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The Spanish Main, in red. Spanish possessions in yellow

This article is about the Caribbean coast. For the film, see The Spanish Main.

The Spanish Main was the mainland coast of the Spanish Empire around the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It included present-day Florida, Mexico, Central America and the north coast of South America. It is particularly strongly associated with that stretch of the Caribbean coastline that runs from Porto Bello through Cartagena de Indias and Maracaibo to the Orinoco delta. ^[1]

From the 16th to the 18th century, the Spanish Main was the point of departure for enormous wealth shipped back to Spain in the form of gold, silver, gems, spices, hardwoods, hides and other riches.

Major ports were Cartagena de Indias in New Granada, Porto Bello on the Isthmus of Darien and Veracruz in New Spain. Silver was brought to the Spanish Main by the llama and mule trains from Potosi via the Pacific coast, while wares from the far east, that had arrived at Acapulco on the Manila Galleons, were also then transported overland to the Spanish Main. From there they were shipped to Spain by the famous Spanish Plate (Spanish treasure fleets). The Spanish Main was ripe territory for pirates and privateers.

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