Ben Franklin's world is a production of the

O'Mohandro Institute. Hello and welcome to episode 241 of Ben Franklin's world.

The podcast dedicated to helping you,

learn more about how the people and events of our early American past have shaped the present day world we live in.

And I'm your host, Liz Kovart. In 1492, the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand, and Isabella,

dispatched adventurer Christopher Columbus across the Atlantic

with the hope that he would find a new quicker sea route to Asia and the East Indies.

The hope was that this new route would offer a better connection between Spain and the east, which would thereby

increase the wealth of Spain and the reach of its Catholicism.

Of course, as we know, Columbus failed in his quest to find a quicker route to the East Indies, because he sailed right into the Americas and the West Indies instead.

But where Columbus failed in his mission to find a quicker route to Asia,

he succeeded in his mission to open a door to new peoples, resources, and lands, which

over time increased the wealth of Spain.

With the Americas and the Caribbean, Spain established the foundations of its Atlantic Empire.

How did this empire function and what wealth was Spain able to extract from these lands and

peoples?

These are big questions with complex answers.

So today, we'll approach them with an investigation of just one way Spain attempted to increase

its wealth and govern its Atlantic Empire, and that's through its American and Caribbean pearl fisheries.

Molly Warsh is an associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh.

She's also the author of American Baroque.

Pearls in the nature of Empire, 1492 to 1700.

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