The Old San Juan was founded in 1521 by Spanish settlers. The Castillo San Felipe del Morro construction began in 1539 and finished in 1790. El Morro went from a promontory mounted with a cannon to a six-level fortress designed to unnerve attackers approaching from the sea.
A half-mile across the mouth of the Bay of San Juan is another smaller fort called Fortín San Juan de la Cruz, known as El Cañuelo. When enemy ships would try to enter the bay, the two forts created a crossfire that effectively closed the bay entrance and the rest of San Juan.
Thanks to El Morro and El Cañuelo, the Spaniards were able to defend Puerto Rico from invasions by the British, Dutch, and pirates.
In 1898, due to the Spanish-American War, the Island changed hands from Spain to the United States. El Morro was designated as part of Fort Brooke and actively used as a military installation during the First and Second World Wars.
In 1961, the US Army retired El Morro, passing it on to the National Park Service to establish a museum. And in 1983, El Morro and the walled city of Old San Juan were declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
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