The defences of the Porto da Barra: The forts of Santa Maria and São Diogo in the history of Salvador

The Defences of the Porto da Barra represent an important historical and cultural heritage of the city of Salvador, Bahia.

Built during the colonial period, these fortifications were designed to protect the entrance to the port, which was a crucial point for navigation and trade in the region.

Among the most important structures are the Forts of Santa Maria and São Diogo, which exemplify the military architecture of the time and the defence strategy of the colonisers.

The Fort of Santa Maria, built in 1620, was one of the first fortifications in the area, designed to repel attacks by pirates and invaders.

Its privileged position gave it a wide view of the bay, facilitating surveillance and defence. The Fort of São Diogo, built later, completed the defensive strategy, becoming an essential support point for the protection of the port.

These fortifications not only played a vital role in military defence, but also contributed to the formation of Salvador’s cultural identity. Today, they are recognised as historical heritage sites and attract tourists seeking to understand the city’s rich history and its importance in the Brazilian colonial context.

Studies of the defences of Porto da Barra are fundamental to understanding the history of Bahia and its influence on power dynamics in Latin America. The preservation and valorisation of these fortifications is essential for education and collective memory, ensuring that future generations can appreciate and learn from the past.

History of the construction of the defences of the Porto da Barra: Fortifications of Salvador

The defences of the Porto da Barra are made up of two important historic forts: the Fort of Santa Maria and the Fort of São Diogo, strategically located at the entrance to the Bay of All Saints in Salvador.

The prominence of the fortifications in Salvador’s landscape certainly reflects the tactical and strategic need to position them on high ground, with privileged visibility of the surrounding areas..

But we can’t deny that the military engineer who designed and built them had an aesthetic sensibility drawn from the culture of his time and from the texts of the most prominent architectural theorists of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Salvador was born as a strong city, or at least that was the intention of King João III of Portugal. As long as it was the capital, or “head of Brazil”, there was a constant concern to defend it.

After the sacking of the city, the Portuguese Crown increased the protection of its overseas capital, Salvador, even using the defences left by the Dutch, who had withdrawn.

One of the places chosen to garrison Salvador was Port da Barra, where the Batavians easily landed in 1624.

From 1624, the Fort of Santa Maria and the Fort of São Diogo appeared and have been mentioned in lists of fortifications in Salvador ever since.

There is much confusion among historians about the origin of these forts, as there is no Document of the Governor ordering their construction, nor any Royal Order authorising them.

What is known is from deduction or from references in later documents. We have also found references to a ditch supporting the two small propugnacula (fortifications).

Logic leads us to place the moat about where today’s Avenida Sete de Setembro is, in front of Porto da Barra, a place that was already popularly known as Porto dos Holandeses.

History of Santa Maria Fort and São Diogo Fort in Salvador BA

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História do Forte de Santa Maria em Salvador - BA28:03

História do Forte de São Diogo em Salvador BA27:41

If there was relentless criticism of the efficiency of the Ponta do Padrão or Santo Antônio fortresses, the opinions of some of the critics of the small forts, of which there were many, should not be taken at face value..

The first criticism came from Bernardo Vieira Ravasco, who thought that “they were of no use whatsoever […]”.

A more detailed account, attributed to Captain Engineer Antônio Correia Pinto around 1671, offers revealing information, including who was responsible for the construction, a controversial topic among historians:

“The Santa Maria and São Diogo fortresses are of stone and lime: both were built by Diogo Luís de Oliveira, governor and captain general of this state, at the ends of a beach at the mouth of the bar; from where the Dutch and D. Fradique de Tolledo launched the people who surrendered and restored this square. Both are dismantled […]”.

This account suggests that the author saw some use for the forts.

On the other hand, in 1710 the military engineer Miguel Pereira da Costa had little use for them, especially the Fort of São Diogo.

As has been said, one cannot take a radical position on the usefulness of these two little reducers, especially when one considers the scale and real function for which they were designed.

