Spanish Treasure Fleets

by Timothy R. Walton

Europe was bursting with energy in the late15th century, but progress was being hindered by a shortage of reliable currency. Columbus was aware of this, and one of the main goals of his voyage was to find gold. The first large amounts of precious metals from the New World were the plunder that came from the Spanish victory over the Aztecs and Incas. Mints in the colonies began producing large numbers of silver pieces of eight, which became the main cargo of the treasure fleets and a standard currency all over the world. But Spain lacked the resources and knowledge to retain control The glittering streams of wealth from the New World became an irresistible temptation to other European powers, and adventurers such as England's Sir Francis Drake began successful attacks on the ports and ships of the treasure fleets. Storms and deadly reefs claimed countless other ships. By the early 1700s Spain had lost its monopoly on world trade and other countries were laying claim to colonies in the New World. The pieces of eight survived to become the model of the American silver dollar. Tales of fabulous Spanish treasure fleets kept memories alive. After World War II divers using new technology began finding not only large amounts of silver and gold but also valuable information about the history of Europe's influence on the world. The mysteries of treasure known to exist but not yet discovered continue to fascinate to this day.

Genres: History

270 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1994

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this. I was interested in the mechanics of how the Spanish got their silver (and gold) from the new world back to Spain and the effects this would have, and the blurb for this book made this book sound like just what I was looking for. As it turned out, the book is more a potted history of Western European/Spanish conflicts and exploration described in terms of how these concepts pertained to the fleets. That is, the book was back-to-front from my point of view. Basically, it's about European history, with a bit of indication of how the transportation of silver fit into Spain's imperial pretensions and conflicts with other European powers. The book doesn't really tell you much about the fleets themselves or how exactly they ran.

Even in its own terms, the book isn't very successful. The bibliography is only English, and a lot of the stuff was out of date even when it was published back in 1993. Lots of generalizing works from the 1930s, and the work cited for the Spanish conquest of Mexico is Prescott's work from the 1840s! Basically, the book didn't tell me much I didn't already know. It's full of broad-stroke generalizations about "Spanish decadence" and the like, giving it the sound of an undergraduate honors essay rather than the mature work of full-fledged academic.

The book also seems to have been produced in the first-generation of computer-generated book designs, and its amateurish appearance betrays this. Many of the illustrations are practically "illegible" (very dark and shadowy), and the childish pseudo-Anglo Saxon fonts for the headings are ridiculous. And for some reason, the heaviness of the type changes from paragraph to paragraph. Some are printed with quite thick letters, but all of a sudden one turns up with a much lighter appearance. I have no idea how that happened.

[Laura]

The Spanish Treasure Fleets by Timothy R. Walton (1994)