Fort Santiago (Guam)
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Fort Santiago (; ), built in 1571, is a
citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...
or castle built by Spanish navigator and governor
Miguel López de Legazpi Miguel López de Legazpi (12 June 1502 – 20 August 1572), also known as ''Adelantado, El Adelantado'' and ''El Viejo'' (The Elder), was a Spanish conquistador who financed and led an expedition to conquer the Philippines, Philippine islan ...
for the newly established city of
Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...
in the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. The defense fortress is located in
Intramuros Intramuros () is the historic walled area within the city of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. It is administered by the Intramuros Administration with the help of the city government of Manila. Intramuros comprises a centuries-old hist ...
, the walled city of Manila. The fort is one of the most important historical sites in Manila. Several people died in its prisons during the
Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...
and
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is popularly considered a na ...
, the Philippine national hero, was imprisoned here before his execution in 1896. The Rizal Shrine museum displays memorabilia of the hero in their collection and the fort features, embedded onto the ground in bronze, his footsteps representing his final walk from his cell to the location of the actual execution. It is only a few meters away from the
Manila Cathedral The Minor Basilica and Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, commonly known as the Manila Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic basilica and cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Manila. It is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary of ...
and the ''Palacio del Gobernador'' (lit. ''Governor's Palace'', currently the office of the
Commission on Elections An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
).


Profile

The fort was named after Saint James (''Santiago'' in Spanish), the
patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
of
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, who is also known as Saint James the Muslim-slayer because of the legend that he miraculously appeared hundreds of years after his death to fight in the battle of Clavijo, whose
relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...
adorns the
façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...
of the front gate.John T. Pilot (October 22, 2009)
"Fort Santiago Gate"
Flickr. Retrieved on January 8, 2012.
It is located at the mouth of the
Pasig River The Pasig River (; ) is a water body in the Philippines that connects Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay. Stretching for , it bisects the Philippine capital of Manila and Metro Manila, its surrounding urban area into northern and southern halves. Its m ...
and served as the premier defense fortress of the Spanish Government during their rule of the country. It became a main fort for the
spice trade The spice trade involved historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa and Europe. Spices, such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, nutmeg, star anise, clove, and turmeric, were known and used in antiquity and traded in t ...
to the
Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...
and
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
for 333 years. The
Manila Galleon The Manila galleon (; ) refers to the Spain, Spanish trading Sailing ship, ships that linked the Philippines in the Spanish East Indies to Mexico (New Spain), across the Pacific Ocean. The ships made one or two round-trip voyages per year betwe ...
trade to
Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...
,
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
began from the Fuerte de Santiago. The fort has a
perimeter A perimeter is the length of a closed boundary that encompasses, surrounds, or outlines either a two-dimensional shape or a one-dimensional line. The perimeter of a circle or an ellipse is called its circumference. Calculating the perimet ...
of , and it is of a nearly triangular form. The south front, which looks toward the city, is a curtain with a
terreplein In fortification architecture, a terreplein or terre-plein is the top, platform, or horizontal surface of a rampart, on which cannon are placed,''Webster's International Dictionary of the English Language'', Vol 2, 1895 protected by a parapet. In ...
, flanked by two
demi-bastion A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...
s - the ''Bastion of San Fernando'', on the riverside, and the ''Bastion of San Miguel'', by the bayside. A
moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...
connected with the river separates the fort from the city. Near the beginning of the north face, instead of a bastion, a
cavalier The term ''Cavalier'' () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of Charles I of England and his son Charles II of England, Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum (England), Int ...
called ''Santa Barbara'' was built with three faces of batteries, one looking seaward over the anchorage place, one facing the entrance, and the third looking upon the river. The latter is united with a tower of the same height as the walls, through which there is a descent to the water battery placed upon a semicircular platform, thus completing the triangular form of the fort. The high walls, with a thickness of are pierced for the necessary communications. The front gateway
façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...
measures high being in the south wall and facing the city. The communication with the river and the sea was by an obscure postern gate - the ''Postigo de la Nuestra Señora del Soledad'' (Postern of
Our Lady of Solitude Our Lady of Solitude (; ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus and a special form of Marian devotion practised in Spanish-speaking countries to commemorate the solitude of Mary on Holy Saturday. Variant names include ''Nuestra Señora de la Sol ...
). Inside the fort were guard stations, together with the barracks of the troops of the garrison and quarters of the warden and his subalterns. Also inside the fort were various storehouses, a chapel, the powder magazine, the sentry towers, the cisterns, etc.


