ABSTRACT
Essentially, the flotilla was a tightly controlled system for shipping precious cargo to and from Spain. The flota constituted at least 50 ships, some of which were provided exclusively for the defense of the cargo. The Spanish ships, upon unloading their cargo, would remain in port for about a month before beginning the return journey to Spain. Spain became wealthy with the influx of American silver and the tight control over its production and shipping, but there were many problems with Spanish economic development during this time. The Spaniards’ ability to buy anything they wanted meant that American silver, flowing through Spain, would finance northern European industrial development and leave Spain, by the eighteenth century, with beautiful architecture and artwork, but little in terms of industry. This reality would come to haunt Spain, particularly during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
