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El Morro is the most impressive legacy of the Spanish empire in Puerto Rico. Built to protect San Juan Harbor, gateway for supply ships headed to Spain˙s many colonies to the W and S, construction (in 1539) was spurred after recurring attacks by royally commissioned pirates and Carib Indian raids. The site of the fort was moved several times before the present outer fortification was completed in 1584. It was not completed in today˙s form until 1783, 199 years later, through the efforts of two Irishmen (O˙Reilly and O˙Daly), by which time about 40,000 man-years had been spent building the fortifications and city walls.
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