Editing Spanish Main (section)

== Economic importance and piracy ==
[[File:Bermuda sloop - privateer.jpg|thumb|A [[Bermuda sloop]] on the Spanish Main, circa 1807]]

From the 16th to the early 19th century, enormous wealth was shipped from the Spanish Main to Spain in the form of [[gold]], [[silver]], [[gemstone]]s, [[spice]]s, [[hardwood]]s, [[Hide (skin)|hides]] and other valuable goods.<ref name=little>[https://books.google.com/books?id=YRM-RpBiyTEC& ''The Buccaneer's Realm: Pirate Life on the Spanish Main, 1674–1688''] by Benerson Little ([[Potomac Books]], 2007)</ref> Much of the wealth was [[silver]] in the form of [[pieces of eight]], from the mines near [[Potosí]]. It was carried to the Spanish Main by [[llama]] and [[mule]] trains via the Pacific coast. Other goods originated in the [[Far East]], having been carried to the Pacific coast of Spain's possessions on the [[Manila galleon]]s, often through the port of [[Acapulco#History|Acapulco]], then transported overland to the Spanish Main for onward shipment to Europe.

The Spanish Main became a frequent target for [[pirate]]s, [[buccaneer]]s, [[privateer]]s and [[List of wars involving Spain|countries at war with Spain]], seeking to capture some of these riches.<ref name=little/> To protect this wealth, the [[Spanish treasure fleet]] was equipped with heavily armed [[galleon]]s. The organization of the fleets in large convoys proved highly successful, with only a few successful examples of major privateer attacks along the Spanish Main, such as the [[Battle of Cartagena de Indias (1586)|capture of Cartagena de Indias]] by [[Francis Drake]] in 1586; the [[Battle in the Bay of Matanzas|capture of a Spanish treasure fleet sailing from Mexico]] by the [[Dutch West India Company]] in 1628; the [[Henry Morgan's Panama expedition|capture of Chagres and Panama City]] by [[Henry Morgan]] in 1670–71; and the [[Raid on Cartagena (1697)|Raid on Cartagena]] by the French in 1697. Pirates operating in the area included the Dutchman [[Laurens de Graaf]], who raided [[Attack on Veracruz|Veracruz in 1683]] and [[Raid on Cartagena (1697)|Cartagena in 1697]].