Castillo San Marcos in St. Augustine is Florida's dominant Spanish Colonial landmark and is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. Construction of the fortress began in 1672 and took a quarter-century, completed in 1696. The Castillo was never taken by force, with walls 16 feet thick at the base and protected by a moat. In 1763, as a provision of the Treaty of Paris (1763), Britain gained all of Florida in exchange for returning Havana and Manila to Spain, captured during the Seven Years' War, and the fort was renamed Fort St. Mark until 1784. At the end of the American Revolution, the Second Treaty of Paris returned Florida to Spain. Spain signed the Adams-Onis Treaty in 1819, ceding Florida to the United States, and the fort was renamed, Fort Marion. In 1924, the regiment was designated a National Monument, and in 1933 it was transferred to the National Park Service from the War Department. In 1942, in honor of its Spanish heritage and construction, the fort was again given its original name of Castillo de San Marcos.
These images show Castillo De San Marcos' main watchtower. The Spanish constructed the coquina stone watchtower to guard the Matanzas Inlet as the first alert to the much larger Castillo de San Marcos fort 15 miles north.
The Spanish kept this moat dry and, during sieges, used it as a pen for domestic animals. Whenever the fort was under land attack, the canal could be filled with seawater by opening floodgates on the seawall. Around the outside of the defense is an artificial slope called a glacis. This embankment shielded and protected the lower fort walls from enemy cannon fire. The area between the glacis and the moat is called the covered (covert) way. This allowed soldiers to leave the fort and still be covered or protected by this wall.
In Conversation #1
The Theodosian Walls are among the most impressive monuments of Late Antiquity. These land walls protected Constantinople for centuries while other cities like Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria were sacked. These Theodosian Walls consisted of an inner wall, an outer wall with an inner terrace, and a wide moat, with a second outer wall in front of it. Attackers first had to cross the canal and its wall while being fired upon from both the outer and inner walls – the towers of the internal walls were equipped with ballistae and catapults. Even if some attackers could scale the outer wall, they would then be trapped on the inner terrace, facing a taller wall reinforced by massive towers. As Constantinople lies on a triangular peninsula surrounded by the sea on two sides, its land walls were frequently the primary defenses required. Then, the triple line of protection of the Theodosian Walls helped make Constantinople virtually invulnerable for centuries. The impenetrable idea of these walls reminded me of the coquina used to make Castillo De San Marcos.
In Conversation #2
The Citadel of Aleppo is a masterpiece of medieval Islamic fortress architecture. Its oval shape and extensive defenses enclose an area of approximately seven hectares. The natural hill the Citadel was built upon has long been used as a stronghold. During the Hamdanid reign of Aleppo under Sayf al-Dawla in the 10th century, early constructions of a citadel took place. The Citadel's strategic importance was reactivated by the time the Crusades began. In the 12th century, Nur al-Din ruled Aleppo. He rebuilt its fragmented interior and fortified the remnants of the earlier fortress. However, the majority of the Citadel's surviving features date to the period of Saladin's son, al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi, who ruled between 1186–and 1216 AD. Linking the Citadel to the city by a stately ramp, it also includes two massively constructed towers that conceal a U-shaped corridor that would force an attacking army to change direction six times while exposing them to projectiles and burning liquid from gaps in the vaults above. Most of the Citadel's construction, both military and the stately and religious buildings within, date to the Ayyubid al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi. Aleppo was more exposed to Frankish attacks from nearby Edessa and the western coastlands than Damascus.
Creative Component
I thought there was nothing I could do but sit here and wait for time to go by. I was tired and didn’t want to do anything. Therefore, I hid away to be left alone with my thoughts. Being here sucks, I thought. I don’t want to be in this place. I don’t like it here. My complaints got me thinking about the word place. What is place? How can an individual define it? The place is defined in the dictionary as “a portion of space available or designated for or being used by someone.” But I think there’s more to it. The place isn’t just an object or area; it’s a feeling. I think it’s a place you feel connected to, almost like your home but different. You feel attached despite obstacles, despite space. It feels like home more than home for some. It’s your safe space. A place can also be one you’ve never been to before. It’s something you feel a strong connection to, like an ancestral homeland—my space.
Literary Component
On page 40, in the Parable of the Sower, there is a scene where an outsider shoots through Laurens communities gate. She says, "It's like an island surrounded by sharks. Except our land sharks are on their way in. It's just a matter of how long it takes them to get hungry enough." I chose this quote because it reminds me of The Siege of St. Augustine in 1702. When Lauren talks about the island surrounded by sharks, I think about when the Spanish town had to move into the Castillo to be safe from the impending English attack. The Castillo, throughout history, has been a very sought place, so I think of it as the Spanish are trying to keep their very own island away from all the hungry sharks at this point.
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