page_title: History of Basilan
section_title: Fuerte de la Reina Isabel Segunda
hierarchical_section_title: History of Basilan / Spanish era / Fuerte de la Reina Isabel Segunda
context_page_description: Basilan is an island province of the Philippines. It is the largest and northernmost of the major islands of the Sulu Archipelago and is located just off the southern coast of Zamboanga Peninsula. Its capital is Lamitan. Basilan is home to three main ethnic groups, the indigenous Yakans, and the later-arriving Tausugs and Chavacanos. The Yakans and Tausugs are predominantly Muslim, while the Chavacanos are mainly Christian. There are also a number of smaller groups.
context_section_description: After two centuries of incessant and unrelenting raids and counter-raids, the fortunes of the Spanish Empire in the Sulu Archipelago took a dramatic turn for the better in 1848, primarily due to three watershed events: (1) the advent of Spain's steam-powered naval superiority over Sulu's outrigger-and-sail paraws; (2) the fall of Sulu's Balangingi allies on Tungkil; and, (3) the establishment of Fuerte Isabel Segunda or Fort Isabella Segunda on Basilan Island. These three benchmarks sparked off a series of events which, from 1848 on, saw Sulu's power wane until it was finally blighted and almost completely snuffed out on the eve of the American occupation.
  To check the inroads of both the increasingly bloody Tausug pirate raids and the growing influence of Lamitan's Yakan kingdom, as well as to thwart any further attempt by other European powers to colonize Basilan (the Dutch in 1747 and the French in 1844) the Spanish commandery in Zamboanga City sent over an expeditionary force tasked at establishing Spanish fortifications on Basilan island, both to serve as an early beacon and defensive perimeter against the pirate parties, and as a trading post for Spanish interests on the island.
  In 1845, Don Ramon Lobo, the Marine Chief of Zamboanga, accompanied Don Cayetano Suarez de Figueroa, District Governor of Zamboanga, to the coastal settlement of Pasangen. Wooden fortifications were initially erected on the settlement's highest point facing the narrow channel about 800 meters from the shore. The 200-year-old Jesuit mission was situated half-way between the fort and the shore. The fortification proved to be easily defensible as nearby Malamawi Island blocked direct attacks and raids from the sea. Later that same year, Governor Narciso Claveria ordered the construction of a stone fort, following the plan of engineer Emilio Bernaldez submitted in 1844. Construction lasted four years.
  By 1848, the stone fort was finished, replacing the wooden fortifications. In the meantime a sizeable and growing Christian settlement continued to flourish around the Recollect mission, rededicated since the expulsion of the Jesuits, to St Isabel de Portugal (Elizabeth of Portugal). The Fort thus established was subsequently named in honor of Queen Isabella II of Spain and the Indies, and was named Fuerte de la Reina Isabel Segunda. The military garrison was initially placed under the direct command of the Fuerza de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragosa (Fort Pilar) in Zamboanga.
  Nieto Aguilar (1894) describes the fort as “magnificent”. Situated 20 meters above sea level, the fortification overlooked the two entrances to the bay, formed by Basilan and Malamawi Island. To the fort's east were the barracks. The fort had four bastions at the corner of its rectangular perimeter. It enclosed a well and had four structures for the corps of guards, the garrison personnel, the presidio, jail, artillery corps and the casa comandancia.
  In the fort was the governor's residence as well as that of his officials. It was also a naval station where the navy maintained small workshops for urgent repairs. It had a storehouse for coal near the shore. Total personnel: two officer, 50 men.
  Outside the fort were built other structures, namely: a military infirmary, school, ayuntamiento (city hall), corps of engineers' building, storehouses and dependencies of the naval station, barracks for the marine infantry, gunpowder storehouse, and the Jesuit church and convent.
  To further cement the presence of the missionaries in the area, the Augustinian Recollects, under the leadership of Padre Jose Riboste finally built a Church on the site of the old mission, situated opposite the stone fort and across a grassy Plaza nearly halfway between the fort and the shoreline. The Church was completed in 1850, and quickly became the locus of the fledgling Christian town which then grew around it.
caption: Isabella II, Queen of Spain and the Indies, reigned from September 29, 1833 (forced to leave Spain: September 30, 1868; abdicated in favor of her son: Paris, June 25, 1870)
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "95961/1000", "Image YResolution": "95961/1000", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2015:01:14 14:02:56", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4534", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4123", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "6573"}