Portobelo Fortifications _1886 - a photo on Flickriver

            From Wikipedia:
The Portobelo and San Lorenzo fortifications are situated approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) from each other on Panama's Atlantic coast. Portobelo's military structures provided a security cover on the Caribbean part of the Panama harbor whereas the fortifications at San Lorenzo protected the Chagres River at its mouth.  The port was built as an alternate Caribbean terminal to the one at Nombre de Dios to navigate through the Isthmus of Panama. The primary purpose was to avoid the land route which was affected during the rainy months. The Chagres River-Cruces access was a combination of the waterway and terrestrial route built as an alternative to the approach to Portobelo via Camino Real and Panama City.
As the village's importance grew, security concerns were addressed by building military fortifications from 1600 till the last fortifications at Santiago and Fernando on the bay in 1753.  In all, 10 different fortifications were built on the hills behind Portobelo port, making it the "most heavily fortified Spanish coastal control point in the Americas".  Many of the fortifications were attacked and crumbled to heaps of rubble; only the fortifications built in 1753 have survived in good condition, as Admiral Vernon bypassed Portobello during the last battle.  Earlier, Sir Francis Drake was unsuccessful in attacking the fort as he succumbed to fever and was buried in the bay. But he had burned Nombre De Dios in 1596. His lead casket buried in the sea bears his name. In 1597, after Drake’s episode, the Spanish Empire decided to fortify the port as the treasury was moved to Portobelo.  Fort San Felipe was built first at the entrance to the harbor and was fortified with 35 canons.  Fort San Jeronimo was built on the eastern part, and Fort Santiago de la Gloria, on the western part of the bay.  In 1668, the Welsh Buccaneer Sir Henry Morgan attacked Portobelo, using ladders wide enough to carry 3 men abreast to scale the walls of the fortifications.  For a month the pirates occupied the city, but no substantial damage to the defensive structures was reported.  In 1688 English Pirate Bartholomew Sharp and French buccaneer La Sound attacked the fortifications and caused different degrees of damage.  Attacks in 1744 spared the forts but the customs house was severely damaged.
For more than two centuries after the last fortifications were built in 1753, there was total neglect of the forts and battlements resulting in vegetation overgrowth, till the Government of Panama decided to restore them.   After Panama became an independent country, Spain abandoned the San Lorenzo Fort in 1821.  Following the merger of Panama with Columbia, the fort was used as a prison.
   

Taken in: Panama / Provincia de Colón / Marco Antonio (show map)

Taken on: November 14, 2019

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Sets appears in: • 10 Panama, Caribbean Side (North) • Panama, compilation of all albums

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Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III, f/9.0, 1/160 sec, 32mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens:	EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Aperture:	f/9.0
Exposure Time:	0.006 sec (1/160)
Focal Length:	32mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Shutter speed priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows
Show full info

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