Resumen de Mercantilism, Warfare, or Privateering?: Providing the Historical Context for the Mardi Gras Shipwreck Site
The Gulf of Mexico played an important role in the power struggles between Europe and the United States for control of access to valuable resources in North and South America. Spain, France, Great Britain, and the burgeoning United States utilized this vast body of water to jockey for positions of power, especially for control of New Orleans. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries these countries wrangled for control of the Gulf through treaty, trade, warfare, and privateering. Serving many different roles, ships engaged in transporting commodities, protecting places and resources, and antagonizing rivals. Between wars, commercial competition, and disasters at sea, many vessels were lost to the depths of the Gulf. One such vessel, the Mardi Gras Shipwreck, may have served in one or more of these roles during its career. By examining the historical record, archaeologists can reconstruct the sociocultural, political, and economic milieus to establish the historical context in which the shipwreck and its story reside.
