History in the Caribbean: Port Royal Part 1
One of the best things about adventure cruises is the ability to learn about exciting times in history and visit the actual sites where many of history’s most important moments happened. The history of the Caribbean is steeped in exciting times and action and learning about this era is possible on a Caribbean adventure cruise.
You can visit the shorelines, old forts and discover the fascinating and tumultuous history of the Caribbean. For instance, consider the history of Port Royal. To look at it today, you wouldn’t ever guess its exciting history as the most important town of the New World in the late 1600s and early 1700s that would still exist today were it not for its catastrophic ending.
It took a few earthquakes, fire and numerous hurricanes to push Port Royal into oblivion in 1722, only sixty-seven years after the fort was first built under the Lord Protector of England Oliver Cromwell’s direction in 1655. After England had taken the island of Jamaica by force, its capital Santiago de la Vega was left in ruins, which meant a new site was needed for a town capable of performing some of the duties of a capital city.
When Jamaica was first colonized earlier by the Spanish, it was not considered much of a catch and was used mainly for restocking ships in the area and for growing crops. The Spanish town of Puerta de Caguaya Fort was located in the area of what is now known as Port Royal.
England’s Cromwell wanted the trading action that the Spanish were conducting in the Caribbean so he sent Admiral William Penn and General Robert Venables over to the Caribbean to take over the important trading port town, Santo Domingo. When the English troops, who already did not have enough food and supplies when they left England, arrived in Santo Domingo, they were dropped off thirty miles off the mark. The troops marched through the jungle which left many of the men weakened with sickness, hunger, thirst and injured and killed by Spanish fire.
The misery of the English troops was not over yet because they had not arrived in Jamaica yet. The beauty of the island was not a concern for these desperate men as they made their way overland. Things were going to take a turn for the worst but first the crew had to make an ill-fated attempt at conquering Santo Domingo.
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