STEALTH EDUCATION
rying cargo between the spanish colo- nies.
It is always useful to insert some spectacular slides into a presentation to wake up those who tend to nod off whenever the lights go dim. Figures 8a and 8b are examples of the types of visuals that can perform that func- tion. The altars shown were intended to demonstrate the wealth exracted from the Americas by the Spanish and are a display of power used by Spain to in- timidate potential enemies. Today they are excellent examples of Spanish arro- gance and profligate use of the treasure they found in the New World civiliza- tions.
Figure 5. The Spanish Empire in Central and North America in 1819, (Wikimedia Creative Commons). The map was created with ADOBE Photoshop using information from the United States Geological Survey, an agency of the United States Department of Interior 1810, 1820 and from the Secretary of the Public Education of Mexico (Secretaría de Educación Pública de México) with 500 años de documentos.
They also illustrate the value attrib- uted to the minerals extracted from the Central Americas and northern South America during the Spanish occupa- tion. Figure 8a (page 37) shows the im- portance of Cadiz, Spain as a main port of debarkation for treasure fleets from the New World while figure 8b, the Al- tara del Oro (Golden Altar) in Panama City, Panama is an indicator of the im- portance of that city as a receiving and transhipment port for treasure from the Incan Empire in South America. Both were intended to flaunt the power of the Spanish Empire in the New World.
Figure 6. World Oceanic Circulation (After Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Figure 8q-1, Dr. Michael Pidwimy& Scott Jones University of British Columbia, Okanaugan, http://www.
physicalgeography.net).
In similar fashion, the constraint in sailing routes pro- duced what is known in military parlance as “Choke Points” which strongly influenced the location of bases for Spain’s en- emies that could be used to intercept treasure-laden fleets as they sailed between American and European ports. Figure 7 illustrates the locations of some of the most prominent loca- tions used by Spain (Cartagena, Colombia, Portobello, Pan- ama, Vera Cruz, Mexico and Havana, Cuba). The privateer and pirate bases, of course, were located to take advantage of the relatively restricted sailing routes available to the span- ish ships (Trinidad, Jamaica, the Tortugas and the Bahamas) who preyed on the treasure fleets and other supply ships car-
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The presence of the altar of solid sil- ver in Cadiz, Spain can also be used to introduce the concept of fluvial trans- port variability. The original treasure shipments from the New World were taken directly up the Guadalaquivir River to Seville, the capitol of Spain at that time. However, reduction of flow resulted in increased siltation in the river. When the siltation reached the point that ocean-going ships could no longer navigate the river to Seville, Cadiz then became the primary tran- shipment point to shallow–draft barges which transported the cargoes of the treasure ships to Seville.
The slides in this editorial are examples of the types of fea- tures which provide opportunities for insertion into presen- tations on travel, history, military strategy, piracy, anthro- pology, metalworking, ship building (Galleon development), precious gems, cultural change (horses, which were not pres- ent in the New World, were introduced to the New World by the Spanish), development of religious schisms in Europe, and many other topics which can be best determined by the background of the geoscientist involved.
Keep in mind that the primary goal of Stealth Education is to make the geosciences understandable and demonstrate their potential value to those people who control the future
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