Guns and Gold; Faith and Food : 165 



manent colony. After several attempts to defend their settlement 

 against the Indians the record shows that Karlsefni clearly recognized 

 that he was outnumbered by the Indians and had few advantages in 

 the matter of weapons. Under such conditions the attempt at coloni- 

 zation was doomed to failure, and he reluctantly loaded his ships and 

 sailed back to Greenland, 



The Spanish conquerors brought to America horses, firearms and 

 a new religion. What they took back was gold and food. They were 

 well repaid. The gold and silver that came out of Mexico and Peru 

 were romantic and spectacular. There was such a hoard of treasure 

 as the world had not seen for a long time! It seemed easy to get and 

 inexhaustible. 



News about the riches of Spain and the treasure in the New World 

 spread throughout Europe; in fact, from the point of view of Span- 

 ish safety, there was too much treasure and it was too well adver- 

 tised. 



It was not long, however, before it aroused the envies of other 

 nations. The English and the Dutch and the French too resented the 

 Spanish successes. Privateering vessels and plain pirates moved in 

 on the Atlantic seaway that connected Spain with her American col- 

 onies. Many Spanish vessels, bearing treasure from America, fell a 

 prey to marauders either on the Spanish Main or on the broad 

 Atlantic. 



It is estimated that in 1521 the shipments of treasure from America 

 to Spain had a value of ^52,000. At the former rates of exchange, 

 this would represent over a quarter of a million dollars but, of 

 course, in terms of the present American dollar, this value would 

 have to be multiplied several times. By 1545, a peak shipment had 

 been reached which ran to ;^ 630,000. By the end of the sixteenth 

 century, the value had dropped to ;/^300,ooo. 



Raids on the Spanish coast and the Spanish vessels became so fre- 

 quent that the Spanish had to organize protective measures. Ar- 

 rangements had already been made so that all trade from and to the 

 Spanish colonies in America had to pass through the single port of 

 Seville. On the American coast all shipments came and went through 

 two ports, that is to say, Vera Cruz in Mexico and Porto Bello on 

 the Isthmus of Panama. By 1561, conditions had gotten so bad that 

 individual sailings of ships with valuable cargoes between Spain and 

 America or America and Spain were abandoned. 



From this time on the government collected each year two fleets 

 of vessels which sailed for the West Indies under the convoy of a fleet 



