Sign-In
Cart
The Silver Road: How Spain and Latin America Helped to Win the American Revolutionary War
Paperback
General Latin American HistoryRevolutionary Period (1775-1800)
Publisher Price: $18.00
Publisher: Storysellers Press & Media
Published: May 15 2026
Pages: 260
Weight: 0.78
Height: 0.59 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
The Silver Road How Spain and Latin America Helped to Win the American Revolutionary War
From the Spanish-supplied muskets fired at Lexington and Concord in 1775 to the last-minute collection of silver pesos in Havana that funded the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, Spain and Latin America played a decisive role in the American Revolution.
The Spanish smuggled the critical military supplies that the colonies could not produce. Latin American silver provided both the hard currency and the financing for the fledgling colonial economy. In 1779, Spain declared war on Britain, forcing the British to divert manpower and firepower from the Continental Army to battlefronts that stretched from Nicaragua to Florida to Gibraltar to England itself.
The world erupted in conflict. Britain was simultaneously challenged by Spain, France, the Netherlands, and the Mysore kingdom in India. By 1781, Yorktown had become the Americans' last chance. As the British scrambled to rescue their trapped army, Spain and Latin America supported the French navy and funded the victorious American and French armies on land. The Silver Road tells the story that Americans are rarely told: how the Revolutionary War was actually won.
A little-known history
Drawing on archival research from the Archivo General de Indias in Seville to the Library of Congress, Barbara Pereira-Amador reconstructs a global war fought on five continents-and the silver supply chain that made American independence possible. From the mines of South America and Mexico to the counting houses of Havana and the docks of Bilbao, a vast enterprise across the Spanish empire underwrote and supported the Revolution at decisive moments.
Inside The Silver Road, readers will discover:
- How Spain covertly armed the Continental Army years before formally entering the war against Britain, channeling supplies through the front company Roderigue Hortalez y CompañÃa.
- The extraordinary collection of 500,000 silver pesos in Havana in August 1781, raised in hours, that funded Washington and Rochambeau's victory at Yorktown.
- The forgotten campaigns of Bernardo de Gálvez and Francisco de Leyba along the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi, which disrupted the British strategy to divide the colonies.
- How the Revolution became a world war, with battlefronts from Central America to Europe to India shaping the outcome at Yorktown.
A story Americans rarely learn
The traditional narrative of the American Revolution centers on thirteen colonies, a French alliance, and a singular fight for liberty. The Silver Road widens the lens, revealing a global financial and military network-anchored in Spain and the Americas-without which the United States could not have come into being. It is a story of empires, economics, and ingenuity, and of Spain and Latin America's foundational, unacknowledged role in the creation of a nation.
Also in
General Latin American History
Chancla: Healing Our Families, Ourselves, and Our Culture Through Nonviolent Parenting
Priscilla, Leslie
Hardcover
Érase Una Vez México 1: de Las Cavernas Al Virreinato / Once Upon a Time Mexico 1
Rosas, Alejandro
Molina, Sandra
Paperback
Sex and Dissent: Stories of Feminist Resistance in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Spain
Beatley, Meaghan
Paperback
Puerto Rico: Historia de Una Nación / Puerto Rico: A National History
Meléndez-Badillo, Jorell
Paperback
Dream Road to Pan America: A Century in Pursuit of the World's Longest Highway
Miller, Shawn William
Hardcover
Los Cuatro Cielos: Una Nueva Historia de Los Mayas / The Four Heavens: A New History of the Ancient Maya
Stuart, David
Paperback
Crepúsculo En Venezuela: Crónicas del País Que Fue, El Que No Fue, Y El Que Puede Ser
Osío Cabrices, Rafael
Paperback
Cuba Libre!: Che, Fidel, and the Improbable Revolution That Changed World History
Perrottet, Tony
Hardcover
The Kybalion: A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece
Three Initiates
Paperback
My Own Past: Afrodescendant Contributions to Cuban Art
de la Fuente, Alejandro
García Yero, Cary Aileen
Hardcover
World History, Volume 2: from 1400 (paperback, b&w)
Kordas, Ann
Lynch, Ryan J.
Nelson, Brooke
Paperback
Crepúsculo En Venezuela: Crónicas del País Que Fue, El Que No Fue, Y El Que Puede Ser (Large Print Edition)
Osío Cabrices, Rafael
Paperback
Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba...and Then Lost It to the Revolution
English, T. J.
Paperback
Esta Improbable Tierra Prometida / The Years of Blood. Stories from a Reporting Life in Latin America
Guillermoprieto, Alma
Paperback
Artifacts to Art: Collecting Ancient America in Midcentury L.A.
Villela, Khristaan
Turner, Andrew D.
Miller, Mary E.
Paperback
Tree of Hate: Propaganda and Prejudices Affecting United States Relations with the Hispanic World
Powell, Philip Wayne
Paperback
Sumerian Mythology: A Deep Guide into Sumerian History and Mesopotamian Empire and Myths
Brown, Joshua
Hardcover
Mastering Spanish Handwriting and Documents, 1520-1820
Soria, H. Leandro
Ryskamp, George R.
