Dissertation
Brimstone, sea and sand
The historical archaeology of the Port of Sandy Point and its anchorage, St. Kitts, West Indies
- Author
- C.H.S. Gill
- Date
- 04 February 2020
- Links
- The publication in Open Access
Sandy Point was one of the early English towns on the Eastern Caribbean island of St. Kitts, the first island to be settled by both the English and the French. Very early in the period of settlement Sandy Point rose in prominence over the island's other towns as a major port with a strategically vital anchorage.
The defence of this anchorage and the approaches to it were the responsibility of Charles Fort and Brimstone Hill Fortress. The proximity of Sandy Point to the island of St. Eustatius, positioned the port ideally to become a nexus of trade, including illicit trade, between the English and Dutch West Indies.
Even after the decline of this port's strategic importance to Britain from the mid nineteenth century onwards, it continued to play a vital role in trade and communications between the British and Dutch Atlantic Worlds. The reasons for, and the pattern of ascendancy and decline of one of the first major West Indian ports in the Atlantic World is explored in this dissertation, as well as the influence of this port on the development of the early Atlantic World System. This dissertation shall also investigate Sandy Point’s influence on trade between the British and Dutch West Indies.