History

The location of Fort Santiago was once the site of a
palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...
d
fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...
, armed with bronze guns, of
Rajah Matanda Ache (c. 1500s - 1572; Old Spanish orthography: ''Rája Aché'' or ''Raxa Ache'', also known as ''Rája Matandâ'' ("the Old King"), was King of Luzon who ruled from the kingdom's capital Maynila now the capital of the Republic of the Philippin ...
, a
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
Tagalog rajah of pre-Hispanic Manila who himself was a vassal to the Sultan of Brunei. The fort was destroyed by ''maestre de campo'' (master-of-camp)
Martin de Goiti Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...
who, upon arriving in 1570 from Cebu, fought several battles with the Muslim natives. The Spaniards started building Fort Santiago (''Fuerte de Santiago'') after the establishment of the city of Manila under Spanish rule on June 24, 1571, and made Manila the capital of the newly colonized islands. The first fort was a structure of palm logs and earth. Most of it was destroyed when the city was invaded by Chinese pirates led by
Limahong Limahong, Lim Hong, or Lin Feng ( Teochew zh, t=林鳳, :, : ), well known as Ah Hong ( Teochew zh, t=阿鳳, : , : ) or Lim-A-Hong or Limahon ( Teochew zh, t=林阿鳳, :, : ), was a Chinese pirate and warlord who invaded the northern Phi ...
. Martin de Goiti was killed during the siege. After a fierce conflict, the Spaniards under the leadership of
Juan de Salcedo Juan de Salcedo (; 1549 – 11 March 1576) was a Spanish conquistador. He was the grandson of Spanish general Miguel López de Legazpi. Salcedo was one of the soldiers who accompanied the Spanish conquest to the Philippines in 1565. He joined th ...
, eventually drove the pirates out to
Pangasinan Pangasinan, officially the Province of Pangasinan (, ; ; ), is a coastal Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region of Luzon. Its capital is Lingayen, Pangasinan, Lingayen while San Carlos, Pangasi ...
province to the north, and eventually out of the country. The construction of Fort Santiago with hard stone, together with the original fortified walls of Intramuros, commenced in 1590 and finished in 1593 during the term of Governor-General
Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas (1 January 1519 – 25 October 1593Some sources say October 19 or October 23) was a Spanish politician, diplomat, military officer and imperial official. He was the seventh governor-general of the Philippines from Ma ...
. The stones used were volcanic
tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...
quarried from Guadalupe (now Guadalupe Viejo in
Makati Makati ( ; ), officially the City of Makati (), is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines, known for being one of the leading financial centers in the country. As of 2013, the city has the highest concent ...
). The fort as Dasmariñas left it consisted of a castellated structure without towers, trapezoidal in trace, its straight gray front projecting into the river mouth. Arches supported an open gun platform above, named the battery of Saint Barbara, Santa Barbara, the patron saint of all good artillerymen. These arches formed casemates which afforded a lower tier of fire through embrasures. Curtain wall (fortification), Curtain walls of simplest character, without counter forts or interior buttresses, extended the flanks to a fourth front facing the city. In 1714, the ornate gate of Fort Santiago was erected together with some military barracks. The Luzon earthquakes of 1880, which destroyed much of the city of Manila, destroyed the front edifice of the fort changing its character. The years: 1636, 1654, 1670, and 1672; saw the deployment of 22, 50, 86, and 81 Latin-American soldiers from Mexican settlement in the Philippines, Mexico at Fort Santiago.https://academic.oup.com/past/article/232/1/87/1752419 Convicts or Conquistadores? Spanish Soldiers in the Seventeenth-Century Pacific By Stephanie J. Mawson] AGI, México, leg. 25, núm. 62; AGI, Filipinas, leg. 8, ramo 3, núm. 50; leg. 10, ramo 1, núm. 6; leg. 22, ramo 1, núm. 1, fos. 408 r –428 v; núm. 21; leg. 32, núm. 30; leg. 285, núm. 1, fos. 30 r –41 v . During the leadership of Fernándo Valdés y Tamon in the 1730s, a large semicircular gun platform to the front called ''media naranja'' (half orange) and another of lesser dimensions to the river flank were added to the Bastion of Santa Barbara. The casemates were then filled in and embrasures closed. He also changed the curtain wall facing cityward to a bastioned front. A lower parapet, bordering the interior moat, connects the two bastions.


