Providence Island, Colombia

History

English settlers colonized Providence Island in 1629 one year after the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in what was to become the United States, but the two colonies ultimately had very different historical trajectories. From 1629-1630, colonists, under the direction of the Providence Island Company, constructed a town, New Westminster, and several forts. Before the Spanish captured the colony in 1641, the island was home to English indentured servants, African slaves sold or taken from Dutch and Spanish ships, Miskito Indians from the Spanish Main, Pequot Indians from Massachusetts, and English and Dutch pirates. Many of the original inhabitants stayed on the island and their descendants continue to live and work on Providence to this day.

Around 1836, it became clear that the Island would not have enough agricultural productivity to sustain the population. Thus, as an economic supplement, the London-based directors of the Providence Island Company approved the conduct of piracy against Spanish ships and mainland settlements. In the 1670s (after the Spanish left), Providence became a base for English pirates, including the infamous Henry Morgan. Shortly after Colombian independence (1810), Colombia and Nicaragua both attempted claims on the Island territory. The issue was settled by treaty in 1928, officially ceding Providence, and its neighbor island, San Andrés, to Colombia.

Excavation Overview

Providence Island’s Puritan original settlement –and subsequent population movement from flat coastal areas into the mountainous interior over the past 490 years– is completely unknown archaeologically, though extensive historical and documentary records exist. The 2019 field season centers on the first-ever archaeological research on Providence Island with the goal of investigating the material, temporal, historical, and spatial aspects of the interactions on this small, yet highly multicultural, western Caribbean island.

Summers (June – July)

More info, contact:
Dr. Tracie Mayfield
Department of Anthropology
tracie.mayfield@usc.edu