In this, his latest and best book, Juan Manuel Zapatero has not only filled a very significant gap in the historiography of colonial Spanish America, but he has also provided historians with a model for future research on fortifications in the New World. It is, to say the least, somewhat strange that the fortifications of the Isthmus of Panama have not been extensively studied until now—excellent books are available on the colonial defenses of other carrera de Indias ports such as Havana, Cartagena, and Veracruz. Ranking only behind Mexico and Peru in imperial geopolitical significance, Panama’s position as the tie between the Atlantic and South Pacific economies of the Hapsburg world empire was such that Bautista Antonelli once called it “the key to the Indies” (p. 36). Because the north coast of the isthmus was especially subject to attack—and thus was seen by Spanish strategists as one of the weakest links in a vulnerable empire—strong fortifications were erected in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries at both Portobelo and the mouth of the Chagres River, the water link from the Caribbean to Panama City. Before the present book, however, no major study on Portobelo or San Lorenzo had been attempted.
Castillo San Lorenzo, one of the mightiest fortifications ever constructed by Spain in America, was situated atop the high stone cliff which overlooks the mouth of the Chagres. The first earthenworks were thrown up at the very end of the sixteenth century partly in response to Sir Francis Drake’s last voyage to the Spanish Main in 1596. Although San Lorenzo was not the site of significant military action until 1671, the fortifications were improved and reworked throughout the first half of the seventeenth century. By the time that Henry Morgan’s forces attacked the castle as a prelude to the expedition to Panama City in 1671, San Lorenzo was a formidable stronghold. But the great walls and heavy artillery did not make the place impregnable. Morgan’s buccaneers overcame the Spanish defenses in short order and massacred the garrison, many of whom jumped off the rocky cliffs to their deaths rather than face capture and torture at the hands of the “Lutheran” corsairs.
Morgan, of course, did not hold San Lorenzo for long: his was a quest for wealth, not a program of English imperial ambition. After the buccaneers left, the Spanish rebuilt the castle stronger than ever. Crown investment in defenses at San Lorenzo in the 1680s was mirrored in large military construction projects in Panama City and Portobelo during the same decade—surprising, considering that these same years saw the nadir of Spanish economic and military fortunes.
In response to heightened northern European activities in the area, of which Admiral Edward Vernon’s 1740 attack was the most dramatic, further modifications to San Lorenzo were made in the late eighteenth century. The castle, however, was not attacked after the War of Jenkins’ Ear, and even during the wars for independence, Panama’s relatively peaceful emancipation from Spain made San Lorenzo’s role in the struggle minor.
Although the bulk of Zapatero’s study is based on archival research, the second part of the book reports in great detail the results of archeological work undertaken as preparation for the eventual restoration of the site. Excellent diagrams in this part of the book, together with numerous photographs of the fort, well complement the dozens of colonial-era maps and plans presented in the historical section. Indeed, the reason this study stands out from a voluminous corpus of historical literature on forts and battles is that Zapatero has successfully blended history and archeology to produce a fine work of scholarship. Drawing from these two disciplines, Zapatero’s broadened perspective has resulted in a more sophisticated analysis of isthmian defense strategy and tactics. To be sure, Historia del Castillo de San Lorenzo is the most remarkable publication on New World fortifications to come out in recent years.
