The Spanish were not the original pirates. There were pirates in the ancient world, on every continent. The earliest Caribbean pirates were a mixed group, and included Spaniards, English, Africans, the French, and others. They preyed mainly on the Spanish simply because, in the beginning, only the Spanish had ships filled with loot.
The Spanish have, I think, no moral claim to this treasure. It was forcibly extracted from the people of Mexico, Central America and South America. For some insight into Spanish culture of the time, read the historical record. As just one example, to enforce the adoption of the Spanish language and religion, the 16th century Spanish overlords in Mexico would amputate the hand of any Indian slave caught speaking their native language. These slaves were most often employed in mines, after all the gold and silver possessions of the pre-conquest Indians had been melted down and transported on the kind of treasure ships that occasionally turn up as sunken wrecks. The gold belongs to Spain as much as the gold extracted from the teeth of Nazi victims belongs to Germany, and there is as much honor and reflection of culture in each situations.
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