Climate in the historical record of sixteenth century spanish florida: The case of santa elena re-examined

Abstract

This chapter examines the challenges of re-creating and interpreting the role of climate in history for a time period with limited surviving written documentation. By drawing on data from dendroclimatology and archaeology, it explores the contributions these studies have made to our knowledge of the Spanish settlement of Santa Elena, located on present-day Parris Island, South Carolina from 1566 to 1587. This paper argues that only by pooling clues from surviving documents, archaeological investigations, and dendroclimatological data and analyzing these clues with a solid understanding of the historical context in which such colonization efforts took place, can we know the role that climate-or any other factor-played in determining this settlement's fate. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.