Editing Spanish Main (section)

{{Short description|Historical region  known as the Spanish West Indies}}
{{About|the Caribbean coast and Gulf of Mexico|the film|The Spanish Main}}

{{Infobox former subdivision
| _noautocat             = <!-- "no" for no automatic categorization -->
| native_name            = <!-- Name in native language(s). Leave blank if name is only in English. Separate with line breaks<br> If language uses Latin characters, place name(s) in italics. -->
| conventional_long_name = Spanish Main
| common_name            = <!-- Used to resolve location within categories and name of flags and coat of arms -->
| subdivision            = Region
| nation                 = Spanish Empire
| demonym                = <!-- The name of the group of people residing there -->
| status_text            = <!-- A free text to describe status the top of the infobox. Use sparingly. -->
<!-- Titles and names of the first and last leaders and their deputies -->| title_leader           = <!-- Default: "King" for monarchy, otherwise leave blank for default "President" -->
| title_deputy           = <!-- Default: "Prime minister" -->
| leader1                = <!-- Name of leader (up to six) -->
| year_leader1           = <!-- Years served -->
| deputy1                = <!-- Name of prime minister (up to six) -->
| year_deputy1           = <!-- Years served -->
<!-- Legislature -->| legislature            = <!-- Name of legislature -->
| house1                 = <!-- Name of first chamber -->
| house2                 = <!-- Name of second chamber -->
| type_house1            = <!-- Default: "Upper house" -->
| type_house2            = <!-- Default: "Lower house" -->
<!-- General information -->| capital                = 
| coordinates            = <!-- Use {{Coord}} -->
| motto                  = <!-- Accepts wikilinks -->
| anthem                 = <!-- Accepts wikilinks -->
| political_subdiv       = <!-- Accepts wikilinks -->
| today                  = <!-- The countries to which this historic entity belongs today, if no more than four of these --><!-- Do NOT add flags, per MOS:INFOBOXFLAG -->

<!-- Rise and fall, events, years and dates -->
<!-- Only fill in the start/end event entry if a specific article exists. Don't just say "abolition" or "declaration". -->| year_start             = <!-- Year of establishment -->
| year_end               = <!-- Year of disestablishment -->
| event_start            = <!-- Default: "Established" -->
| date_start             = <!-- Optional: Date of establishment-->
| event_end              = <!-- Default: "Disestablished" -->
| date_end               = <!-- Optional: Date of disestablishment -->
| event1                 = <!-- Optional: other events between "start" and "end" -->
| date_event1            = 
| event2                 = 
| date_event2            = 
| event3                 = 
| date_event3            = 
| event4                 = 
| date_event4            = 
| event5                 = 
| date_event5            = 
| life_span              = 
| era                    = <!-- Use: "Napoleonic Wars", "Cold War", etc. -->
| event_pre              = <!-- Optional: A crucial event that took place before before "event_start" -->
| date_pre               = 
| event_post             = <!-- Optional: A crucial event that took place before after "event_end" -->
| date_post              = <!-- Images -->
| image_flag             = <!-- Default: Flag of {{{common_name}}}.svg -->
| image_border           = <!-- Default: "border"; for non-rectangular flag, type "no" -->
| flag_type              = <!-- Displayed text for link under flag. Default "Flag" -->
| flag                   = <!-- Link target under flag image. Default: Flag of {{{common_name}}} -->
| image_coat             = <!-- Default: Coat of arms of {{{common_name}}}.svg -->
| symbol_type            = <!-- Displayed text for link under symbol. Default "Coat of arms" -->
| symbol                 = <!-- Link target under symbol image. Default: Coat of arms of {{{common_name}}} -->
| image_map              = Spanish Main.PNG
| image_map_caption      = [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish possessions]] (yellow) in the Caribbean region around 1650, with the coastline of the Spanish Main indicated (thick maroon line).
<!-- Flag navigation: Preceding and succeeding entities "p1" to "p5" and "s1" to "s8" -->| p1                     = <!-- Name of the article for preceding entity, numbered 1–5 -->
| flag_p1                = <!-- Default: "Flag of {{{p1}}}.svg" (size 30) -->
| border_p1              = <!-- Default: "border"; for non-rectangular flag, type "no" -->
| image_p1               = <!-- Use: [[Image:Sin escudo.svg|20px|Image missing]] -->
| s1                     = <!-- Name of the article for succeeding entity, numbered 1–8 -->
| flag_s1                = <!-- Default: "Flag of {{{s1}}}.svg" (size 30) -->
| border_s1              = <!-- Default: "border"; for non-rectangular flag, type "no" -->
| image_s1               = <!-- Use: [[Image:Sin escudo.svg|20px|Image missing]] -->
<!-- Area and population of a given year (up to 5) -->| stat_year1             = <!-- year of the statistic, specify either area, population or both, numbered 1–5 -->
| stat_area1             = <!-- area in square kilometres (w/o commas or spaces), area in square miles is calculated -->
| stat_pop1              = <!-- population (w/o commas or spaces), population density is calculated if area is also given -->
| area_lost1             = 
| lost_to1               = 
| area_lost_year1        = 
| area_gained1           = 
| gained_from1           = 
| area_gained_year1      = <!-- Governance -->
| Status                 = 
| Government             = 
| government_type        = 
| Arms                   = 
| arms_caption           = 
| Civic                  = 
| civic_caption          = 
| HQ                     = 
| CodeName               = 
| Code                   = <!-- Subdivisions -->
| Divisions              = 
| DivisionsNames         = 
| DivisionsMap           = 
| divisions_map_caption  = <!-- Memberships -->
| membership_title1      = 
| membership1            = 
| membership_title2      = 
| membership2            = 
| membership_title3      = 
| membership3            = 
| membership_title4      = 
| membership4            = 
| membership_title5      = 
| membership5            = 
| footnotes              = <!-- Accepts wikilinks -->
}}

During the [[Spanish colonization of the Americas]], the '''Spanish Main''' was the collective term used by English speakers for the parts of the [[Spanish Empire]] that were on the [[mainland]] of the [[Americas]] and had coastlines on the [[Caribbean Sea]] or [[Gulf of Mexico]]. The term was used to distinguish those regions from the numerous islands Spain controlled in the Caribbean, which were known as the [[Spanish West Indies]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Spanish_Main/ |title=Spanish Main |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |website=[[World History Encyclopedia]] |publisher=World History Foundation ~ World History Publishing}}</ref>