It is clear that Fort Santa Maria and Fort São Diogo contributed little to the defence of Barra, which was of course indefensible due to the geography of the place, but they did complicate landing in a port that was considered very convenient..

It should be noted that when Nassau attempted to invade the city in 1638, he preferred to face the Fort of São Bartolomeu da Passagem rather than risk landing in a place protected by small fortifications.

It is agreed that the forts were dominated by the surrounding heights, but they could have served as low batteries to support larger fortifications occupying the eminences.

Even during the imperial period, the Forts of Santa Maria and São Diogo were still considered part of the defences of the Brazilian coast, as Colonel Beaurepaire Rohan reports during the Christie Question, showing that the fortification experts of the time still considered these structures to be of some use.

The Fort of Santa Maria was built on a small rocky outcrop on the left side of the local inlet. Its firepower, due to the design chosen, was mainly aimed at flanking and covering the anchorage, showing that its function was very limited and specific.

Today the fort has gunboats on the parapet, but as described and drawn by Luís dos Santos Vilhena, the fort probably originally had a barbette parapet, whose main function was to allow the installation of more artillery and to increase the range of the firing pieces, at the expense of the gunners’ safety.

According to Vilhena, a distinguished professor of Greek and chronicler of Salvador, “its parapets have recently been imperfectly repaired, so that from the waist upwards the garrison is exposed to the enemy’s shots, with no alternative but to retreat before he fires; it has the capacity to mount no more than seven to nine pieces”.

This seven-piece configuration seems to have been considered adequate for the size of the fort. In addition, since Vilhena’s time, the Fort of Santa Maria has had a detail unusual in the other Salvadorian fortresses: a firing stool for the musketeers who defended the curtains. The fort also had a wooden drawbridge, which was later replaced by a fixed one, first of wood and later of masonry.

The historian João da Silva Campos points out that the present form of the Fort of Santa Maria dates back to the administration of João de Lencastro, and he even mentions a date for the inauguration of the renovations: 11 December 1694. This suggests that the fort was part of the restoration of all the fortifications in Barra da Baía de Todos os Santos carried out during this government.

Comparing the current form of the fort with the late 18th and early 19th century depictions, it can be seen that some changes were made to the covered area, which was enlarged, resulting in a reduction in the firing plan for the light guns. However, these changes did not affect the overall design of the curtain walls of the fort.

As for the São Diogo Fort, it is also considered to be the work of D. Diogo Luís de Oliveira, according to a document from 1671. This fortification has an irregular shape and was built at the foot of the hill where the primitive nucleus of Vila Velha de Pereira Coutinho stood, surrounded by a tranqueira (a wooden defensive fence) and a tower.

The idea that, with the disappearance of the original defences, the highest eminence would have been fortified with a battery or defensive structure is plausible. This is because an elevated position could be taken by the enemy, neutralising the defences of the forts below.

The combined fire of the Fort of São Diogo and the Fort of Santa Maria would have been very effective in protecting the Port da Barra. The São Diogo Fort, although small, has an irregular design, adapted to the topography of the land, with a partially arched curtain wall. The parapet is still barbette, preserving much of the original design.

One of the biggest changes to the building was to the main entrance. According to records, Edgar Cerqueira Falcão photographed it before 1942, when the internal ramp still existed, although the fort already had a staircase at the entrance gate. The biggest change to the topography and the internal ramp probably occurred with the installation of the Cirex, a recreational club for the officers of the 6th Military Region.

The least altered form of the fortification was recorded in photographs taken by Benjamin Mulock in the mid-19th century. Old plans in the Army Military Archives show the existence of a road that ran close to the fort and zigzagged to the top of the hill where the Church of Santo Antônio stands.

These elements reinforce the tactical importance of the Forts of Santa Maria and São Diogo in the defence of the Port of Barra, as they were essential components of the defensive system of the city of Salvador.

Defence of the Porto da Barra – Forts of Santa Maria and São Diogo – History of Brazil

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