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Spain
Spain
Continent Europe
Location Southwest Europe
Notable inhabitants King Philip V
Population Spanish citizens

Slaves

Affiliation Spanish Empire

The Kingdom of Spain is a country in Southwestern Europe and the heart of the Spanish Empire.

Geography[]

Spain is located on the Iberian Peninsula. The Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea are also part of Spain. Spain is bordered by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Strait of Gibraltar to the south, and the Mediterranean to the west. To the north, Spain is bordered by France and the Atlantic Ocean.

Spain is a mountainous country, with several large ranges and several main rivers.

People[]

The people of Spain are devout Catholics, with various different subgroups existing in the various provinces of of the country. In the 16th and 17th centuries, nearly 700,000 Spaniards emigrated to the New World.

History[]

Background[]

Spain had been part of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the 2nd century BC, under the name of Hispanic. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Spain came under the control of various tribes. In the 7th century, Spain was conquered by Muslims from North Africa. Under their rule, Christians and Jews were treated as second class citizens. Over the course of the next 500 years, Christians fought back to reconquer Spain from Muslim rule. However, they remained separate kingdoms.

In the 15th century, the two most powerful Christian kingdoms in old Hispania, the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon united under Isabella and Ferdinand. They oversaw the final stages of the Reconquista from the Moors. They led the forced conversion and expulsion of Jews and Muslims known as the Spanish Inquisition.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus led an expedition to find a new trade route to Asia. He failed, but discovered the New World. This led to Spanish colonization of the Americas, leading to the formation of the Spanish Empire.

Spanish colonies were established in Cuba, Hispaniola, Florida and Mexico.

Recent History[]

King Charles II of the House of Habsburg died, and named Philip of the French House of Bourbon his successor. This led to the War of the Spanish Succession, also known as Queen Anne’s War, where the British Empire and her allies waged war against France and Spain, out of fear that Spain and France would unify, leading to an upset in the balance of power. The war ended in 1713, after Philip promised to renounce the French throne for himself and his descendants.

Season One[]

Captain James Flint, a notorious pirate captain, plots on capturing the Urca de Lima,  the largest Spanish treasure galleon in the Americas. The ship’s route had been plotted by Vazquez, an agent of the Casa de Contratación, for King Philip was very anxious to see it launched. Vazquez was concerned over the ship’s lack of escort and the fact that storm season was upon them. He threatened to take his concerns to the court, and his superiors stabbed him. He eventually stumbled his way into a tavern in Port Royal, where he told his story to Parrish, an English merchant captain.

Flint later reveals to Eleanor Guthrie that he hopes to use the gold from the Urca to make Nassau a self sustainable nation of thieves, that way if either England or Spain arrives to retake the island, they will be in for an unwelcome surprise.

Richard Guthrie warns Mr. Scott that if Eleanor continues to participate in Flint’s scheme to capture the galleon, she’ll get herself, either by “English noose or Spanish sword.”

The Walrus and the Ranger go on their final voyage to capture the Urca. John Silver’s information leads them to Division Bay in Florida, but the ship is nowhere to be found. However, a Spanish Man O' War is spotted nearby. Flint and Gates argued over what to do next, with Flint believing that the warship is an escort for the Urca, while Gates believes it is Guardacosta. Flint kills Gates after he refuses to participate in the attack plan. The pirates attack the warship, but are defeated. The Ranger’s powder magazine explodes, and it goes down with all hands. Over half of the Walrus crew is killed, and the remainder manage to beach her on the shores of Florida. The crew’s scouts find the wreck of the Urca nearby, with Spanish soldiers working on salvaging the gold.

Season Two[]

The Spanish warship guards the bay by the wreck while the Spanish sailors and soldiers set up a camp fortified with 18 pounders and salvage the gold.

Flint, to prevent being executed by his crew, comes up with a plan to take the Spanish Man O’ War, which is lightly manned while most of the men are ashore. John Silver volunteers to help him for the same reason. They swim to the ship and kill the Lookout on the mainmast to hoist their signal. However, they are captured by the Spanish sailors. Fortunately, their crew arrives and rescues them, and they sail away for Nassau.

Hume tortures Billy with a method he learned from a Spanish bishop. Billy is placed in a leather vest in the sun that Hume pours water on. Hume tells him that it will take six days for the sun to shrink the leather so tightly that it will cause the ribs to collapse, puncturing vital organs. Hume jokes that on the seventh day, Billy will rest.

Once back in Nassau, Nicholas and Vincent are sent to keep watch on the Spanish camp, and to learn about their routines and watch strength.

Richard Guthrie warns Flint that he cannot try and both have Peter Ashe appeal to Parliament for reconciliation and pardons for the pirates and take the Urca gold. He says if he does accomplish the latter, no one in Parliament will listen because the ambassador to King Philip’s court will be screaming in rage about how the pirates just stole five million dollars from the King’s treasury.

