Port Royal, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Jamaica inscribed in 2025 as the Archaeological Ensemble of 17th Century Port Royal, was once the most important English colonial port city in the Western Hemisphere. This thriving 17th-century trade hub featured a deep-water harbor, fortifications, and infrastructure that supported bustling commerce, including the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans. A catastrophic earthquake in 1692 submerged much of the town, leaving exceptional terrestrial and underwater archaeological remains that illustrate early English colonial expansion, European rivalry in the Americas, and the pivotal role of enslaved labor in building such settlements.