Cuba’s Golden Past
Step into the world of writers and photographers as they tell you about the best, worst, and quirkiest places and adventures they encountered in the field.
Get the facts behind the frame in this online-only gallery. Pick an image and see the photographer’s technical notes.
When a ship went down, her name often vanished with her. The sea soon destroyed manifests, logs, and other papers. Shipworms devoured wooden objects that could be identifying. Marine archaeologists can still learn from wrecks, however. Pottery and glass endure to tell of the past, as do gold and silver. All are valuable to the archaeologist, but it is the glitter of gold and silver that lures the treasure hunter.
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, who conquered Cuba in 1511, lusted for gold, wresting it from natives and working them to death to find more. A friar described Velázquez as a man “richer than anyone, with much experience in shedding or helping to shed the blood of these unfortunate folk.” In search of more gold he dispatched his kinsman and fellow conquistador, Hernán Cortés, to Mexico.
After vanquishing the Aztec, Cortés sent back to Spain, in his first shipment, treasure that included two gold necklaces—one studded with 185 emeralds, the other with 172 emeralds and 10 pearls. That was the beginning of Spain’s system for acquiring New World gold: Steal it, stamp it, ship it. The crown at first took half the gold and silver; the royal share later dropped to 30 percent, then 20 percent, and in a few cases 10 percent. Not all gold went to the king. Stamped on the disks of gold I saw in the vault were seals indicating which ones were to go to churches and religious treasuries.
Cuba was a magnet—and a graveyard—for ships. Hundreds sank in Cuban waters, victims of pirates, war, storms, or bad navigation. Raiders carried off their loot, but many cargoes went down with the ships. These are the ships sought today by Cuba, which has enlisted both its own archaeologists and foreign commercial treasure hunters. The archaeologists search for history. The treasure hunters seek their fortunes, which they must share with the Cuban government. These hunters get exclusive rights to certain areas. Fifty percent of the appraised value of their finds goes to the government. From the remaining 50 percent they subtract their expenses. Then a deal is made over a further split with the government. The treasure hunters hope to find the richest prize in the Cuban seas: ships of the Spanish treasure fleets, which carried New World gold, silver, and gems to the royal court of Spain.
The treasure fleets, called flotas, first sailed into history and legend in the 16th century, when Spain’s powerful, royally controlled Casa de Contratación (House of Trade) ordered merchant ships to travel in
convoy, guarded by armed warships. Colonists could legally trade only with merchantmen cleared by the House of Trade. Most of the authorized trade was bestowed upon the flota, which numbered from 30 to 90 ships, depending on the flow of trade and the size of the naval escort.
In a typical year the first of the two annual treasure fleets left Spain
in spring and entered the Caribbean near the island of Margarita, off
Venezuela—a source of pearls and a frequent target of pirates. Here the flota usually split in two, following courses that touched much of the Spanish New World. One convoy stopped at ports along the Spanish Main, as the English called the northern coast of South America and the Caribbean islands. Colonists, forbidden to manufacture anything, had to buy even such ordinary items as cutlery, tools, and religious medals. They also had to depend upon Spain for European wine, cloth, and paper.
Other ships carrying similar cargoes sailed into Cartagena, Colombia, and then west to Portobelo, Panama, the collecting point for the silver that flowed in from the mines of Peru. One day a Dominican friar in Portobelo counted 200 mules laden with silver, which was stacked in the marketplace “like heaps of stones in the street.”
Archaeologists and treasure hunters have different objectives. Can they work together cooperatively? Share your ideas.
Forum en español y en inglés. Los arqueólogos y los cazadores de tesoros tienen objetivos diferentes. ¿Pueden cooperar juntos? Comparta sus ideas.
Witness everyday life on the island in David Alan Harvey’s rare photos of the real Cuba.
In More to Explore the National Geographic magazine team shares some of its best sources and other information. Special thanks to the Research Division.
The Ore Mountains lie in the heart of Europe, and their name itself indicates that rich mineral deposits can be found there. Nearly four centuries after silver mining had become popular in the mountains bordering regions of Saxony and Bohemia, a very rich silver mine was discovered in Bohemia in 1516.
This mine was found at the foot of Mount Klinovec, which is the Ore Mountains’ highest summit, in a small mining-town called Sankt Joachimsthal. This town soon became known for its silver coins, the Joachimsthaler, abbreviated as the Thaler.
These coins became widely circulated throughout Europe and they were given a slightly different name in different places. The currency was called the Thaler or Taler in German, Low German used daler, the Dutch used daalder, the Flemish daelder, the Spanish táller, tálero, or dólar . . . and in English it was dollar.
—P. Davida Kales
The Era of the Spanish Galleons
www.northlink.com/~hauxe/index.html
This site tells the story of the Spanish treasure fleets, start to finish. It details their introduction to the New World, shipboard life in the 17th century, the construction and design of war galleons, as well as armament and cargo manifest. You’ll find information on pirates and buccaneers on the Spanish Main and “the twilight of the Spanish empire.”
A Gallery of Coins Through the Ages
www.state.nh.us/nhquarter/coingal.htm
This site allows you to view a gallery of interesting coins through history, from the first of all coins—struck in the Kingdom of Lydia (now Turkey)—to the New Hampshire commemorative state quarter. See why these coins so often help archaeologists figure out ancient civilizations.
Spanish Shipwrecks Resources Inc.
www.shipwrecks.hg.pl/document_1628.html
Independent researcher and archivist Pawel Tomas Nowak’s site is devoted to Spanish and English history, with a focus on maritime archaeology. It includes Nowak’s research on shipwrecks found in Caribbean waters, as a result of working together with pathologists and linguists to “decipher archival documents” in libraries and record repositories in Spain, Portugal, and England. Visitors to this site can order copies of the original manuscripts written by various Spanish admirals of wrecked treasure ships, but must pay to do so.
Go to Cuba With National Geographic
www.nationalgeographic.com/ngexpeditions/expeditions_trip_19.html
Discover the soul of Cuba, just one of the travel adventures offered by National Geographic Expeditions. Immerse yourself in the sensual symphony of island life, accompanied by Society experts. November 2001 dates are filling fast, so click here and get packing.
