A Defense of the 1st Order

Spain built Castillo San Felipe del Morro to guard San Juan harbor, whose control meant control of the entrance to the Caribbean Sea and access to the riches of the New World. Puerto Rico was the first major island with fresh water encountered by ships sailing west from Europe, and San Juan’s excellent harbor was the first secure, deep-water port. The power that held the harbor could protect merchant ships and send warships to control shipping to and from the Caribbean. For almost 400 years Spain defended San Juan and its harbor, and El Morro was central to that defense. Spain built El Morro over 250 years; its oldest part, a tower still standing deep within the fort, was built in 1539, and by 1790 the fort looked much as it does now. The fort takes its name from the headland where it stands, as El Morro means the headland, a high point of land extending into a body of water. San Juan’s importance to the security of the Spanish empire so impressed King Carlos III that in September 1765 he decreed that San Juan should be made “a Defense of the First Order.”