Nicholas and Vincent return and say that when they arrived, they saw two Guardacosta men of war anchored nearby, and Spanish soldiers carted every piece of gold off the beach. However, this is a ruse concocted by Silver. In truth, many of them died of a plague.

Rackham and the Colonial Dawn set sail for the wreck. They engage the remaining soldiers, who fight like hell to defend it. However, Rackham returns victorious to Nassau, along with the Walrus, which he refit for the hold space.

Season Three[]

Woodes Rogers, the new Royal Governor of New Providence Island, recruits Eleanor Guthrie to help him conquer Nassau, for she is a valuable source of information. When they arrive in Nassau, they find resistance waiting for them. Eleanor asks Rogers why he can’t pacify Nassau by force. Rogers explains that Whitehall and many of his creditors and investors could be persuaded to allow the lapse of a few deadlines. However, Spain is one of them, and they demand that Rogers return all of the Urca gold to Havana within eight weeks, or they will deem him a pirate by another name. This will call for the launch of a fleet of ten ships and 1,500 soldiers who will raze Nassau to the ground.

Max offers Governor Woodes Rogers a portion of the Urca gold that she exchanged for gems before he arrived, saying as far as Spain knows, all the gold was in Fort Nassau's vaults. While he ponders this with Eleanor Guthrie, Mrs. Hudson interrupts them. She reveals that six months prior to their arrival in Nassau, a man calling himself John introduced himself to her and said his employers wished to monitor Rogers' endeavor to retake Nassau, saying they had a vested interest. Hudson thought that this man represented one of Rogers' investors, seeming legitimate and offering a significant sum of money. Hudson agreed to the deal, but then discovered that the man's name was Juan Antonio Grandal, and he worked for the intelligence department of the Casa de Contratación.

When they arrived in Nassau, Grandal told her that the Casa's spies had heard of a series of transactions where a large portion of the Urca de Lima's prize gold for more portable commodities such as gems and pearls. Hudson was asked if she had heard of this cache of gems. Hudson then tells a furious Rogers that based on their records of the size of the cache, Max only has half of it. Hudson tells Rogers that if he withholds the cache of gems, the Spanish will invade Nassau. Rogers already knows that if he does not return the gold from the fort within eight weeks, a fleet of ten ships with 1,500 soldiers will be sent from Havana to burn Nassau to the ground.

Mrs. Hudson later reveals to Eleanor that she originally declined Grandal's offer. But a few days after she did, she came home late after a day in Rogers' service. She found her children asleep, which was not unusual, as she often came home late. However, that night her children were not alone. Grandal was waiting in their room, in his left hand a knife, in his right a purse. He told Hudson that her children would receive something from him that night, and told her to choose which.

Edward Teach tells Netta that he took Charles Vane on as a prodigy again because he is unable to father a son. He wants to have an heir because he was wounded by a piece of Spanish shrapnel that migrates, and soon it will reach its terminus and kill him.

Rogers warns Eleanor that if the result of their efforts in Nassau is a Spanish attack on English forces, which would likely cause war to break out, both of them would be recalled to England, where Rogers would face a debtor's prison and Eleanor's capital sentence would be reinstated.

When Rackham goes to obtain a pardon, he is detained by the Governor's men, who bring him to Rogers. Rogers explains that Spain knows about the exchanges, and promises that if they invade, the first face they see will be Rackham's. Rackham feigns agreement in giving over the cache, but actually tells Anne to hide it, hoping to force Rogers to leave or that a Spanish invasion will clear out the British, allowing for the birth of a Second Pirate Republic.

After Charles Vane rejoins Flint's efforts to free Nassau from the British, he informs him that he and Teach came across a Spanish prize carrying a trove of intelligence, in which contained information about the cache of gems, which if not returned to the Spanish, will result in an invasion of Nassau by the Spanish.

In order to coerce Anne into giving over the cache, Max meets her somewhere in the wilderness of the island. Anne asks why Jack has been arrested and Max explains that Spanish Intelligence learned about the cache and demand its return. Anne ignores her request for the surrender of the cache, despite Max saying that Jack is being tortured.

Meanwhile, Flint and Vane explain to the Maroon Queen the situation with Jack, the cache and the Spanish threat of invasion. They use it to formulate a plan to capture the cache and use it to bait Rogers into committing all of his forces to an undesireable battlefield- the Maroon Island.

In Nassau, Mrs. Hudson meets with her handler, Juan Antonio Grandal, and tells him that soon the cache will be delivered to them, and they can subsequently return it to Spain. She also reveals that they are in possession of Jack Rackham, and Grandal convinces her to tell Rogers to deliver Rackham to them in order to sweeten the deal, although it is not an actual demand of theirs. However, Idelle and Featherstone discover that Rogers intends to hand Jack over to the Spanish, and agree to spy on Rogers forces to help Vane and Flint rescue him and the cache.

Places of Interest[]

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