MANILA GALLEONS IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE CULTURAL IMPACTS ON SANTA MARGARITA AND NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LA CONCEPCIÓN

Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Spain prospered as a dominant trading empire with the help of the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade network. While Spain's empire grew with the trade network, some disasters struck Manila galleons on their voyages. To date, two of those shipwreck sites have been identified in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI): Nuestra Sen~ora de la Concepcio~n off the coast of Saipan and Santa Margarita off the coast of Rota. The remains of Nuestra Sen~ora de la Concepcio~n and Santa Margarita are significant sources of information about Indigenous Chamorro culture, the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade network and more broadly, the Spanish trade empire in the 17th century. Both sites, however, have been impacted by post-wrecking activities of looting and salvage. Immediately after the wrecking events, the two shipwrecks were salvaged by both Chamorro people and the Spanish government. Starting in the 1980s, stories of Spanish treasure on galleons captivated modern treasure hunters and prompted salvage of these shipwrecks, which in turn led to destruction of archaeological context. There is limited information from both the Chamorro populations and the treasure hunting companies about these shipwrecks. In addition, no comprehensive archaeological surveys, excavations, or reports of these two shipwrecks have yet been completed that were not driven by monetary gain. Because our archaeological knowledge of these shipwrecks is limited and the archaeological contexts have been disturbed, it is important to learn as much as possible from the local Chamorro people and the treasure hunting companies using their oral histories, reports, and records. Based on site formation processes, actor-network theory, and shared heritage frameworks, this thesis analyzes the cultural impacts of post-wrecking activities, specifically the contemporary and commercial salvage, carried out at the Nuestra Sen~ora de la Concepcio~n and Santa Margarita sites to enhance our understanding of the two ships. The methods for analyzing and examining the activities include archival and historical research, textual analysis, oral histories, and an ESRI Story Map. Some archaeologists may dismiss these shipwrecks because they have been salvaged by treasure hunters, however, these two shipwrecks provide some data that can add to the knowledge base about the Spanish empire during the 17th century, as well as the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade network