The Spanish treasure fleet, also called silver fleet, plate fleet (from the Spanish plata meaning "silver"), or West Indies Fleet from Spanish Flota de Indias, was a convoy system adopted by the Spanish Empire from 1566 to 1790. The convoys were general purpose cargo fleets used for transporting a wide variety of items, including agricultural goods, lumber, various metal resources, luxuries, silver, gold, gems, pearls, spices, sugar, tobacco, silk, and other exotic goods from the Spanish Empire in the Americas to Spain. Manufactures such as tools and other everyday items as well as Spanish colonisers were transported in the opposite direction.
Read more about Spanish Treasure Fleet: History, The Flow of Spanish Treasure
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“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 6:21.
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“A city on th’ inconstant billows dancing;
For so appears this fleet majestical.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)