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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). Other vessels 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 Dutch Republic, the Protestant leagues of the Holy Roman Empire but then the flow of precious metals from the Indies engendered the inflation of the 17th century which gradually but irreversibly destroyed the economy, making Spain bankrupt and 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 General 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. Centuries later artifacts from these wrecks were found from treasure salvage. This economic 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 just over 50 much larger vessels by the end of the century. In the middle of the next century that number had dwindled to around half 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. However they began to expand again as trade gradually recovered from the last decades of the 17th century. These losses to attacks and storms were tremendous economic blows to Spain. Weakened by continuous wars (particularly the Thirty Years' War) and suffering perpetual 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 on. In 1739, Admiral Edward Vernon raided Porto Bello (War of Jenkins' Ear) (though this proved a mere irritant), and in 1762 (Seven Years' War) the British occupied Havana and Manila, disrupting the treasure fleets at the end of the war. Yet it should be noted that the successful attacks upon these convoys over two and half centuries, and many years of hostilities, were few in number. In the case of the Manila galleons, only four were ever captured. The Spanish treasure fleets must be counted as among 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 See also | ||||||||
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