Ryskamp, Peggy
Paperback
Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/O Social Justice, Theology, and Identity
Romero, Robert Chao
Paperback
The Economic War Against Cuba: A Historical and Legal Perspective on the U.S. Blockade
Lamrani, Salim
Paperback
In Search of Trade and Fortune: John Cabot, Christopher Columbus and the Opening of the Atlantic
Towns, Lydia
Hardcover
Empire's Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day
Gibson, Carrie
Paperback
The Avant-Garde After Bolaño: Literature and Affects in Latin America
López Martínez, Rodrigo
Hardcover
Nahua Singers: Celebrating an Indigenous Empire in Sixteenth-Century Mexico
Sorensen, Peter Bjorndahl
Hardcover
Revolution in the Revolution?: Armed Struggle and Political Struggle in Latin America
Debray, Regis
Paperback
Polarization and Democracy in Latin America: Legacies of the Left Turn
Anria, Santiago
Roberts, Kenneth M.
Paperback
The Darker Side of Western Modernity: Global Futures, Decolonial Options
Mignolo, Walter D.
Paperback
The Kybalion: A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece
Three Initiates
Hardcover
The Women Who Threw Corn: Witchcraft and Inquisition in Sixteenth-Century Mexico
Nesvig, Martin Austin
Hardcover
Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España / The True Story of the Conquest of New Spain
Diaz del Castillo, Bernal
Paperback
Radical Sovereignty: Debating Race, Nation, and Empire in Interwar Latin America
Wood, Tony
Paperback
Welcome to Oxnard: Race, Place, and Chicana Adolescence in Michele Serros's Writings
Herrera, Cristina
Hardcover
Transformation of Indigenous North America: An Epic Journey of Adaptation
Armand French, Laurence
Hardcover
La Conquista de México: Moctezuma, Cortés Y La Caída de Un Imperio / The Conquest of Mexico
Thomas, Hugh
Paperback
The Creation of Modern Buenos Aires: Football, Civic Associations, Barrios, and Politics, 1912-1943
Horowitz, Joel
Paperback
Nahua Singers: Celebrating an Indigenous Empire in Sixteenth-Century Mexico
Sorensen, Peter Bjorndahl
Paperback
Cuba - The Capital of 21st Century Communism: The Complete July 2026 U.S. Department of State Report, Annotated and Source-Audited
United States Department of State
Paperback
Private Passions and Public Sins: Men and Women in Seventeenth-Century Lima
Mannarelli, Maria Emma
Paperback
Archival Irruptions: Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica
Gerbner, Katharine
Paperback
The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramírez: The True Adventures of a Spanish American with 17th-Century Pirates
López Lázaro, Fabio
Paperback
Peripheral Citizenship: Popular Movements and the Progressive Catholic Church in Urban Brazil
McDonald, Daniel
Paperback
Assembling an Imperial Machine: Spanish Commercial Reform in the Age of Enlightenment
Tavárez, Fidel J.
Hardcover
La Conquista Para Gente Con Prisa / The Conquest for People in a Hurry
Cuauhtémoc, Tlatoani
Paperback
Damned Notions of Liberty: Slavery, Culture, and Power in Colonial Mexico, 1640-1769
Proctor, Frank T., III
Paperback
Global Indios: The Indigenous Struggle for Justice in Sixteenth-Century Spain
Van Deusen, Nancy E.
Paperback
A New Deal in Puerto Rico: Colonial Development and Governmentality, 1929-1935. Manuel R. Rodrguez
Rodriguez, Manuel R.
Paperback
Clandestinas: Women in the Cuban Revolutionary Underground, 1955-1959
Bengelsdorf, Carollee
Paperback
Marx and Freud in Latin America: Politics, Psychoanalysis, and Religion in Times of Terror
Bosteels, Bruno
Paperback
The Lettered Barriada: Workers, Archival Power, and the Politics of Knowledge in Puerto Rico
Meléndez-Badillo, Jorell A.
Paperback
Si Me Permiten Hablar. Testimonio de Domitila, Una Mujer de Las Minas de Bolivia
Viezzer, Moema
Paperback
El Mundo Prehispánico Para Gente Con Prisa / The Pre-Hispanic World for People in a Hurry
Cuauhtémoc, Tlatoani
Paperback
Historieta Doble: A Graphic History of Participatory Action Research
Rappaport, Joanne
Flórez G., Lina
Pérez Altais, Pablo
Paperback
Mitología Sumeria: Guía Detallada de la Historia Sumeria y del Imperio y los Mitos Mesopotámicos
Brown, Joshua
Paperback
Understanding Latin Americans: With Special Reference to Religious Values and Movements
Nida, Eugene A.
Paperback
Moctezuma Y Atahualpa: Vida, Pasión Y Muerte de DOS Gobernantes / Moctezuma and Atahualpa: Life, Passion, and Death of Two Rulers
Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo
Paperback
The King of Adobe: Reies López Tijerina, Lost Prophet of the Chicano Movement
Oropeza, Lorena
Hardcover
The Bajío Revolution: Remaking Capitalism, Community, and Patriarchy in Mexico, North America, and the World
Tutino, John
Paperback
Colonial New Mexican Families: Community, Church, and State, 1692-1800
Stamatov, Suzanne M.
Paperback
Witness to the Age of Revolution: The Odyssey of Juan Bautista Tupac Amaru
Walker, Charles F.
Clarke, Liz
Paperback
Understanding Latino History: Excavating the Past, Examining the Present
Mitchell, Pablo R.
Paperback