Spanish Treasure Fleet

The escorted convoy system that carried New World silver and treasure to Seville from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

Overview

The flota system gathered merchant ships and escorts into scheduled convoys: one to Veracruz for Mexican silver and cochineal, one to Portobelo on the isthmus fairs for South American treasure registered by the Casa de Contratacion. Convoying beat piracy statistically, though disaster years like the Florida hurricane wrecks of 1715 and 1733 fed legend and modern salvage. American silver helped drive European price inflation and paid for Habsburg wars. Bourbon reforms in the late 18th century opened more ports and dissolved the rigid system, which collapsed entirely with the American independence wars.