La influencia de Pedro Luis Escrivá en el sistema defensivo colonial de América

Abstract

The influence of Pedro Luis Escrivá in the American colonial defense systemThe architect and military engineer Pedro Luis Escrivá (1490 ca. - sixteenth century), at the service of Charles V of Habsburg and the Viceroyal Court of Naples, built two bastioned fortifications designed to considerably influence the subject of territorial defense structures: The quadrangular Spanish Fort of L'Aquila (1534-1567) and the reconstruction of the Sant’Elmo Castle in Naples (1537), with an elongated six-pointed stellar plan, served as a reference point for the European and American fortifications of the period. Due to its size and versatility, the model adopted in L’Aquila was widely used in the Latin American context between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. It is found in countries that were Hispanic colonies such as Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay; as well as in the Hispanic domains of the United States and in some of the dependent territories of the Portuguese crown, in Brazil. Based on a historical-architectural and contextual analysis of these structures, the effects of the “cultural transfer” between Europe and America will be investigated with respect to the model devised by Escrivá to promote its cultural valorization.