Havana bastion fortification (Castillo de la Real Fuerza)
Fortificación abaluartada de La Habana (Castillo de la Real Fuerza)
- Date
- 1558-1577 · confidence high
- Place
- Old Havana, Havana, Cuba
- Credited to
- Bartolomé Sánchez and Francisco de Calona; promoted by governor Diego de Mazariegos
- Field
- Conflict
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
After the sack of the city by the corsair Jacques de Sores in 1555, this fort was built with corner bastions, a moat and very thick stone walls, designed to withstand artillery. It is considered the first bastioned fort in the Americas.
It is credited as the oldest bastioned fort in the Americas and the oldest stone fort of that type, but competes with other fortresses (Ozama in Santo Domingo is earlier, though medieval). The Giraldilla dates from 1632.
What it led to
- the defensive system of Havana, key to the Gulf and port of the Indies fleets
- diffusion of bastioned fortification across the Spanish Caribbean
- an urban symbol (the Giraldilla weathervane, 1632)