“Recovered Amber… at the cost of my royal estate”: Ambergris, Florida Governors, and the Spanish Crown, 1592–16571

Abstract:From the 1590s to 1650s, the Spanish Crown tried different approaches to control the Florida ambergris trade. They were unable, however, to prevent various Florida governors, other local officials, and other peoples from Florida, Cuba, and beyond from profiting by an illicit trade in this maritime commodity. The Crown first tried establishing procedures and punishments, including requiring ships to stop and get a license from the Florida governor or face a fine. With the trade in ambergris continuing unabated, the Crown then tried ameliorating the penalty and offering financial reward to the governor and informants for information on the illicit trade. With these enticements not working, the Crown returned to the earlier higher punishments, but again to no avail. The central role of the governors in controlling the ambergris trade meant that despite repeated attention to the trade by the Crown, they were not able to gain regular payment of the quinto real, i.e., the royal fifth. The Florida ambergris trade thus revealed a combination of partially concealed pilfering by local officials and the limits of the Crown’s reach in the North American borderlands.