A watchtower is a tower built on high ground.
Watchtower is a term that can be used in different contexts. The most common use refers to a tower built on an elevation to monitor what is happening in the surrounding land or in the ocean.
Unlike other towers for military use, the watchtower is usually built isolated. The height offers the security guard the necessary perspective to observe large surfaces and also provides security against possible attacks.
Examples of watchtower
Various concentration camps and prisons had their own surveillance watchtowers. In these cases, control was carried out inwards: that is, the inmates were monitored so that they did not escape. In the military field, watchtowers lost preponderance due to the development of technologies such as drones and satellites .
The Valmojado watchtower is an example of this concept. It was built in the 15th century more than 650 meters above sea level in Valmojado , a Spanish municipality that belongs to the province of Toledo (in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha ).
Watchtowers facilitate surveillance.
A genus of plants
A genus of plants native to Australia is also called watchtower. It comprises eleven species of trees and shrubs that belong to the family Sapindacea ; While they are native to Australia , two of the species are found in Malaysia and Africa.
Almost all Australian specimens are trees that grow in rainforests, although this genus appears in more parts of the country, both in arid and semi-arid areas.
Rambla de Atalaya
A small volcanic cone and a dry river located in Mazarrón , a municipality in the Spanish region of Murcia , is known as Rambla de la Atalaya .
More specifically, it is located in the Moreras area, at a distance of around 3 kilometers from the municipal capital. Currently only half of its crater can be seen.
The concept in comics
DC Comics used this term to name various bases used by the Justice League of America , a group of superheroes made up of the most important characters of the DC Universe introduced for the first time in 1960 .
Among its representations is a space station orbiting the Earth and a building located on the moon.
Watchtower Museums
In Jerez de la Frontera , in the Spanish region of Andalusia , there is a cultural space called Museos de la Atalaya where we can find, in addition to the museums, several multipurpose rooms and complexes created with the aim of holding shows, celebrations and meetings of different kinds. .
Other cultural activities carried out at the theme center include meetings and conventions such as the “Bohemian Nights” summer cycle. The Andrés de Ribera Foundation is in charge of the administration of this group of museums and the presidency is assumed by the Provincial Council of Cádiz or the mayor's office of Jerez de la Frontera , something that alternates every four years.
A Spanish ship
In the Spanish Navy , there is a series of four patrol vessels based at the La Graña naval station : one of them is named Atalaya (P-74) .
He is the last of the group and was sent to the Grand Bank of Newfoundland while the Halibut War was taking place, a series of clashes between Spain and Canada over fishing rights on said continental shelf.
Other uses of the term watchtower
Atalaya is also the name of several towns. In the Buenos Aires district of Magdalena , in Argentina , there is a town of less than a thousand inhabitants called Atalaya . There are also administrative entities called Atalaya in Cúcuta ( Colombia ), Ucayali ( Peru ), Veraguas ( Panama ), and Badajoz ( Spain ), among other places.
A Spanish theater company and a very popular confectionery, bar and bakery from Argentina that is on the way to the Atlantic Coast (leaving from the City of Buenos Aires ) are other elements called Atalaya .