Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
above the level of devoted but unremarkable officers and ensured
him a place in history.
While Anson had been establishing his career relations
between Britain and Spain had continued to deteriorate. The year
1711, which saw Dampier's return from his third voyage round the
world, witnessed also the incorporation, in London, of the South Sea
Company. It was modelled on the great overseas trading monopol-
ies, the British and Dutch East India companies and, like them, took
its stand upon the 'right' of all maritime nations to engage in trade
with colonial regimes and foreign merchants in distant lands. The
floaters of the new company believed that in 1711 the War of the
Spanish Succession was entering its last phase and that under the
peace terms the defeated nation would be obliged to concede trad-
ing privileges to the victors. This was, in fact, what happened and in
1713, in accordance with the Treaty of Utrecht, the South Sea Com-
pany achieved what European statesmen, captains and merchants
had sought for over a century and a half: commercial concessions
in the Spanish Americas and freedom to ply the seaways between
Europe and the New World. Obsessed by the vision of sharing the
fabulous mineral wealth of Peru and Mexico and the transpacific
trade in oriental wares, investors stampeded to buy stock in the new
venture. It became vastly oversubscribed and in 1720 the South Sea
Bubble burst and many people were ruined.
One reason for the collapse was over-optimism in the commer-
cial possibilities of the company. The concessions extracted from
Spain were very limited. They did not, for example, include access
to the Pacific coast colonies. Moreover, they had been obtained un-
der duress and the government in Madrid winked at violations of the
agreement. After two centuries of domination in the New World the
Spaniards could not bring themselves to admit rivals to their mar-
kets. So the state of cold war continued, constantly exacerbated by
