Spanish treasure fleet

Spanish history

Also known as: fleet system

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Spanish treasure fleet, from the 16th to the 18th century, Spanish convoy of ships transporting European goods to the Spanish colonies in the Americas and transporting colonial products, especially gold and silver, back to the mother country.

Beginning in the 1560s, shipping between Spain and the Americas was organized on a regular basis. In general, two fleets of between 30 and 90 vessels sailed from Sevilla (Seville) to the American colonies each year: the flota left in the spring for Vera Cruz, in what is now Mexico, detaching ships in the West Indies and at Honduras on the way; the galeones, or Tierra Firme fleet, left in August for Cartagena, in present Colombia, and Porto Bello (now Portobelo), on the Atlantic coast of Panama. After wintering in America, both fleets met at Havana the following spring and returned to Spain together, protected by warships.

The immense wealth in gold and silver carried by these fleets on the return voyage offered a tempting prize to English, Dutch, and French seamen. One fleet was looted and destroyed by the Dutch admiral Piet Heyn off Cuba (1628) and another by the English under Robert Blake in the Azores (1657), but usually the Spanish treasure fleet presented a formidable challenge to marauders.

Map of North America in 1763 using color coding to show colonial territories: the 13 American colonies in red along the Atlantic coast, other British territory in orange across much of present-day Canada, Spanish territory in purple covering most of the southern and western regions, Russian territory in green in the northwest, and large areas of unclaimed land in white. Major bodies of water such as the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Hudson Bay are labeled.

Spanish treasure fleet

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