España. Ministerio de Cultura. Archivo General de Indias. MP-Santo Domingo, 413. Plano Inmediaciones del Castillo del Morro, 1776.
Right click (CTRL + CLICK) on large image above and select "Zoom In" to view detail. Right click again and select "Show All" to view full image.
The map of the surroundings of El Morro Fort (San Pedro de la Roca) represents the fortification system protecting the entrance to Santiago Bay and the capital city of the Oriente region, Santiago de Cuba. It was the only point in the Oriente coast with such a fortification structure. The other major fortified location in the island was Havana in the northwest side of the island. A series of such fortifications covered major points in the Caribbean and circum Caribbean region: Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), Portobello (Panama), San Juan (Puerto Rico) and elsewhere. This imperial garrison system began to be built in the late 16th century and all throughout the 17th in Cuba and elsewhere. After the British destruction of the first Morro structure in Santiago in 1662 a new wave of reconstruction and construction took place. The royal slaves of El Cobre were called upon to work in these projects from the last decades if the 17th century and throughout the 18th. The map above was made in 1776 a period when the Spanish Crown was in the process of reorganizing its imperial defense system after the jolt of the British takeover of Havana in 1762. It was signed by Don Luis Huets [Huestes], a representative of the Spanish Royal Corps of Engineers in Cuba. The chart's strictly military purpose and consequent "classified" character is obvious. It locates the main fort, the platforms at different levels (which can be appreciated in the image to the right), barracks, gun batteries, gunpower storehouse, and roads connecting the system. The most striking feature of the map is the way it renders topographical information related to the elevation of the terrain through contour lines, shadows and color. Like the map of Santiago Bay it points to a skill level--and sheer beauty-- not found in early maps.
