| The Spanish Main was the area
that comprises Central America and the Northern Coast of South America.
In other words, the Spanish colonies in the Americas. Ground zero
for the Spanish Main would probably be Darien on the Isthmus of Panama.
The land was rich in wealth, particularly gold, silver, and precious
gems. When Spain wasn't trying to Christianize the natives of the
area, they were raping, pillaging, and plundering. Unfortunately for
Spain, most of the wealth of the Mainland was not located where ships
could easily reach it. This meant the gold would be moved by pack
animals to fortified ports that were built along the coast. It was
at this point that Spain most vulnerable to attack. Some of the key
port cities were port cities were Portobello and Darien in the area
of present day Panama and Cartagena near present day Venezuela.
Of course the pirates were
well aware of the methods Spain used for moving treasure and they
were willing to risk the dangers of the mosquito infested swamps
in order to relieve Spain of its wealth. Despite heavily armed guards,
the trail through the jungle afforded ample opportunity for pirates
to ambush the gold trains. The trails were narrow, and did not allow
the Spaniards to maneuver. Furthermore the Pirates would often attack
at dusk, after the Spaniards had had a long and arduous march through
the jungle. If the ambush failed, the Pirates could melt back into
the jungle, confident that the Spaniards would not follow. (Early
map of the Spanish Main)
The soldiers could not pursue
the attackers for fear that the ambush was simply a diversion and
that the main attack would occur after the Spanish split up their
forces. In all, the pirates held the upper hand.
The gold trains would move
the treasure to the fortified ports set up along the coast. These
fortified ports were probably the best defended locations along
the Spanish Main and also the richest. For the most part it was
foolhardy to attempt an attack on such a heavily fortified area
despite the riches that it contained and pirates rarely bothered
to attack such a place. Of course Henry Morgan was an exception
to this rule, as was Francis Drake. His most daring accomplishment
was the sacking of Portobello (located in modern day Panama).It
should be noted, however, that this action was done as a Privateer
and with the support of a large fleet commissioned by the England.
The ports themselves had shore batteries with larger cannons than
the most of the pirate ships could carry. Combine this with higher,
thicker walls, and you have an area that was impervious to attack
from the sea. The ports would often get the first and possible the
second and third round off before the ships could even get close
enough to fire. This is, of course, if you could even get that close
because the Ports would also have Galleons on hand which could come
out to greet you before you even got with in cannon distance of
the port.
The main vulnerability in the
ports was their lack of protection from the landward side. Spain
assumed that the jungle was good enough protection for this area.
For the most part Spain was correct.
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