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Treasure Ports of the Spanish Main
The treasure ports of the Spanish Main such as Cartagena, Portobelo, Panama, and Veracruz were used to collect the riches the Spanish Empire had extracted from the Americas, ready for transport in the two annual...
Definition
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475-1519) was a Spanish conquistador who famously discovered the Pacific Ocean after crossing the isthmus of Panama in 1513. An utterly ruthless adventurer and colonizer, Balboa was as much a danger...
Definition
The Ancient City
In the study of the ancient world a City is generally defined as a large populated urban center of commerce and administration with a system of laws and, usually, regulated means of sanitation. This is only one definition, however...
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Henry Morgan at Panama
A mid-18th century illustration showing the attack of the buccaneer force led by Henry Morgan (c. 1635-1688) on the city of Panama on the Spanish Main in 1671. (From an early edition of Charles Johnson's A General History...
Definition
Henry Morgan
Sir Henry Morgan (c. 1635-1688) was a Welsh privateer who operated in the Caribbean against the Spanish Empire and then became Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. Morgan was a charismatic and able military leader who masterminded devastating...
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Demolition, disease, and death: Building the Panama Canal - Alex Gendler
Discover what it took to build the Panama Canal, and how this colossal construction project changed the region. — In the 19th century, the California gold rush brought thousands...
Article
Mesopotamian City Laments - Suffering And The Will Of The Gods
The question "Why do bad things happen to good people?" has been asked for millennia, probably since before writing was invented, but at least since circa 1700 BCE when the Sumerian (and later...
Definition
Diego de Almagro
Diego de Almagro (c. 1475-1538) was a Spanish conquistador who was second-in-command to Francisco Pizarro (c. 1478-1541) during his expedition that attacked the Inca civilization from 1531. Almagro then led his own expedition...
Definition
Buccaneer
The buccaneers were privateers who attacked enemies of their state, namely Spain, in the Caribbean and on the American coast (the Spanish Main) throughout the 17th century. Initially hunters and then seamen and soldiers, the buccaneers...
Definition
Spanish Treasure Fleets
From the 16th to 18th centuries, two treasure fleets sailed each year, one to Mexico and the other to Central America, then part of the Spanish Empire. There they collected precious eastern goods and the riches of the Americas...