Fortifications of Cartagena by Rodolfo Segovia Book Review

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Perhaps there’s nothing more symbolic of Cartagena than its city walls, among the best preserved in the world.

The dominating Castillo San Felipe and other fortifications around the city’s bay speak to its importance in the Spanish colonial system and add to the city’s historic charm.

Visiting the fort and walking the walls are among the must see things to do in Cartagena.

However, if you want to learn more about their history and construction, then you should check out Rodolfo Segovia’s book The Fortifications of Cartagena: Strategy and History. It’s very readable and does a great job breaking down the strategic importance and the history of all the forts, along with lots of tid bits you can enjoy while visiting.

Read on for a complete book review of The Fortifications of Cartagena by Rodolfo Segovia.

Rodolfo Segovia’s The Fortifications of Cartagena

Rodolfo Segovia’s The Fortifications of Cartagena: Strategy and History is an interesting and highly readable survey of Cartagena’s fortifications, the strategic purposes behind them, and the history behind their construction.

Segovia opts to not focus on the story of the battles the fortifications saw, instead describing the stories of their construction and how they were to work together to protect the city when attacked.

He does open with a brief and informative account of the city’s history and importance to the Spanish colonial system.

Check out the book on Amazon here.

Cartagena was a main stop of the early Spanish treasure fleets, and lots of the precious metals coming from Spain’s colonies passed through its bay.

That made it a target for Spain’s enemies and a priority to protect, and attacks on the city were a defining feature of Cartagena’s history. Perhaps the most famous early attack was the sacking of Cartagena by Francis Drake.

It was Drake’s attack that spurned the authorities into action to build the fortifications of Cartagena.

By the end of the colonial era, Cartagena was among the most heavily fortified cities in the Americas.

Segovia then describes the fortifications constructed and the strategic considerations behind them, splitting his analysis into sections based on Cartagena’s geography.

He first examines the fortifications of the bay, the city’s first lines of defense.

What I found particularly interesting in this section is the way that the shifting geography of the bay, deterioration of the defenses due to the wear and tear of the sea and weather, and damage and destruction from attacks influenced the construction and rebuilding of a number of forts around the bay.

Especially since many of them are lost to history today, it is neat to learn there was a more elaborate network of defenses than what remains.

If you do want to visit outer bay defenses that remain, the Forts of Bocachica are some of Cartagena’s best hidden gems and are very well preserved. A read of Segovia’s book before a visit will give you an even deeper appreciation of them.

These fortifications were meant to force any hostile fleet to have to blast its way through to the inner bay and the city. While the hope was they wold stop the enemy, they were designed to at the least exact a heavy toll.

To this end, they were widely successful during the 1741 Battle of Cartagena, when a massive fleet led by Edward Vernon took nearly a month to take the outer defenses. Cartagena’s secret weapon, tropical disease, set in and weakened Vernon’s men before a failed assault on the city.

After covering the defenses of the bay, Segovia then turns his attention to the defenses of the city proper, including of the Walled City of Cartagena.

He recounts the construction of the city’s walls, which were built as a series of bastions that were eventually connected into a continuous curtain.

Then, he turns his attention to the Castillo San Felipe Fort, by far Cartagena’s most well known and visited fortification.

Reading this before a visit to the fort is absolutely worth it!

The fort, a massive structure today, had humble beginnings. In fact, the expanded fort was never tested in battle.

There’s also a lot of myth, perhaps perpetuated by, let’s say, creative tour guides, around the fort.

Segovia does a good job putting the fort’s history into context, dispelling some myths, and pointing out things that are visible today.

What the Book Does Well

Segovia provides good explanations of the way the fortifications were meant to defend the city, and includes numerous maps to help illustrate the strategic considerations behind them.

I found the maps both interesting and helpful in understanding the forts.

A visit to the Naval Museum of Cartagena, the best of Cartagena’s museums, is also helpful in understanding the forts, their geography, and how the different attacks on Cartagena played out.

He also provides many nuggets of interesting facts and features of the fortifications, including things you can see when visiting Cartagena today.

Segovia also discusses how they were funded. These stories often involved political intrigue and egos that came into play as different characters debated and argued over the best approach to the city’s defense.

That makes the book overall a good, and interesting read.

In addition to the maps, the many pictures of the locations discussed help the reader visualize the strategy Segovia recounts.

The English translation is also extremely well done.

While primarily focused on military strategy, the book is still very readable and does a good job not getting bogged down in complicated terminology or tactics that will go over the average person’s head.

Who Should Read it and Why?

The Fortifications of Cartagena: Strategy and History is a great read for those who are history buffs, and enjoy visiting and learning about colonial era fortifications.

I learned some great tidbits I didn’t know about them, including the fact that the walls originally had cannon enclosures mid way up in a number of locations, one of which has been restored and can be seen today. 

Another thing I didn’t know was that part of the San Pedro Claver Church was built on top of the original wall and led to a legal dispute between the city and the religious order and the construction of another section at the order’s expense.

The average person might find it a bit dry, but the interesting, and lesser known tidbits like those above make it a great read for those who want to know a bit more about the city’s walls and fortifications they will see during a visit.

Final Verdict

I liked the book and it prompted me to take a walk around town to look for the new things I learned about the walls and see them myself.

It also gave me a deeper understanding of some of the changes of the city’s geography since colonial times, such as how the water of the bay came right up to the walls until fairly recently.

In fact, I’ve used it as my main source in a number of articles up on this website too.

In conclusion, the book is a good recommendation for those interested in fortifications and military history.

Want to Read Segovia’s Fortifications of Cartagena for yourself?

The book can be found in some tourist shops as well as book stores around Cartagena.

You can also buy it on Amazon.

If you’re interested in learning more about Cartagena’s history, I also highly recommend the book No Limits to their Sway, about Cartagena’s independence era privateers. You can read my review of it here or check it out on Amazon here.

Regardless of if you read one or both of these books, I hope you found this review interesting. If you buy the book, I hope you enjoy it and learn as much as I did. I’d love to know what you thought in the comments!

Cheers and Happy Exploring!