Fortress of the Immaculate Conception
Encyclopedia
The Fortress of the Immaculate Conception, (Spanish
: El Castillo de la Inmaculada Concepción) is a fortification
located on the southern bank of the Río San Juan
(San Juan River), in the village
of El Castillo
in southern Nicaragua
. The fortress is situated approximately 6 kilometers from the border with Costa Rica
, at the Raudal del Diablo rapid
s of the San Juan River. It was completed in 1675 as part of a series of fortifications along the San Juan River, to defend against pirate
attacks upon the city of Granada
(which can be reached by navigating upstream from the Caribbean Sea
along the San Juan River into Lake Nicaragua
). The settlement of El Castillo and its fortress continued to be strategically important to the Captaincy General of Guatemala
until the late 18th century.
An important historic landmark of Nicaragua, the fortress is on a list of sites as an initial stage in
achieving World Heritage Site
status with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
was a Spanish conquistador
and the first European to arrive in present-day Nicaragua. After discovering the "freshwater sea" (Lake Nicaragua) on January 21, 1522, he speculated that it discharged into the Caribbean Sea. Francisco Hernández de Córdoba
was another Spanish conquistador who founded the city of Granada (the first Spanish colonial city in Central America
) on the shore of Lake Nicaragua on December 8, 1524. Under orders from Hernández de Córdoba, an expedition that included Hernando de Soto, Ruy Díaz (the first mayor of Granada) and Sebastián de Belalcázar
explored Lake Nicaragua. They succeeded in locating a waterway running eastwards towards the Caribbean Sea, but reported it to be not navigable. Martin Estete, a citizen of Granada, finally discovered the outlet of Lake Nicaragua in 1528 and named it the Río San Juan. Estete was unable to navigate past the rapids however, because the river was low at that time. In 1529, Diego Machuca became the first man to reach the Caribbean Sea from Lake Nicaragua. After circumnavigating the lake in a group of boats, Machuca and his team entered the San Juan River. From here, Machuca led a group of 200 men who advanced by land, taking the same course as the boats. Machuca named the rapids (the rapids which stopped Estete the year before) after himself, and named the port at the mouth of the river San Juan de las Perlas (later known as San Juan del Norte, and now known as San Juan de Nicaragua).
By the late 17th century, the success of the city of Granada had made it a victim of pirate attacks, the first of which was in 1670 by the pirate Gallardino. In response to this and other pirate attacks, the Spanish colonial authorities constructed the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception as a means to protect the citizens of Granada from future attacks.
Captain General Fernando Francisco de Escobedo, who was also at that time Governor of Yucatán
, visited the area from January — February 1673. Escobedo was accompanied by Martín de Andújar Cantos
, a military engineer
who was responsible for selection of the site. Escobedo and Andújar Cantos arrived at San Juan del Norte, then travelled upstream along the San Juan River and into Lake Nicaragua. Upon their return to Granada, they set about planning the construction of definitive fortifications along the San Juan River. They ultimately decided to build the fortress at the Raudal del Diablo, (known at that time as the Raudal de Santa Cruz) atop the ruins of the previous Fuerte de Santa Cruz, which dated from the time of King Philip III of Spain
. Construction of the fortress, initially named Fortaleza de la Limpia Pura e Inmaculada Concepción, was begun on March 10, 1673 and completed in 1675. Despite the construction of the fortress, buccaneer
William Dampier
plundered the city and set it on fire on April 8, 1685.
expeditionary force laid siege
to the fortress in what would later be called the Battle for the Río San Juan de Nicaragua
. The attacking force consisted of two thousand men and more than fifty boats, while the soldiers at the fortress numbered only around a hundred. The garrison commander, Lieutenant Colonel Don José de Herrera y Sotomayor, had died unexpectedly on July 15, only 11 days earlier. Inspired by acts of heroism displayed by Herrera's 19-year-old daughter Rafaela
(which included killing the British commander of the expeditionary force), pro tempore
garrison commander Lieutenant Juan de Aguilar y Santa Cruz led the defenders to victory in a battle that lasted six days. The British finally lifted their siege and retreated on August 3, 1762.
After Spain entered the American Revolutionary War
in 1779, Major General John Dalling
, the British governor and commander-in-chief of Jamaica, proposed a second expedition to Nicaragua. The goal was to sail up the San Juan River to Lake Nicaragua and capture the town of Granada, which would effectively cut Spanish America
in half as well as provide potential access to the Pacific Ocean
. During this expedition, which took place in 1780 and later became known as the San Juan Expedition
, Colonel John Polson and Captain Horatio Nelson
led a British attack against the fortress. At the time, the Spanish garrison consisted of 228 men under the command of Juan de Ayssa (who served as Governor of Nicaragua from 1783 — 1787). The expeditionary force succeeded in capturing the fortress on April 29, 1780, despite the fact that it consisted of only 200 men. The 22-year-old Nelson, in command of HMS Hinchinbrook
, was responsible for leading his men through dense jungle to attack the fortress from a hill in the rear. The British captured the fortress and occupied it for nine months, finally abandoning it in January 1781. The hill is named Lomas de Nelson to this day.
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
: El Castillo de la Inmaculada Concepción) is a fortification
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
located on the southern bank of the Río San Juan
San Juan River (Nicaragua)
The San Juan River , also known as El Desaguadero , is a 192.06 km river that flows east out of Lake Nicaragua into the Caribbean Sea. A large section of the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica runs on the right bank of the river...
(San Juan River), in the village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
of El Castillo
El Castillo (village)
El Castillo is a village of about 1500 people situated on the southern bank of the Río San Juan in southern Nicaragua. It is one of 27 comarcas of the municipality of El Castillo, a subdivision of the Río San Juan Department. The village is situated approximately 6 kilometers from the border with...
in southern Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
. The fortress is situated approximately 6 kilometers from the border with Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, at the Raudal del Diablo rapid
Rapid
A rapid is a section of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. A rapid is a hydrological feature between a run and a cascade. A rapid is characterised by the river becoming shallower and having some rocks exposed above the...
s of the San Juan River. It was completed in 1675 as part of a series of fortifications along the San Juan River, to defend against pirate
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
attacks upon the city of Granada
Granada, Nicaragua
Granada is a city in western Nicaragua and the capital of the Granada Department. With an estimated population of 110,326 , it is Nicaragua's fourth most populous city. Granada is historically one of Nicaragua's most important cities, economically and politically...
(which can be reached by navigating upstream from the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
along the San Juan River into Lake Nicaragua
Lake Nicaragua
Lake Nicaragua or Cocibolca or Granada or is a vast freshwater lake in Nicaragua of tectonic origin. With an area of , it is the largest lake in Central America, the 19th largest lake in the world and the 9th largest in the Americas. It is slightly smaller than Lake Titicaca. With an elevation...
). The settlement of El Castillo and its fortress continued to be strategically important to the Captaincy General of Guatemala
Captaincy General of Guatemala
The Captaincy General of Guatemala , also known as the Kingdom of Guatemala , was an administrative division in Spanish America which covered much of Central America, including what are now the nations of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and the Mexican state of Chiapas...
until the late 18th century.
An important historic landmark of Nicaragua, the fortress is on a list of sites as an initial stage in
achieving World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
status with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
History
16th century
Gil González DávilaGil González Dávila
Gil González Dávila was a Spanish Conquistador and the first European to arrive in present-day Nicaragua.González Dávila first appears in historical records in 1508, when he received a royal commission to examine accounts and tax records of estates. He probably traveled soon afterward to Santo...
was a Spanish conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
and the first European to arrive in present-day Nicaragua. After discovering the "freshwater sea" (Lake Nicaragua) on January 21, 1522, he speculated that it discharged into the Caribbean Sea. Francisco Hernández de Córdoba
Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (founder of Nicaragua)
Francisco Hernández de Córdoba is usually reputed as the founder of Nicaragua, and in fact he founded two important Nicaraguan cities, Granada and León. The currency of Nicaragua is named the córdoba in his memory....
was another Spanish conquistador who founded the city of Granada (the first Spanish colonial city in Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
) on the shore of Lake Nicaragua on December 8, 1524. Under orders from Hernández de Córdoba, an expedition that included Hernando de Soto, Ruy Díaz (the first mayor of Granada) and Sebastián de Belalcázar
Sebastián de Belalcázar
Sebastián de Belalcázar was a Spanish conquistador.-Early life:He was born Sebastián Moyano in the province of Córdoba, Spain, in either 1479 or 1480. He took the name Belalcázar as that was the name of the castle-town near to his birthplace in Córdoba...
explored Lake Nicaragua. They succeeded in locating a waterway running eastwards towards the Caribbean Sea, but reported it to be not navigable. Martin Estete, a citizen of Granada, finally discovered the outlet of Lake Nicaragua in 1528 and named it the Río San Juan. Estete was unable to navigate past the rapids however, because the river was low at that time. In 1529, Diego Machuca became the first man to reach the Caribbean Sea from Lake Nicaragua. After circumnavigating the lake in a group of boats, Machuca and his team entered the San Juan River. From here, Machuca led a group of 200 men who advanced by land, taking the same course as the boats. Machuca named the rapids (the rapids which stopped Estete the year before) after himself, and named the port at the mouth of the river San Juan de las Perlas (later known as San Juan del Norte, and now known as San Juan de Nicaragua).
17th century
By the late 17th century, the success of the city of Granada had made it a victim of pirate attacks, the first of which was in 1670 by the pirate Gallardino. In response to this and other pirate attacks, the Spanish colonial authorities constructed the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception as a means to protect the citizens of Granada from future attacks.
