thumb|250px|Ruins of Castle of [[Chinchón resembling Spanish colonial presidios]]

A presidio (jail, fortification) was a fortified base established by the Spanish Empire mainly between the 16th and 18th centuries in areas under their control or influence. The term is derived from the Latin word praesidium meaning protection or defense.

In the Mediterranean and the Philippines, the presidios were outposts of the Christian defense against Islamic raids. In the Americas, the fortresses were built to protect against raids by pirates, rival colonial powers, and Native Americans.

Later in western North America, with independence, the Mexicans garrisoned the Spanish presidios on the northern frontier and followed the same pattern in unsettled frontier regions such as the Presidio de Sonoma in Sonoma, California, and the Presidio de Calabasas in Arizona.

In western North America, a rancho del rey or kings ranch would be established a short distance outside a presidio. This was a tract of land assigned to the presidio to furnish pasturage to the horses and other beasts of burden of the garrison. Mexico called this facility "rancho nacional".

Presidios were only accessible to Spanish military and soldiers.

Canada

  • Fort San Miguel

Chile

Italy

Several fortresses formerly held by the Republic of Siena were acquired by Spain following the latter's demise, by treaty between Philip II of Spain and Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany on 3 July 1557, to form what became known as the Estado de los Presidios. They were held by Spain until the War of the Spanish Succession, when they came under Austrian ownership, and were administered from Naples.

  • Porto Ercole
  • Porto Santo Stefano
  • Orbetello
  • Talamone
  • Ansedonia
  • Giannutri
  • Porto Azzurro

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">

File:Porto Ercole - Vista fortezza dalla rocca.JPG|Forte Filippo (Philip II Fortress), Porto Ercole

File:Forte Stella Porto Ercole (GR).jpg|Forte Stella, Porto Ercole

File:Palazzo dei Governanti Porto Ercole (GR).jpg|Governors Palace, Porto Ercole

</gallery>

Mexico

Few presidios were established in the present-day desert frontier regions in northern Mexico to control and confine the existing rebellious indigenous tribes. Captured indigenous warriors were confined and enslaved at the presidio. Presidios was used to protect the colonial silver ship from rebellious raids from Indians in Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, mainly in Zacatecas and Guanajuato, starting new settlements.

Aguascalientes

  • The Presidio de las Bocas and later Presidio de las Bocas de Gallardo, founded in 1570 in Asientos. Today reconverted into the hacienda de Santa María de Gallardo.
  • The Presidio de Ciénega Grande, founded in 1570 in Asientos. Today reconverted into the hacienda Ciénega Grande.

Baja California Sur

thumb|Presidio, [[Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó]]

  • The Real Presidio de Loreto, founded in 1697 in Loreto, Baja California Sur.

thumb|[[Misión Estero de las Palmas de San José del Cabo Añuití|Presidio San José del Cabo]]

  • The Presidio San José del Cabo, founded in 1735 in San José del Cabo

Chihuahua

  • The Presidio de El Paso del Río Grande del Norte (1683–1773), at Ciudad Juárez, across the river from El Paso, Texas. Later relocated south in 1773 to Carrizal.
  • The Presidio de San Felipe y Santiago de Janos (1691–?), in Janos.
  • The Presidio de Casas Grandes (1686), was relocated to Janos in 1691.
  • The Presidio de San Francisco de Conchos, founded in 1685 in San Francisco de Conchos.
  • The Presidio de San Pedro del Gallo (1683s), in San Pedro del Gallo.

California

  • The Presidio Real de San Carlos de Monterey, founded in 1770. Its rancho del rey was what became Rancho Nacional. It is currently housing the Defense Language Institute, in Monterey
  • The Presidio Real de San Diego, founded in 1769 in San Diego, its rancho del rey was what became Rancho de la Nación.
  • The Presidio Real de San Francisco, founded in 1776 and now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco. Its rancho del rey was what became Rancho Buri Buri.
  • The Presidio Real de Santa Bárbara, founded in 1782 in Santa Barbara. Its rancho del rey was what became Rancho San Julian.
  • The Presidio de Sonoma, founded by Mexico in 1836 in Sonoma. Its rancho nacional was what became Rancho Suscol.

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File:Presido chapel1.jpg|Interior of the reconstructed chapel of the Santa Barbara Presidio

File:Presidio of San Diego 1820 map.jpg|Presidio of San Diego, California

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Florida

Source:

Texas

  • The Presidio Fuerte de Santa Cruz del Cibolo, founded in 1734 and re-established in 1771 near Cestohowa, Texas in Karnes County, Texas, (between San Antonio and Goliad).
  • The Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, founded in 1718 in San Antonio
  • The Presidio Nuestra Señora de Loreto, founded in 1721, near Lavaca Bay, now in Goliad
  • The Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas San Saba, founded in 1772 near the present-day Menard
  • The Presidio de la Junta de los Ríos Norte y Conchos, founded in 1760 just southwest of present-day Presidio

center|thumb|[[Presidio La Bahía in Goliad]]

See also

  • Lists of Spanish colonial missions of the Roman Catholic Church in the Americas
  • Marqués de Rubí
  • Spanish colonial pueblos and villas in North America

Notes

References and further reading

  • Gerald, Rex E. (1968). Spanish Presidios of the Late Eighteenth Century in Northern New Spain. Santa Fe, NM: Museum of New Mexico Press.
  • Javellana, Rene, S. J. Fortress of Empire. Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1997.
  • Moorhead, Max L. The Presidio: Bastion of the Spanish Borderlands. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1975.
  • Williams, J. S. "Appendix: Presidios of Northern New Spain". Historical Archaeology 38, 2004.