Coastal defence systems in Arrábida, Portugal, during the early modern era: power and landscape (original) (raw)
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Coastal Defense in NW Portugal: The Improbable Victory
Pitfalls of Shoreline Stabilization, 2012
Coastal defense in Portugal has a long history. The first attempts to resist coastal change date from early in the twentieth century, when the town of Espinho saw its most seaward streets damaged by wave impact. A coastal defense work (a "muralha", or wall) was built. The 1980s saw the building of several groins at different locations in Portugal. The fight against the sea continued during subsequent years in a tentative effort to achieve an "artificially stable" coastal zone. Coastal retreat and thinning of beaches continued, especially downdrift of structures. The pattern has progressively revealed the inefficiency of efforts to stabilize the coastline. The underlying causes have not been addressed and indeed are poorly understood. Coastal defense is simply a temporary and palliative means of addressing the impacts of coastal erosion and, sometimes gives a false sense of security to coastal populations. In this chapter an overview of the NW Portuguese coastal defense structures is presented, their efficiency is discussed and some representative examples are described. Some recommendations are presented to create a more efficient coastal zone management policy.
During the Modern Ages, wood represented a natural resource, indispensable to naval construction. Since the discoveries period, both Portuguese and Spanish Monarchies increased the consumption of this prime-material. However, the demand was superior to the supply capacities of Iberian woodlands. This matter lead the Iberian sovereigns to develop legislations concerning the safekeeping, maintenance and control of forests and woods (Sitios Reales in Castilla; Coutadas y Matas in Portugal). The union of both crowns, in 1580, by Filipe II, brought together two distinct traditions. The objective of this presentation is to approach the institutionalization held by the Courts of Lisbon and Madrid during the 16th century, with particular attention to the reign of Filipe II (I of Portugal). During his ruling we recognize the establishment of political structures, regulated by the crown. This administrative changes had impact on the ordination of Iberian forests, understood as natural areas, source of a necessary provision of arsenals and naval dockyards.
2020
During the Modern Age we witnessed the birth, consolidation and decline of great powers that dragged numerous political and religious conflicts with them. The Mediterranean Sea, as area of contact between the most distant Empires, experienced an era of intense naval activity in the form of piracy, race wars and armed deterrence, spreading along its shores with coastal watch towers. The organization of the defensive coastal system took place in intimate relationship with the territory, strongly characterizing the coasts which for centuries have seen them as the unique anthropical presence. Their exclusively military character has, however, inhibited their reuse over time, arousing until a few decades ago the disinterest of the community and their disavowal of architectures worthy of protection. The knowledge of the historical events and the morphotypological characteristics of the Apulian system of coastal towers thus becomes the starting point for their acknowledgment as fundamental identifying characters of the territory, finalizing their study to the re-appropriation of these assets by the community as strategical vehicles for the transmission of the local history and its intrinsic values. The classification of the towers in the province of Lecce has made them the object of spatial and typological analyses produced with the help of the opensource software "Quantum GIS" and geo-referenced on the official cartographic bases.
2013
In relation to the question of violence in the third millennium BCE, a synthesis is presented of fortified sites situated in the Centre and South of Portugal. The analysis is divided into three large territorial units: 1. Upper Eastern Algarve, with special emphasis on the Cerro do Castelo de Santa Justa; 2. Alentejo, in particular the middle Alentejo, where some recently excavated settlements and farms are to be found (São Pedro and Porto das Carretas); 3. Estremadura, the region where there is the largest concentration of fortified settlements (currently numbering 18), with over a century of archaeological research. Four main aspects were considered in testing for the possible existence of signs of violence: 1. Models of implantation; 2. Chronologies and discontinuities in the occupation of the sites; 3. Defensive architectures, especially the general ground plans, towers and gates, and internal and external reinforcements. 4. Reconstructions and remodellings. By comparing these i...
In relation to the question of violence in the third millennium BCE, a synthesis is presented of fortified sites situated in the Centre and South of Portugal. The analysis is divided into three large territorial units: 1. Upper Eastern Algarve, with special emphasis on the Cerro do Castelo de Santa Justa; 2. Alentejo, in particular the middle Alentejo, where some recently excavated settlements and farms are to be found (São Pedro and Porto das Carretas); 3. Estremadura, the region where there is the largest concentration of fortified settlements (currently numbering 18), with over a century of archaeological research. Four main aspects were considered in testing for the possible existence of signs of violence: 1. Models of implantation; 2. Chronologies and discontinuities in the occupation of the sites; 3. Defensive architectures, especially the general ground plans, towers and gates, and internal and external reinforcements. 4. Reconstructions and remodellings. By comparing these indicators with other archaeological data, the fortifications are considered as a reaction to the violence that existed between communities, testifying to effective territorial appropriation and denoting migratory movements of the first copper archaeometallurgists originating from Andalusia.
CEAMA. Centro de Estudios de Arquitectura Militar de Almeida, 2019
Los puertos, ensenadas y bahías de la isla Terceira están protegidos por un complejo sistema fortificado que prácticamente abarca todo su perímetro en aquellos puntos donde puede realizarse un desembarco. Hacia 1567 el ingeniero italiano Tommaso Benedetto había propuesto la base del sistema. Esta primera defensa costera fue desarrollada entre 1581 y 1583 por el corregidor Ciprião de Figueiredo, quien había rechazado, junto con la acción de la población, el primer desembarco español en la bahía de Salga en 1581. Cuando Felipe II de España alcanza el trono de Portugal, su opositor António de Crato se hace fuerte en las islas Azores, haciendo de estas islas, y principalmente la Terceira, un territorio hostil y rebelde hasta que, en 1583, Álvaro de Bazán desembarca en la bahía de Mina y pacifica la isla. El caso de esta isla es singular, ya que fue el último territorio portugués en se incorporó a la unión de las coronas bajo Felipe II de España y I de Portugal, en 1583, y el último en ser devuelto, en 1642. La bahía de la capital de la isla, Angra do Heroísmo, tiene un sistema fortificado propio y especial, encabezado por la gran fortaleza de São João Batista (en origen, San Felipe en honor al monarca que unió las dos coronas). Este fuerte fue construido por Felipe I(I), más que como defensa costera, como protección frente a la ciudad.
Early modern fortification: the Portuguese experience and engineer education
The First World Empire: Portugal, War and Military Revolution, ed. Hélder Carvalhal, André Murteira e Roger Lee de Jesus, 34-50. London: Routledge, 2021
The general question that this book poses, about whether we can see the applicability of the concept of Military Revolution to Portugal and its empire during the modern period, is not easy to answer. It is more than likely that the question may not have a direct or single answer. This essay aims to reflect on to what extent the transformations, which took place in modern fortification, had an impact in Portugal. The question contains an apparent paradox. On the one hand, the presence of modern fortifications within the framework of the Portuguese empire is undeniable. As is the role attributed to these structures, both from a strictly military and from a symbolic point of view. On the other hand, this coexists with a background reading which places Portugal in a peripheral position within the context of the major transformations which took place in this field throughout the Modern Age. This text argues that, within the area of fortification, the Portuguese were undoubtedly modern. They would even have participated in the initial steps which led to this modernity, and in this sense it is coherent to associate them with the revolutionary process of change itself. The text follows the successive phases in which the measures taken by the Crown aimed above all to guarantee continuous aggiornamento and achieve critical mass in this matter. That process was consolidated after the Restoration, in 1640, but it had started prior to that.