词条 | Sea Islands |
释义 | Sea Islands islands, United States low-lying chain of sandy islands off the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, U.S., between the mouths of the Santee and St. Johns rivers and along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The Spaniards claimed and partly occupied the islands in 1568. By the end of the 17th century, the English had made them part of the Carolina colony. In 1717 they were granted to Sir Robert Montgomery, who included them in his Margravate of Azilia on the mainland; he termed the group Golden Islands in a promotional booklet (1720). The Battle of Bloody Marsh (1742), fought on St. Simons Island, saved the Georgia colony from the Spaniards. ![]() ![]() Rice and cotton were cultivated, especially on St. Helena and Port Royal (the most important of the islands), and the fine, long-stapled Sea Island cotton was developed in the islands. After the American Civil War, abandoned plantations were confiscated, and land was given to freed slaves. The Carolina islands retain a predominantly black population that has developed distinct customs and dialects, notably Gullah (q.v.). In the 1920s, because of boll weevil infestation of the cotton, a more diversified agriculture was developed, and shrimp, crab, and oysters were harvested. Several wildlife refuges and parks have been established on the islands, the more important of which are linked to the mainland by causeways and bridges. Fort Frederica National Monument, authorized in 1936, is on St. Simons. |
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