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Today, El Morro is one of Puerto Rico's main tourist attractions and museums, displaying artifacts that Spaniards, Indians and Africans of that time used. Other exhibits display ship models as well as timelines and historical narratives. Tourists and locals enjoy flying kites in the ocean wind on the acres of grass surrounding the castle. Over two million visitors a year explore these windswept ramparts and pageways.
On the other side of the entrance of the bay, a smaller fort known as "El Cañuelo" supported Fort San Felipe del Morro in defending the entrance to San Juan's bay. During the assault of the city by Francis Drake in 1597, a chain was drawn across the entrance to the bay.
The core structures of El Morro were completed in a forty year timespan in the 16th Century, but new structures, embellishments, and restorations were added to the complex over the entire span of its 400 year history.
The fort was begun in 1540 by Spanish settlers to defend the port of San Juan. Its architecture mirrors the style of that century, as evidenced by similar military structures in St. Augustine, Florida, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and other South American sites largely occupied by the Spanish in the Age of ExplorationThe Age of Exploration is a period in history when Europeans began to explore other parts of the world. It followed the period of the Crusades, a lengthy conflict between the Muslims and Christians, and the almost constant warfare during the Medieval era.. The initial phase of construction was completed in 1589Events Rebellion of the Catholic League against King Henry III of France, in revenge for his murder of Duke Henry of Guise. They proclaim the deposition of the King, and acclaim the imprisoned Cardinal de Bourbon as the rightful King of France, calling hi. The structure was named in Honor of King Phillip II of Spain.
Much of the extant structure, was completed in the late 18th century17th century 18th century 19th century more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701- 1800; however, historians will sometimes specifically refer to the 18th Century as 1715- 89,. This includes much of the 18-foot thick walls; six additional levels; and the sentry posts known as garitas. The site was expanded at this time to cover over 70 acres.
The fort came under United States control after the 1898Events January 1 New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. January 13 Emile Zola's J'accus, the green space in front of "El Morro" was used for playing GolfThis article is about the sport of golf. For other meanings, see Golf (disambiguation). Golf is an outdoor game where individual players or teams play a small ball into a hole using various clubs. It is defined in the Rules of Golf as playing a ball with by U.S. military officers. During World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in military made another notable addition to the fort by adding a prominent sentry tower in the center of the main fort. This tower is the tallest point on the structure (180 feet above sea level) and flies both the U.S. and Puerto Rican flags.
In 1992 additional historic restorations were performed.