by G. Wilson

Playgrounds of El Morro photo by G. Wilson

Fun in the Sun from grounds of El Morro photo by G. Wilson

Savouring the sights from the walls of El Morro photo by By Stander

Goaded by Gold to Slaughter and Enslave

By 1555, 2500 ships had departed for the new world, 750 of which never reached shore. Rivers ran with gold, for revenues rose from under a million pesos in 1520 to nearly 10 million by the 1550s. While a great deal of bullion made it back to Spain, much of the gold and silver sank with the ships into the depths of the sea. A bit of the bullion was recovered.

Pendant made from silver found on Atocha sunk in 1622! photo by G. Wilson

Silver coins retrieved by divers from the depths. .

The famed 'pieces of eight' were historical Spanish silver dollar coins, minted in the Americas from the late 15th century. Spread all over the world, they became standard currency in international trade. Each 'piece of eight' was worth eight reales and to make change could be physically cut into eight pieces, or 'bits', hence the colloquial name 'pieces of eight'.

Spanish Pieces of Eight

Foremost among the conquistadores were Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro. Francisco could neither read nor write. They conquered the Aztec and Inca empires in little more than a decade.

Cortes

Pizzaro

Spanish Caravels as used by Francisco Pizarro

Pizarro's Spanish Caravels

Mounted minions of Spanish Conquistadores

The Natives were petrified when the Spaniards fired their cannons. These white gods became even more menacing when fearsome-looking knights in armour galloped across the beaches on horses, a creature hitherto unknown to the natives. The only animal they tamed was the dog which they ate.

Charge!

The Natives' skill as goldsmiths sent the rapacious conquistadors rampaging though the countryside, savagely seizing all the intricately made gold and silver creations and unmindul of their exquisite beauty, melting them into bullion bars for shipment to Spain. A few of the objets d'art were retained and forwarded as gifts to King Charles, who was so astounded by their beauty, he paraded them proudly before the neighbouring nobility.

Solid Gold Ceremonial Knife

Bent on relieving the Spanish of bullion brutally taken from the Natives, English pirating expeditions threatened throughout the Caribbean, attacking and taking tons of gold and silver. Much of it made its way to her Majesty Elizabeth I, who refused to sanction their savagery, but graciously accepted the spoils of Spain's spillage.

Elizabeth I

Sacking a Spanish settlement

While not committing herself to an all out war with Spain, Queen Elizabeth I authorized some of her subjects to nip at Philip's navy. On of the most successful of those corsairs was Sir Francis Drake, a legend in his own time. Almost single-handedly, had Drake demolished Spain's navy, earning for his escapades, their amazed admiration. They marvelled at his seamanship saying, "were it not that he was a Lutheran, there was not a like man in the world."

Sir Francis Drake

Drake dredging for gold.

El Morro survived several attacks from foreign powers bent on bullion including Sir Francis Drake. His seafaring career continued into his mid-fifties. In 1595 he and veteran Hawkins, now in his sixties, set out on what was to be their last voyage. As their fleet was anchoring off Puerto Rico, Hawkins fell ill and died in his cabin.

To impede Drake's ships from entering the bay, a metal chain was drawn across the entrance. The furious assault commenced at 10 on the night of 23 September, Drake's attack began with twenty-five boats, each carrying fifty or sixty men well armed, Dark as it was, the boats were seen and instantly guns from the fort fired upon them with good effect. The fires they started helped illuminate the interlopers. The fight with musquetry and cannons continued for an hour, Drake's only momento from the melee, a cannonball through the cabin of his flagship.

Duck, Drake; Cascading cannonballs.

Remarkably, Drake's heart was not in the havoc and he made only an abortive attempt to force the harbour. He was depressed at the loss of his old fiend and no doubt also concluded that El Morro was more than a match for his men. In any case, he upped anchors and swept out to sea in search of another bay in which to battle. He lost that too.

By January 1596 Drake realized dysentery would be his undoing. He anchored off the coast of Porto Bello and asked to be dressed in full armour, so that he might meet death like a soldier, In 1596 at the age of 55, Drake died on the deck of his ship. He was buried at sea in a lead coffin off Nombre de Dios Porto Bello, a fitting site for the grave of so great a seaman. El Drago, 'the Dragon', Spain's nickname for their most notorious, nautical nemesis was no more. Spain breathed a sigh of relief; finally they were free of him. Divers on the other hand search the sea for Drake's coffin.

Fuerte San Felipe del Morro having proven more than a match for Drake's might, the Spanish felt confident of their ability to defend Puerto Rico against any other enemy attacks, However, undaunted by Drake's failure to manhandle El Morro, the privateer George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland decided to try his luck.

Cumberland came by boot rather than boat, entering San Juan on foot. His successful assault was short lived, for the Earl faced an unexpected problem. The troops were decimated by dysentery (about 400 dead and 400 sick) and the earl had to face the fact that he didn't have enough men to garrison the city. His only recourse was to depart Puerto Rico, but before leaving, the English pillaged and set fire to San Juan.

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