page_title: Fortress of São João Baptista (Angra do Heroísmo)
section_title: Iberian Union
hierarchical_section_title: Fortress of São João Baptista (Angra do Heroísmo) / History / Iberian Union
caption_attribution_description: Fortaleza de São João Baptista do Monte Brasil, Angra do Heroísmo, ilha Terceira, Açores: aspecto das "covas de lobo".
context_page_description: The Fortress of São João Baptista, also known as the Fort of São Filipe or Fort of Monte Brasil is a historic fortress and defensive emplacement, located in the civil parish of Sé, municipality of Angra do Heroísmo in the Portuguese island of Terceira, archipelago of the Azores.
context_section_description: During the Iberian Union, the fortifications in the Bay of Angra were at the centre of the Azores and a strategic route between the goods of India and the Orient and the markets of Europe (comparable to the complex fortifications that were constructed in Havana (in Cuba) and Cartagena (in Colombia) during later epochs). 
  The fort was erected after the conquest of Terceira by the Spanish military, as a consequence of the events related to the Iberian Union (1580–1640), when, under command of Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, King Philip II of Spain (Philip I of Portugal) retook the island from the forces of António, Prior of Crato. With the start of Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604), it was strengthened as privateers, such as Francis Drake (1587) and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, whose adjunct Walter Raleigh, attacked the neighbouring settlement in Horta, during the summer of 1597. The new project served to two functions:
  to protect the port of Angra and the colonial fleet that sheltered in its waters, from assaults by Barbary Coast pirates and English privateers, especially when ships from India and the Orient used the islands as a staging port for the return trip to the continent; and
  to garrison Spanish troops, in order to defend the island (which would be under the authority of the Marquess of Santa Cruz).
  The construction started in 1593, with the first cornerstone at the Santa Catarina bastion (northwest angle) in a ceremony presided by the Governor of the Presidio, António de la Puebla, and the Bishop of Angra, Manuel Gouveia. The final engineering plan was overseen by the Italian military engineer Giovanni Vicenzo Casale and his assistants, the Sienese engineer Tibúrcio Spannocchi and Anton Coll (Antão Colla), who had planned the design in 1590. Essentially, the defensive plan was elaborated by Spannocchi, who conceived of the design after visiting the location in 1583-1584, but its position on Monte Brasil was planned by Coll, who since its foundation accompanied the work in Angra (until his death in 1618). Ostensibly, the work began in 1594. Later the engineers Girolamo Francès and Giovanni Battista Cairati (who was the royal architect in the court of Phillip II of Spain) participated in this project, renaming the fortress the Fortaleza de São Filipe (in his monarch's honour).
  Due to various problems, the construction continued into the government of Diogo Fajardo (1628–1639). At this time, the three interconnected cisterns (with a capacity of 750,000 kilograms), stables (on the site of the Governor's palace) and the chapel of Santa Catarina de Sena (which was later re-baptised in honour of the Holy Spirit).
  The built environment was completed with local boulder stone and basalt by rocksmiths and masons, and a great part of the labourers were actually men condemned to the gallows. Others were soldiers from the presidio who were being punished and were, by Governor Diogo de Miranda Queiroz (who started the practice), obligated to participate in the work. Although this type of punishment reached its extremes during the governorship of Diogo Fajardo, it is debatable where hundreds of local Azoreans were forced to work in the project. Regardless, it is known that many Terceirenses and local islanders supported the construction of the fort through taxes and tithes.
caption: The walls of the bastion of São Pedro, the main gun emplacements at the fort
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