Captain General Fernando Francisco de Escobedo, who was also at that time Governor of Yucatán
Yucatán
Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
, visited the area from January — February 1673. Escobedo was accompanied by Martín de Andújar Cantos
Martín de Andújar Cantos
Martín de Andújar Cantos was a Spanish sculptor and architect. He spent much of his life in Tenerife and is considered one of the island's most noted sculptors. Trained by Juan Martínez Montañés, he himself was a teacher of Blas García Ravelo....
, a military engineer
Military engineer
In military science, engineering refers to the practice of designing, building, maintaining and dismantling military works, including offensive, defensive and logistical structures, to shape the physical operating environment in war...
who was responsible for selection of the site. Escobedo and Andújar Cantos arrived at San Juan del Norte, then travelled upstream along the San Juan River and into Lake Nicaragua. Upon their return to Granada, they set about planning the construction of definitive fortifications along the San Juan River. They ultimately decided to build the fortress at the Raudal del Diablo, (known at that time as the Raudal de Santa Cruz) atop the ruins of the previous Fuerte de Santa Cruz, which dated from the time of King Philip III of Spain
Philip III of Spain
Philip III , also known as Philip the Pious, was the King of Spain and King of Portugal and the Algarves, where he ruled as Philip II , from 1598 until his death...
. Construction of the fortress, initially named Fortaleza de la Limpia Pura e Inmaculada Concepción, was begun on March 10, 1673 and completed in 1675. Despite the construction of the fortress, buccaneer
Buccaneer
The buccaneers were privateers who attacked Spanish shipping in the Caribbean Sea during the late 17th century.The term buccaneer is now used generally as a synonym for pirate...
William Dampier
William Dampier
William Dampier was an English buccaneer, sea captain, author and scientific observer...
plundered the city and set it on fire on April 8, 1685.
18th century
On the morning of July 26, 1762, a combined British and Miskito SambuMiskito Sambu
The Miskito Sambu are a mixed-race population group occupying the Caribbean coast of Central America, focused on the region of the Honduras-Nicaragua border...
expeditionary force laid siege
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
to the fortress in what would later be called the Battle for the Río San Juan de Nicaragua
Battle for the Río San Juan de Nicaragua
The Battle for the Río San Juan de Nicaragua was one of several important battles that took place during the Anglo-Spanish War, a subconflict of the Seven Years' War which lasted from December 1761 until February 1763...
. The attacking force consisted of two thousand men and more than fifty boats, while the soldiers at the fortress numbered only around a hundred. The garrison commander, Lieutenant Colonel Don José de Herrera y Sotomayor, had died unexpectedly on July 15, only 11 days earlier. Inspired by acts of heroism displayed by Herrera's 19-year-old daughter Rafaela
Rafaela Herrera
Rafaela de Herrera y Torreynosa was the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Don José de Herrera y Sotomayor . She is considered a national heroine of Nicaragua, due to her actions in the defense of the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception during the Battle for the Río San Juan de Nicaragua in...
(which included killing the British commander of the expeditionary force), pro tempore
Pro tempore
Pro tempore , abbreviated pro tem or p.t., is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a locum tenens in the absence of a superior, such as the President pro tempore of the United States Senate.Legislative...
garrison commander Lieutenant Juan de Aguilar y Santa Cruz led the defenders to victory in a battle that lasted six days. The British finally lifted their siege and retreated on August 3, 1762.
After Spain entered the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
in 1779, Major General John Dalling
Sir John Dalling, 1st Baronet
General Sir John Dalling, 1st Baronet was a British soldier and colonial administrator.Dalling was the son of John Dalling, of Bungay, Suffolk, by his wife Anne, a daughter of Colonel William Windham of Earsham, Norfolk, who was the second son of William Windham I, of Felbrigg Hall...
, the British governor and commander-in-chief of Jamaica, proposed a second expedition to Nicaragua. The goal was to sail up the San Juan River to Lake Nicaragua and capture the town of Granada, which would effectively cut Spanish America
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
in half as well as provide potential access to the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. During this expedition, which took place in 1780 and later became known as the San Juan Expedition
San Juan Expedition (1780)
The San Juan Expedition took place between March and November 1780 during the American War of Independence when a British force under the command of John Polson and Captain Horatio Nelson landed on the coast of the present-day Nicaragua, with the aim of sailing up the San Juan River to capture the...
, Colonel John Polson and Captain Horatio Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
led a British attack against the fortress. At the time, the Spanish garrison consisted of 228 men under the command of Juan de Ayssa (who served as Governor of Nicaragua from 1783 — 1787). The expeditionary force succeeded in capturing the fortress on April 29, 1780, despite the fact that it consisted of only 200 men. The 22-year-old Nelson, in command of HMS Hinchinbrook
HMS Hinchinbrook (1778)
HMS Hinchinbrook was a Royal Navy 28-gun sixth rate frigate. She was Captain Horatio Nelson's second navy command, after the brig , and his first as post-captain.-Privateering career:...
, was responsible for leading his men through dense jungle to attack the fortress from a hill in the rear. The British captured the fortress and occupied it for nine months, finally abandoning it in January 1781. The hill is named Lomas de Nelson to this day.