Tools of Royalization: British Ceramics at a Military Outpost on Roatán Island, Honduras

Summary

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the British Crown viewed the Caribbean as the geographical hub within which it would be able to obtain key resources and to challenge the growing power of the Spanish Empire. In 1742, Augusta was established as a British military outpost on Roatán Island, Honduras, because of its strategic location across the Bay of Honduras from the Spanish settlement of Trujillo. In this paper, I use the term "royalization" to refer to the strategies employed by monarchies to bring about loyalty to a state. While the royalization process was intended to instill a sense of loyalty and British identity among colonists, enforcement of the use of only imported materials such as British ceramics may have proved difficult or impractical. Documentary and archaeological data suggest that multifaceted relationships emerged among British and Miskitu populations around the Bay of Honduras at settlements such as Augusta.  

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• British Ceramics in Indigenous, Colonial, and Post-Independence Latin America   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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PaperId(s): 320