Origin , admiral and designer of the treasure fleet system Spanish ships had carried goods from the
New World since
Christopher Columbus's first expedition of 1492. The organised system of convoys dates from 1564, but Spain sought to protect shipping prior to that by organising protection around the largest Caribbean island,
Cuba, and the maritime region of southern Spain and the
Canary Islands because of attacks by pirates and foreign navies. In the 1560s, the Spanish government created a system of convoys in response to the sacking of
Havana by French
privateers. The main procedures were established on the recommendations of
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, an experienced admiral and personal adviser of King
Philip II. The treasure fleets sailed along two sea lanes. The main one was the
Caribbean Spanish West Indies fleet or
Flota de Indias, which departed in two convoys from
Seville, where the
Casa de Contratación was based, bound for ports such as
Veracruz,
Portobelo, and
Cartagena before making a rendezvous at
Havana in order to return together to Spain. A secondary route was that of the
Manila Galleons or
Galeón de Manila, which linked the
Philippines to
Acapulco in
Mexico across the
Pacific Ocean. From Acapulco, the Asian goods were
transhipped by
mule train to Veracruz to be loaded onto the Caribbean treasure fleet for shipment to Spain.
Casa de Contratación '' during the
Age of Discovery. Spain controlled the trade through the
Casa de Contratación based in
Seville, a river port in southern Spain. By law, the colonies could trade only with Seville, the one designated port in the mother country.
Maritime archaeology has shown that the quantity of goods transported was sometimes higher than that recorded at the
Archivo General de Indias. Spanish merchants and Spaniards acting as fronts (
cargadores) for foreign merchants sent their goods on these fleets to the New World. Some resorted to
contraband to transport their cargoes untaxed. The
Crown of Spain taxed the wares and precious metals of private merchants at a rate of 20%, a tax known as the
quinto real or royal fifth. By the end of the 16th century, Spain became the richest country in Europe. Much of the wealth from this trade was used by the Spanish
Habsburgs to finance armies to protect its European territories in the 16th and 17th centuries against the
Ottoman Empire and most of the major European powers. The flow of precious metals in and out of Spain also stimulated the European economy as a whole. The flow of precious metals made many traders wealthy, both in Spain and abroad. As a result of the discovery of precious metals in Spanish America, Spain's money supply increased tenfold. The increase in gold and silver on the Iberian market caused high
inflation in the 17th century, affecting the Spanish economy. As a consequence, the Crown was forced to delay the payment of some major debts, which had negative consequences for its creditors, mostly foreign bankers. By 1690 some of these creditors could no longer offer financial support to the Crown. The Spanish
monopoly over its West and East Indies colonies lasted for over two centuries.
Decline, revival and abolition The economic importance of exports later declined with the drop in production of the American precious metal mines, such as
Potosí. However, the growth in trade was strong in the early years. Numbering 17 ships in 1550, the fleets expanded to more than 50 much larger vessels by the end of the century. By the second half of the 17th century, that number had dwindled to less than half of its peak. As economic conditions gradually recovered from the last decades of the 17th century, fleet operations slowly expanded again, once again becoming prominent during the reign of the
Bourbons in the 18th century. The Spanish trade of goods was sometimes threatened by its colonial rivals, who tried to seize islands as bases along the
Spanish Main and in the
Spanish West Indies. However, the Atlantic trade was largely unharmed. The English acquired small islands like
St Kitts in 1624; expelled in 1629, they returned in 1639 and seized
Jamaica in 1655. French pirates established themselves in
Saint-Domingue in 1625, were expelled, only to return later, and the Dutch occupied
Curaçao in 1634. Other losses to foreign powers came later. In 1713 as part of the
Treaty of Utrecht after the
War of the Spanish Succession, the Spanish crown was forced to make concessions, which included granting trading privileges to Britain that ended the previous Spanish monopoly on legal trade to its colonial holdings. In 1739 during the
War of Jenkins' Ear, These reforms gradually decreased reliance on the escorted convoys of the fleet system. In 1790, the
Casa de Contratación was abolished, bringing to an end the great general purpose cargo convoys. Thereafter small groups of naval frigates were assigned specifically to transferring
bullion as required. ==The fleets==