The Seven Years’ War was fought on five different continents. Thus, it was a massive worldwide conflict (as I argue elsewhere). It started out in the frontier of North America, but soon drew in many of the mother countries from back in Europe. From there, the conflict would then spread to West Africa, to the Indian subcontinent, and to the Philippine Islands. But it would also be fought in a couple of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies of South America. Specifically, it would be expressed there, as part of a forgotten conflict called the “Fantastic War.” This part is sometimes called the “First Cevallos expedition.” This is basically the Latin American theater of the Seven Years’ War. You could even regard it as the Seven Years’ War spilling over into Latin America. The “Fantastic War” (and this portion thereof) are mostly forgotten to history, but the conflict may have set the stage for the later Latin American wars of independence. Thus, it may behoove us to look for a moment at this forgotten (and important) conflict in this post. This will tell us much about the great European colonies in Latin America.
The captured Spanish fleet at Havana (Cuba, 1762) – during the Anglo-Spanish War
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