Old San Juan: A Fortified Caribbean City

Old San Juan is the historic core of Puerto Rico’s capital, occupying the western end of the Isleta de San Juan at the entrance to San Juan Bay. Juan Ponce de León established the first Spanish colonial settlement, Caparra, on the opposite side of the bay in 1508. The settlement was gradually transferred to the more defensible islet between 1519 and 1521, when the colonial capital was formally established at its present location.

San Juan’s position beside a sheltered harbor made it strategically important to the Spanish Empire. From the 16th through the 19th centuries, Spain constructed and repeatedly expanded a defensive system of forts, bastions, walls, gates, and garitas, or sentry boxes. Its principal components include Castillo San Felipe del Morro at the bay entrance, Castillo San Cristóbal on the eastern approach, La Fortaleza, and extensive sections of the city wall.

The 2007 photographs document these coastal fortifications, their weathered interiors, the surrounding urban landscape, and the Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery beside El Morro. The Old San Juan Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2013. La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1983 as an important surviving system of European military architecture adapted to a Caribbean harbor.