Spanish Main

This article is about the Caribbean coast and Gulf of Mexico. For the film, see The Spanish Main.
Spanish Main
Region of Spanish Empire

Spanish possessions (yellow) in the Caribbean region around 1650, with the coastline of the Spanish Main indicated (thick maroon line).

During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the Spanish Main was the collective term for the parts of the Spanish Empire that were on the mainland of the Americas and had coastlines on the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico. The term was used to distinguish those regions from the numerous islands Spain controlled in the Caribbean, which were known as the Spanish West Indies.[1]

  1. ^ Cartwright, Mark. "Spanish Main". World History Encyclopedia. World History Foundation ~ World History Publishing.