Abstract
The organisation of space within urban house compounds in the Kongens Quarter of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, reflects complex social relations in this nineteenth-century port town environment. Residential structures and outbuildings were constructed within a matrix of walls, gates and stairs and levelled earthen terraces. These features created physical and socioeconomic separations, which are reflected in the material culture recovered from each terrace. These features reconfigured steep hillsides into spaces divided according to the class and social structures of Danish West Indian mercantile society. This study compares the layout and material record found within two compounds, the Magens House and the Bankhus, and emphasise elements of Danish colonial life correlating with these specific urban port town merchant residences. The spatial relations identified reflect specific patterns of Danish colonialism, with its emphasis on open trade and interactions. These relationships are further defined by the broad spectrum of locally and globally produced goods, and the presence of specific goods made in Denmark or accessed through a diverse, but distinct, array of local and global trading partners.
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Armstrong, D.V., Williamson, C., Armstrong, A.D. (2013). Networked Interaction: Archaeological Exploration of Walled and Terraced House Compounds in the Danish Colonial Port Town of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. In: Naum, M., Nordin, J. (eds) Scandinavian Colonialism and the Rise of Modernity. Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology, vol 37. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6202-6_16
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