San Juan de Ulúa

San Juan de Ulúa, also known as Castle of San Juan de Ulúa, is a large complex of fortresses, prisons and one former palace on an island of the same name in the Gulf of Mexico overlooking the seaport of Veracruz, Mexico. Juan de Grijalva's 1518 expedition named the island. On Easter Sunday 1519, Hernan Cortés met with Tendile and Pitalpitoque, emissaries from Moctezuma II's Aztec Empire.

The fort was built in the Spanish colonial New Spain era, with construction starting in 1565. It was expanded several times later.

In 1568, the Spanish Navy succeeded in trapping the English fleet of Sir John Hawkins, including his cousin, the young Francis Drake, at San Juan de Ulúa. Although Hawkins and Drake both escaped on their respective ships, many of the English were killed.

Richard Hakluyt's book, The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation (1598–1600), claims Drake and Hawkins were on a private venture, peacefully trading with the local Spanish colonists in violation of Spanish law, when the Spanish naval fleet arrived. Despite suspicion of treachery, they allowed the Spaniards to take shelter under truce, between San Juan de Ulúa island, on an otherwise open coastline. The attack by the Spanish was a surprise.

Historians know that Drake and Hawkins likely had raided Spanish settlements elsewhere on that voyage. The trade was in African slaves, who had been captured and taken earlier from West Africa. On this occasion, it appears the English were in fact trading at Vera Cruz. Historians have speculated that the Spanish colonists traded with them illegally under their threat of raids and attacks.

Hawkins and Drake escaped in the ships Minion and Judith,, while their larger ships were taken or destroyed. The attack and subsequent hardships were instrumental in hardening Drake's attitude against Spain and Catholicism. Earlier in his life, he and his family had been forced to live in poverty after they were displaced by a Catholic rebellion in England.

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