Cartagena's Walls: Built by the Crown, Saved by Pirates

In 1586, Sir Francis Drake burned Cartagena to the ground. The Spanish crown's response was not revenge but stone — a massive ring of fortifications that would make the city the most heavily defended port in the Americas. This episode follows the decades-long construction of the walls and castles of Cartagena de Indias, from the first emergency palisades to the engineering genius of Juan Bautista Antonelli and the legendary Castillo San Felipe de Barajas. We meet the African slaves who hauled the coral blocks, the soldiers who manned the bastions, and the corsairs who kept testing the defenses. We learn how the walls shaped the city's society, creating a stark divide between the fortified inner city and the sprawling Getsemaní neighborhood outside. And we ask what those walls mean today, as they stand as a UNESCO World Heritage site and a symbol of colonial power — and of the resilience of the people who built them. It's a story of money, fear, and human labor that made Cartagena the 'Pearl of the Caribbean'.

#Cartagena #CastilloSanFelipeDeBarajas #JuanBautistaAntonelli #SirFrancisDrake #ColonialFortifications #SpanishEmpire #AfricanSlaves #Getsemani #CaribbeanPiracy #16thCentury #17thCentury #MilitaryEngineering #UNESCO #ColombiaHistory #SouthAmerica #History #FexingoHistory #ColonialLatinAmerica

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