Samboangan

Samboangan stands at the southwestern end of the long Zamboanga peninsula, facing Basilan across a narrow strait. Its position made it a meeting point between the waters of the Sulu archipelago and the shores of Mindanao. Spanish authorities rendered the name as Zamboanga and made the settlement an outpost of their power in the southern Philippines.

In 1635 the Jesuit engineer Melchor de Vera supervised the founding of a fort here. The Dutch attacked it in 1646, and its garrison withdrew in 1663 when troops were concentrated at Manila against a threatened Chinese attack. Spain returned and rebuilt the fort in 1719; the following year it faced an assault led by Dalasi. Known as Fort Pilar, it remained a conspicuous symbol of Spanish authority amid the contested seas of the south.