Cockpit of Empires

Abstract

The West Indies, or Caribbean Islands, extend 1600 miles from southeast Florida to the northern shores of South America. Strictly speaking, the Spanish Main comprised present-day Florida, the western shore of the Gulf of Mexico along Texas and Mexico, Central America, and the coast of South America from Panama to the delta of the Orinoco. These were Spain’s mainland coastal possessions, the southern portion of which were known in the Spanish Empire as la Provincia de Tierra Firme, that is, the “Mainland Province”—in contradistinction to las colonias insulares, or “insular colonies,” notably Cuba and Puerto Rico. Spain retained her hold on the continent, but foreign nations took control of offshore islands: for example, the Dutch in Curacao, the British in Trinidad, and the French in Martinique and Guadeloupe. The Spanish Main was divided between the new republics of Venezuela and Colombia. British consuls in these new republics used the term Terra Firme. From the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, the Spanish Main was the departure point for the gold, silver, and other wealth of Spain’s provinces in the region. As this wealth transited Caribbean waters back to Spain, the Spanish Main was ripe territory for privateers and pirates. Vera Cruz was the key Atlantic port for shipping Mexican silver, while Cartagena de Indias, in modern Colombia, and Portobello were places where commodities shipped overland from Panama forged links in a worldwide trade to such ports as Valparaiso, Callao, and Manila. Much of the fabulous wealth of the Indies passed through Caribbean seas.