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| 1676 San Jose - Castillo San Cristóbal |
In 1508, Juan Ponce de León founded the settlement Caparra, which today is known as the Pueblo Viejo sector of Guaynabo. A year later, the settlement was moved to a site then called Puerto Rico (Rich Port), which in 1521 received the name San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico, in honor of John the Baptist. As a settlement of the Spanish Empire, it was used by merchant and military ships traveling from Spain as the first stopover in the Americas. Because of its prominence in the Caribbean, a network of fortifications was built to protect the transports of gold and silver from the New World to Europe. Because of the rich cargoes, San Juanbecame a target of the foreign powers of the time.
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