A fortified sea : the defense of the Caribbean in the eighteenth century / edited by Pedro Luengo and Gene Allen Smith.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Luengo, Pedro, 1984- editor.

Series:

Maritime currents.

Maritime Currents

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fortification--Caribbean Area--History--18th centry.

Fortification.

Military architecture--Caribbean Area.

Military architecture.

Caribbean Area--Defenses.

Caribbean Area.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (317 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Tuscaloosa, Alabama : University of Alabama Press, [2024]

Summary:

"Illuminates the role of forts in the greater Caribbean during the long eighteenth century as international powers fought for ascendency"-- Provided by publisher.

"A Fortified Sea illuminates the role of forts in the greater Caribbean during the long eighteenth century. The historical Caribbean, with its multiple contested boundaries at the periphery of European western expansion, typically has been analyzed as part of an empire. European powers, including Spain, the Netherlands, England, and Denmark, carved up the Caribbean Sea into a cultural patchwork. These varied cultural contexts appeared especially evident during regional and national conflicts throughout the eighteenth century, prompting the need for fortifications to protect imperial interests. The emergence of Anglo-American colonies during the eighteenth century and later the United States gradually modified previous geopolitical balances, redefining the cultural and geopolitical boundaries of the region. This edited volume incorporates several historiographical traditions-from Spanish to American-all portraying the borderland as a breakthrough contested cultural, social, economic, and military boundary. A multinational roster of contributors approaches topics through a war studies lens as well as architecturally and historically, enriching a usually monothematic view. As well, discussion of cultural management of the historical remains of forts shows local communities trying to preserve and interpret the role of forts in society. Chapters in Part I define the training of military engineers in Spain. Part II chapters engage with British defensive military plans and settlements in the Caribbean and how the British dealt with the rhetorical image of the empire. Chapters in Part III clarify the building processes of fortifications in Santiago de Cuba, Cartagena de Indias, Havana, and Veracruz, among other places. Copious period maps complement the prodigious research"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Introduction | Gene Allen Smith and Pedro Luengo

Abbreviations

Part I. A Common Background: Early Modern Caribbean and the Training of Military Engineers

Chapter 1. Fortification and Pedagogy: Theoretical Military Engineering and Cartography between Academic Institutional Rigor and Ludic Poliorcetics | Juan Miguel Muñoz Corbalán

Chapter 2. Military Engineers and the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando's Censure | Jesús María Ruiz Carrasco

Part II. The British Plan: Warfare, Intelligence, and Rhetoric of the Empire

Chapter 3. Fortification, Engineering, and Empire in Mid-Eighteenth- Century Jamaica | Aaron Graham

Chapter 4. Vernacular Architecture and the Defense of Antigua, 1670-1785 | Christopher K. Waters

Chapter 5. The English Settlement of Guantánamo, Cuba: Urban and Defensive Features | Pedro Luengo

Chapter 6. Fortification Systems Designed to Counter Charles Knowles's Attacks in Cuba and Saint-Domingue in 1748 | Ignacio J. López-Hernández

Chapter 7. The Versatility of the Military Engineer Luis Huet: Engineer, Urban Planner, and Spy | Pedro Cruz Freire

Chapter 8. Text and Image: The 1762 Capture of Havana | Alfredo J. Morales

Part III. The Spanish Plan: Fortifying the Caribbean Sea

Chapter 9. The Interior Defense of Santiago de Cuba: The Fort of San Francisco | María Mercedes Fernández Martín

Chapter 10. Engineering and the Articulation of Territory: Juan de Herrera y Sotomayor and the Canal del Dique Improvement Project in Cartagena de Indias, 1725-1728 | Francisco Javier Herrera García

Chapter 11. Projects and Defensive Reforms at the End of the Viceregal Cartagena: The Military Engineer Manuel de Anguiano and the Martyrs of Independence | Manuel Gámez Casado.

Chapter 12. The Fort of San Carlos de Perote: The Historical Context of Its Construction | Mónica Cejudo Collera and Germán Segura García

Chapter 13. The Three Defensive Lines Built on the East Front of Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico | Nuria Hinarejos Martín

Chapter 14. The Defense of New Orleans as a Capital of the Government of Louisiana and Western Florida | José Miguel Morales Folguera

Chapter 15. "Without Any Fighting or Disturbance": Conquering Spanish Baton Rouge and Mobile | Gene Allen Smith

Epilogue | Pedro Luengo and Gene Allen Smith

Notes

Bibliography

List of Contributors

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-8173-9522-9

OCLC:

1449586878