Military
El Morro is the massive headland fortress guarding the entrance to San Juan Bay at Old San Juan, the strongest element in the defenses of one of Spain’s most strategic Caribbean ports. Authorized in 1539 and largely shaped from plans made after 1587, it expanded over two centuries into a six-level fort with thick walls, complex landward defenses, powerful gun batteries, and large cisterns. It withstood or outlasted major attacks by English, Dutch, and British forces, then saw its last combat in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. Under U.S. rule it became part of Fort Brooke before later preservation as a historic site and World Heritage Site.
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