San Juan de Ulúa

San Juan de Ulúa, also known as Castle of San Juan de Ulúa is a large complex of fortresses, prisions and one former palace on an island overlooking the seaport of Veracruz, Mexico.

History

It was built in the Spanish colonial era, starting its construction in 1565. It was expanded several times later.

In 1569, Spanish Navy succeeded in trapping the English fleet of Sir John Hawkins, including the young Francis Drake, at San Juan de Ulúa; the English barely succeeded in making their escape, a humiliating experience which affected Drake's later career.

Richard Hakluyt's book, The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation (1598–1600), claims Drake and Hawkins were on a private venture, peacefully trading with the local colonial Spaniards in violation of Spanish law, when a Spanish naval fleet arrived. Despite suspicion of treachery, they allowed the Spaniards to take shelter under truce, between San Juan de Ulúa island, on an otherwise open coastline. They were then attacked by surprise. In fact Drake and Hawkins were perfectly capable of raiding, which they had probably done elsewhere on that voyage, and the trade was in African captives. These had been taken earlier from West Africa. But it does seem that they were trading at the time. The only real doubt is whether the colonists were doing so in case worse things should happen. [ [http://www.nndb.com/people/186/000101880/? Sir John Hawkins] , The National Names Database, Last accessed July 17, 2008.]

Hawkins and Drake escaped in "Minion" and "Judith", while their larger ships were taken or destroyed. The attack and subsequent hardships were instrumental in hardening the attitude of Drake in particular (whose had lived in poverty after his farming family were displaced by a Catholic rebellion) towards Catholicism and Spain.

The fortress was the last point in New Spain to be held by Spain, after the Mexican War of Independence. It surrendered to General Miguel Barragán in November 1825.

For much of the nineteenth century it served as a prison, especially for political prisoners. Many prominent Mexican politicians spent time here while they were not in power. Currently it is a museum.

San Juan de Ulúa is also where parts of "Romancing the Stone" were filmed.

Post-Spanish era

After Mexico's independence in 1821, much of the Spanish troops were still occupying San Juan de Ulua as late as 1825, when they were finally expelled by President Vicente Guerrero after a failed attempt of re-conquering the country.

Since then, San Juan de Ulua would largely serve as a military and political symbol of the Mexican resistance, which faced several invasions and occupations along the XIX century and finally in 1914, when the last U.S. invasion, attack and occupation of the port of Veracruz took place. This earned the port and city of Veracruz the title of "Heroic" for the fourth time, atfer previously earning that same title after 1836 French occupation, 1848 U.S. occupation and 1863 French occupation.

San Juan de Ulua also served several times as presidential palace, housing those like Benito Juarez and Venustiano Carranza. Among other facilities, San Juan de Ulua also hosted many of Mexico's most famous prisioners at the time, mostly during the regime of President Porfirio Diaz. It is popularly said that in order to avoid prisioners from escaping, sharks were brought to the waters surrounding the island, so that they would kill anyone attempting to escape.

Modern time

As occurred with many other fortresses in Latin American colonial cities, the complex was ultimately closed for all previous purposes. After several years of decay, the complex went recently under extensive renovations, still ungoing. San Juan de Ulua later opened as a museum which now draws many tourists visiting the city. The prisions and the fortresses are all open to the public, with the exception of the former presidential palace, which suffered severe decay, and still is undergoing curations. The complex is a very popular tourist attraction, not to be missed when visiting the city.

References

External links

* [http://www.sanjuandeulua.com.mx San Juan de Ulua Web Page]