Félix Prósperi y Lorenzo de Solís, desde el mediterráneo al Golfo de México

The defensive work of military engineers at the service of the Spanish crown between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries was not limited to the Mediterranean region; their influence on the defensive systems of the new American territories allowed planning and technical solutions to be adapted to the requirements of the New World. Multiple research work has been focused on the study of the historical and architectural aspects of such defensive systems. In this sense, the present paper aims to determine the variables and constants of the solutions on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean through analysis and comparisons. Two cases of military engineers are reviewed to highlight the need for an approach not limited to European cases but presented as a global defensive project. Such is the case of Felix Prosperi who, after concluding his work at Santo Domingo and Nicaragua, he worked later at the fort of San Juan de Ulua (Veracruz, Mexico), considered the most important fortified port of New Spain during the viceregal period. At Ceuta, Lorenzo de Solís carried out projects and perfected technical solutions, that he later replicated in San Juan de Ulua. In the context of this conference, it is worth delving into the constructive knowledge of the time, the influence of military engineers on the political events of that time, and the advances in construction technologies linked to the material resources available on site. To meet the objectives of this study, documents from the “General Archive of the Indies” in Seville and from the “General Archive of the Nation” in Mexico were consulted, reports were compared, and specific construction cases were examined.