René Chartrand was born in Montreal and educated in Canada, the United States and the Bahamas. A senior curator with Canada's National Historic Sites for nearly three decades, he is now a freelance writer and historical consultant. He has written numerous articles and books including over 30 Osprey titles. He lives in Gatineau, Quebec, with his wife and two sons.

Donato Spedaliere was born in 1967 in Lausanne, Switzerland, and moved to Tuscany at the age of 10, where he still lives. Having studied at the Instituto Nazionale di Belle Arti in Florence he served in the Italian Army as a paratrooper. Since 1995 he has worked as a professional illustrator for publishers in Italy and abroad and he is the chief illustrator of Alina Illustrazioni, the company he founded with his wife in 1998.

Following Columbus's arrival in the Bahamas in 1492, the lands of the 'new world' were divided between Spain and Portugal. The riches gained by the Spaniards soon aroused the interest of the French and the English, eager to exploit the area they called the 'Spanish Main' (an area broadly encompassing the West Indies and the Central American and Mexican coast). In response, the Spanish fortified their new territories. The earliest examples were very much based on medieval styles of fortification, but over the following three centuries the fortifications were updated, modernized and improved according the latest European principles. This book describes the evolution of the fortifications and their fate.