The gold and silver plundered from central and south america were to make Spain one of the riches nations in the world.but there was one problem with all this newfound wealth it was on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean.before Spain could make use of its American riches, the gold and silver had to be shipped back across the ocean, and the journey was full of dangers.
Like Purtugal after its exploration of the African Gold coast, spain tried to stop ships from other European nations from entering the waters of its New World territories.Spain laid claim to all the land and sea to the west of an imaginary line running north to south,298 miles (480km) west of the Azores in the Atlantic ocean.however, it was not long before foreign ships began to challenge Spain's rights in the Caribbean.
In 1537, French pirates invaded several Spanish settlements and attacked a Spanish fleet loaded with Inca treasure. they captured nine ships and made off with their cargoes of gold and silver.in 1543, France and Spain went to war, and the attacks in the Caribbean grew even more frequent.
The treasure fleets. Faced with an increasing number of assaults by French privateers, the spaniards made greater efforts to protect the precious cargoes on board their ships as they sailed home to spain.from the 1560s onward there were,in fact, two treasure fleets that traveled between spain and the caribbean.one of them left spain in april and sailed to Vera Cruz on the mainland of New Spain (in modern Mexico). there the ships were packed with gold and silver from the fallen Aztec Empire,in addition to treasures from farther abroad. Spanish ships sailed regularly between Acapulco (also in Mexico) on the west coast of New Spain and the Phillipines, where they brought exquisite silks and valuable spices.the silks and spices were carried overland from Acapulco to Vera Cruz by mule train. The fleet sailed from Spain in August, bound for Nombre de Dios (in Panama) on the Spanish main Inca gold and silver were transforted by sea to the town of Panama and then taken by land to Nombre de Dios to be loaded onto the Spanish ships. Each fleet was protected by two armed warships.tbe two fleets met in Havana (Cuba) at the beginning of each year to take on supplies before setting sail for Spain. long journey home would be a perilous one.
this article is based on my research about gold treasure.thanks for reading guys have a joyful day.
