Castle San Felipe de Barajas

Throughout the colonial period the walled city of Cartagena de Indias was the Spanish Empire's main port within South America, with most of the silver from the Potasi mine in Bolivia flowing out from its harbor. In 1586, the English Privateer/Pirate Francis Drake captured the city with his fleet of thirty ships. After looting its riches and burning down its Catholic cathedral (the English were Protestants by this point), Drake held the city ransom for a further 2-months until ransom was paid. It was one of many such raids that Cartagena de Indias would face. In the centuries following Drake's attack, the city became increasingly fortified. By 1741, Cartagena was able to fend off a British assault of 186 ships carrying 20,000 men. One of the two major entrances to harbor was filled in, preventing deep hulled ships from entering. The main entrance became surrounded by additional fortresses, linked via a series of underground tunnels, and protected from land assault by moats full of crocodiles and sharks. Many of the walls and canons that protected the city and harbor still stand today.