From the moment the original settlement was founded, under the command of the Castilian captain Juan Rejón, the Real (Royal Encampment) of Las Palmas had to embark on a turbulent process to consolidate itself as a key city in Gran Canaria for the Crown of Castile, and for what would later become the Kingdom of Spain. The city now established as Las Palmas de Gran Canaria had to be strategically fortified as it began to develop, starting in the foundational district of Vegueta. In fact, its growth from its historic centre was driven by a natural tendency to spread towards its walls and first defences, even though these had to suffer the attacks of privateers from other enemy kingdoms.

It was in this context that the Fortress of Las Isletas emerged, still known today as the Castle of La Luz. What is now the headquarters of the Martín Chirino Art and Thought Foundation was built at the end of the fifteenth century (1494) to provide a land base from which to control the incursions that foreign fleets might be tempted to undertake on their approach to the most important settlement on Gran Canaria. There, in what is now the district of La Isleta, the Governor, Alonso Fajardo, ordered this walled fortification to be built, on a reef that in those days was separated from land at high tide, and that came to occupy the space of the first wooden fort built by Juan Rejón’s troops.

The Castle of La Luz played the leading role in one of the most celebrated episodes in the history of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: the resistance waged from there against the fleet of the English privateers Francis Drake and John Hawkins in 1595. The Governor, Alonso Alvarado, with 1,500 soldiers under his command, managed to repel Drake’s attempt to take the city. Alvarado assembled his forces in great haste, and they included many men with no previous military training. The local population contributed decisively to the feat of repelling the English. From then on, the castle took the name of its benefactress, the Virgen de La Luz (Our Lady of the Light). Today, La Isleta celebrates the festivities of La Naval in memory of the historic episode.

In 1941 the castle was declared a Historical-Artistic Monument as part of Spanish Historical Heritage. In 2001 the architects Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano restored the building with an approach in which “the history of the castle itself inevitably became the storyline of the project”, as quoted in the journal Restauración & Rehabilitación. The interior now displays an interesting collection of artworks by the sculptor Martín Chirino, a native of the city.

Another fortress, also declared a Historical-Artistic Monument in the 1940s (in 1949, to be precise) is the Castillo de Mata (Mata Castle). This fortification was altered several times, for various purposes, on its original cubelo or keep. It was originally designed by the engineer Juan Alonso Rubián and its construction was completed by Governor Diego de Melgarejo in 1577. In 1599, during the attack by the Dutch privateer Pieter Van der Does, it suffered the onslaughts of an assault on the city which this time was successful. Like the Castle of La Luz, Mata (so called because it defended a wall with the structure of a bunker [casamata]) fought first against the English and later against the Dutch.

The original keep was rediscovered in 2002, during the preliminary works for the most recent refurbishment of the building. Today visitors to the current Museum of the City and the Sea can visit it, within the cultural enclave into which the castle has been restructured. Its facilities are a regular venue for a range of events related to the arts, music and the history of the city itself.

The history of the city cannot be understood without another of its strongholds, known as the Castillo de San Francisco (Castle of St Francis), begun in 1601 and finished in 1626. It is located on top of the Rock of San Francisco, behind the area surrounding the Calle Mayor de Triana, in a position that dominates a large part of the Lower City. The original keep was also discovered in an archaeological excavation at the beginning of the twenty-first century (in 2003). Also called Castillo del Rey or Castillo del Paso Angosto (Castle of the King or of the Narrow Pass), it has been classified as an Asset of Cultural Interest since 1949, and at 5,700 square metres it is the largest defensive fortification in the whole of the Canary Islands. San Francisco, after its planned restoration, is envisaged as a future museum connected in its contents with the Castillo de Mata and the defensive post of the Battery of San Juan (located on the nearby rock of San Juan and built at the end of the nineteenth century).

Also worthy of special mention in this list of historical fortifications in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is the Torreón de San Pedro Mártir, popularly known as the Castillo de San Cristóbal. Governor Diego Melgarejo ordered it to be built in 1578. Today its view is one of the iconic features of the seaside district of San Cristóbal at the southern entrance to the city. It has been a Historical-Artistic Monument since 1949. Needless to say, it also saw action in the raids of Drake and Van der Does.