Castle San Felipe de Barajas

Construction on the fortress was finalised by 1536 and expanded between 1639 and 1657.[1] It was built in a triangular shape on top of a hill, with eight batteries and a garrison of 200 soldiers and 4 gunners. Its name was given in honour of Philip IV of Spain.[2]

In the 1697 raid on Cartagena, during the War of the Grand Alliance, the castle fell to the French privateer Baron de Pointis. The castle was repaired by José de Herrera y Sotomayor in 1739. British Admiral Edward Vernon attacked the fortress in the 1741 Battle of Cartagena de Indias, an important conflict of the War of Jenkins' Ear. Vernon's forces were repelled by the Spanish admiral Blas de Lezo. Another expansion was made to the fortress in 1763 by Antonio de Arévalo.[3]

During the Spanish American wars of independence by 1815 a large Spanish expeditionary force under Pablo Morillo had arrived in New Granada. Cartagena fell in December, and by May 1816 the royalists had control of all of New Granada.

^ Enrique Martínez Ruiz (2022). Las flotas de Indias: La revolución que cambió el mundo. Madrid: La Esfera de los Libros. ISBN 978-8413842783. ^ "Cartagena de Indias" (in Spanish). reinadelasindias.com. Archived from the original on 2010-12-15. Retrieved 2010-12-26. ^ "Sociedad de Mejoras Publicas de Cartagena" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2013-07-16. Retrieved 2010-12-26.