The Lost Fleet of Christopher Columbus and 15th-16th Century Shipwrecks of Colonization in Hispaniola

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Today the most populous island in the Caribbean, Hispaniola was the epicenter of 15th and 16th century contact between peoples of the Old and New World. From Columbus’ first landfall in 1492 to the middle of the 16th century, Hispaniola was the base and administration center for the entire Spanish Caribbean. The early maritime importance of Santo Domingo and early settlements like Columbus’ La Isabela means there is a high concentration of significant shipwrecks representative of early globalization, cross-cultural contact, and colonization. Since the early 1990s, Indiana University (IU) has partnered with the Dominican Republic’s Office of Underwater Cultural Patrimony to study and document many of these important shipwrecks. Current IU research focuses on a few key shipwrecks that will help piece together the story of colonization in Hispaniola, including Columbus’ outgoing fleet of ships that sunk in Isabela Bay in 1495 and a mid-16th century, incoming merchant ship.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2023 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow