Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Araçatuba

The Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Araçatuba, or more simply fortress of Araçatuba, is situated on the island of Araçatuba, in the municipality of Palhoça, in the state of Santa Catarina, in Brazil.

It was erected at the entrance to the South Bay, between the island of Santa Catarina and the mainland.

Designed and built by Brigadier José da Silva Paes, first governor of the Captaincy of Santa Catarina (1739–1745), it is a remnant of the defensive system of the entrance to the South Bay, whose passage it blocks, complementing the defensive system of the entrance to the North Bay. Together, these two systems were to provide protection for the island of Santa Catarina, consolidating the Portuguese occupation of southern Brazil and serving as a base for maintaining Portuguese domination over the colony of Sacramento. Work began in 1742 and was completed two years later.

Machine-translated from “Forteresse de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Araçatuba” on the French Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Araçatuba ranks #7,717 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #58 of the 80 mapped in Brazil. See how Brazil compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia (in French) ↗