The Spanish fort in Panay

Panay Church in the town of Panay, Capiz, the town said to be location of settlement founded by the Spaniards after Cebu.

In his Relation of the Western Islands Called Filipinas, Captain Diego de Artieda described to King Philip II in 1573 the fort that he planned in the newly established settlement “between the two arms of a river” on Panay Island. Local historians agree that this settlement serve as the nucleus of what is now the town of Panay in Capiz, one of the four provinces of Panay island.

Artieda writes:

Northwest of Buglas lies Panae, an island abounding in rice and all kinds of provisions. The camp was moved thither, and, as abovesaid, I drew the plan of the said fort between the two arms of a river, because it is impossible to effect an entrance by one arm. In the other arm and below the fort, fourteen gabions were made and twelve large pieces of artillery mounted for the defense of the entrance and passage. The fort is situated two and one-half leagues inland, and the ground all the way to the fort is a swamp, covered with tangles of bushes; so that enemies can approach the said fort only through the river, where are planted the above-mentioned gabions and artillery. The position is excellent, and such that it needs only a few men to defend it against many. The bar of the river is not more than one braza deep; and its coast thereabout, for more than twenty leagues, is very forbidding. Its center lies in about eleven and one-third degrees of latitude.