Spanish treasure fleet

In the 16th century the Spanish treasure fleets brought the wealth of the Spanish colonies in Central and South America to Spain, in the form of silver, gold, gems, spices, cocoa and other exotic goods (Zarin, 2005). Another fleet called the Manila Galleons exchanged Chinese wares from the Philippines and Mexican silver from Acapulco in Nueva España (modern Mexico) where it was transhipped to Veracruz to join the Caribbean fleet.

Spanish ships had brought treasure from the New World since Christopher Columbus' first expedition of 1492, but a system of convoys started to be developed in the 1520s in response to attacks by French and English privateers. Under this system, two fleets sailed each year from Seville (later Cádiz), consisting of galleons, heavily armed with cannons, and merchant carracks, carrying manufactured goods (and later slaves). One fleet sailed to the Caribbean, the other to the South American ports of Cartagena, Nombre de Dios (and later Porto Bello); after completing their trade the fleets rendezvoused at Havana in Cuba for the return trip.

Spain strictly controlled trade with its colonies: by law, the colonies could only trade with one designated port in the mother country. The English and Dutch tried to break it, and foreigners established associations with fronting Spaniards (cargadores), but this monopoly lasted for over two centuries, in which Spain first became the richest country in Europe and used the wealth from its colonies to fight wars against France, the Ottoman Empire, England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands, the Protestant leagues of the Holy Roman Empire and then the precious metals from the Indies engendered the inflation of the 16th century which gradually but irreversibly destroyed the economy, making Spain dangerously reliant on the treasure fleets.

The fleet carried the quinto (royal fifth, a 20 percent tax) of precious metals and wares of private merchants. Archaeology has found that the quantity of metals really transported was usually much higher than that recorded at the Archivo de Indias as merchants resorted to contraband and corruption to transport their riches untaxed.

This economic system began to decline in the 17th century. The treasure fleets were menaced by storms (the fleets of 1622, including the Atocha, 1715 and 1733 were destroyed by hurricanes in the Caribbean) and by pirates, privateers and foreign navies. Its importance also declined with the drop of production of the American precious metals mines. The fleets which numbered just 17 ships in 1550 had reached around 100 much larger vessels by the end of the century. In the middle of the next century that number had dwindled to around a quarter of its peak and continued to shrink. The threat of attack became greater as Spain's colonial rivals established their own, or seized Spanish, bases in the Caribbean: the English acquired St Kitts in 1624, and the Dutch Curaçao in 1634. Treasure fleets were captured by Piet Hein in 1628 and in 1656 and 1657 by Robert Blake. In the 1660s Henry Morgan attacked Spanish possessions. The 1702 treasure fleet was destroyed in the Battle of Vigo Bay.

These losses were tremendous economic blows to Spain. Weakened by continual wars (particularly the Thirty Years War) and suffering economic depression, its old economy ravaged by bouts of inflation and deflation, Spain had great difficulty in protecting its colonies, from the mid seventeenth century. In 1739, Admiral Edward Vernon raided Porto Bello (War of Jenkins' Ear), and in 1762 (Seven Years' War) the British occupied Havana and Manila, disrupting the treasure fleets during the war. However in more than two and a half centuries the losses to attacks were minimal. The treasure fleets must be counted as one of the most successful naval operations in history.

In the 1780s Spain opened its colonies to free trade. The last treasure fleet sailed in 1790.

Citations

Zarin, Cynthia 2005 Green dreams A mystery of rare, shipwrecked emeralds. The New Yorker, November 21, 2005 pp. 76-83 www.newyorker.com

Citations

See also