Defending a Coastal Colony

Defending a Coastal Colony. . If you flew over Pensacola Bay, you would see that it has many natural forms of protection. Sandy barrier islands defend the narrow entrance into the bay and rolling hills provide excellent vantage points to watch ships arrive. The many colonial European groups who settled near Pensacola Bay understood the benefits of this natural landscape. , To bolster the area's natural protection, both the Spanish and the British built a series of fortifications between 1698 and 1781. Colonists constructed most of these defenses near the water as ships posed the greatest threat to their settlements. The most prominent of these fortifications was located in downtown Pensacola, between what is now, Seville Square and Plaza Ferdinand. Although this fort is no longer visible above ground, archaeologists have learned a great deal about Spanish and British life in Pensacola by excavating the area where the fort once stood. , Photo captions: , Background image: A View of Pensacola in West Florida by George Gauld, c. 1765. Hand colored by Dave Edwards. (Image courtesy of UWT Archaeology Institute) , Top right map: This map shows the outline of the British Fort of Pensacola as it lies under modern city streets. Construction on the fort began in 1763 over the remains of an earlier Spanish fort. , Middle right: Archaeologists discovered two loggerhead sea turtle bones during excavation of an outdoor cooking area at the Fort of Pensacola. These bones, shown on the left side of this image, belonged to the turtles plastron (underside). The officers living in the fort likely were supplementing their diet with local marine animals like this sea turtle.