British occupation

On September 24, 1762, British forces led by William Draper (British Army officer), Brigadier-General William Draper and Sir Samuel Cornish, 1st Baronet, Rear-Admiral Samuel Cornish invaded and captured Manila, and along with it Fort Santiago. It was during this time that the fort served as a base of operations for the Royal Navy until April 1764 when they agreed to a ceasefire with the Spanish.


American colonial period

On August 13, 1898, the American flag was raised in Fort Santiago signifying the start of the History of the Philippines (1898–1946), American rule in the Philippines. The fort served as the headquarters for the U.S. Army and several changes were made to the fort by the Americans. One of these changes included the draining of the moats surrounding the fort. The grounds were then transformed into a golf course.


World War II

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Fort Santiago was captured by the Japanese Imperial Army, and used its prisons and dungeons including the storage cells and gunpowder magazines for hundreds of prisoners who were killed near the end of the war (see Manila massacre). The fort sustained heavy damage from American and Filipino military Mortar (weapon), mortar shells during the Battle of Manila (1945), Battle of Manila in February 1945. Also, approximately 600 American prisoners of war died of suffocation or hunger after being held in extremely tight quarters in the dungeons at Fort Santiago.


The fort today

Today, the fort, its bastions, and the prison dungeons for criminals used by the Spanish officials, is now part of a historical park which also includes Plaza Moriones, Intramuros, Plaza Moriones and several ruins. The park houses well-preserved legacies from the Spanish colonial period including memorabilia of Jose Rizal, José Rizal at the Rizal Shrine, a replica of his ancestral house in Laguna province. Adaptive use of this famous historical landmark makes certain areas ideal for open air theater, picnics, and as a promenade. The Intramuros visitors center gives an overview of the various attractions in the walled city.


Preservation

After its destruction during WWII, Fort Santiago was declared as a ''Shrine of Freedom'' in 1950. Its restoration by the Philippine government did not begin till 1953 under the hands of the National Parks Development Committee. The Intramuros Administration now manages the reconstruction, maintenance, and management of the fort since 1992.tzquita (2008-007-11)
"At the gate of Fort Santiago"
Flickr. Retrieved on January 7, 2012.


Gallery

File:The critic in the Occident (1913) (14753394646).jpg, Fort Santiago in 1913 File:80-G-273361.jpg, A U.S. Army M4 Sherman enters the fort during the Battle of Manila, 1945 File:MANILA, FORT SANTIAGO, STADTMAUER.jpg, Fort Santiago gate before its reconstruction and restoration File:Manila, Fort Santiago, Walled city of Intramuros, Philippines.jpg, Fort Santiago gate after restoration File:Entrance of Fort Santiago, Intramuros, Manila - panoramio.jpg, The entrance of Fort Santiago File:Philippines tarjeta 1 036.jpg, The grounds of Fort Santiago with the Binondo skyline in the background File:Fort Santiago - no people (Intramuros, Manila; 07-22-2020).jpg, Fort Santiago in 2020


See also

* Fort of San Antonio Abad


References

* U.S. War Department (1903)
"Annual Report of the War Department, 1903 Vol. III"
Government Printing Office, Washington.


External links


The gate of Fort Santiago in the 1920s
from Flickr {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Intramuros Forts in the Philippines, Santiago National Shrines of the Philippines Spanish colonial fortifications in the Philippines Landmarks in the Philippines History of the Philippines (1565–1898) Spanish colonial infrastructure in the Philippines Cultural Properties of the Philippines in Metro Manila Tourist attractions in Manila Reportedly haunted locations in the Philippines Buildings and structures of the Philippines destroyed during World War II Army installations of the Philippines Military installations of the Philippines