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Wikimedia CommonsA depiction of the Spanish galleon San Jos (center left) exploding during Wagers Action in 1708.Deep beneath the Caribbean waters off the Colombian coast lies the Spanish galleon San Jos, a once-floating fortress that met its demise after being attacked and sunk by the British in 1708. At the time, the ship was said to be carrying a massive cargo of gold, silver, jewels, and other goods to help the Spanish king pay for his war against the British.The San Jos shipwreck and the fortune it was allegedly carrying have been estimated to be worth as much as $20 billion in todays money. It isnt hard to see why so many treasure hunters set their sights on exploring the San Jos, or why it earned its title as the holy grail of shipwrecks. Countless people and organizations conducted surveys to try and locate the San Jos shipwreck over the years. It wasnt until 2015 that the Colombian Navy finally found the San Jos with the help of an autonomous underwater vehicle, but even with the discovery made, several questions remained. For starters, no one could agree on who actually owned the sunken galleon. Was it now Colombian property, given that they were the ones who found it? Or did it belong to Spain, since it was a Spanish vessel? Or how about Indigenous groups in Bolivia and Peru, who say that most of the treasure wouldve been plundered by the Spanish from mines in the Andes? Meanwhile, others have questioned whether the site should be explored much at all, considering its a war grave and hundreds of lives were lost when the ship went down. Its also worth noting that its unclear exactly how much of the treasure has survived. Ultimately, the future of the San Jos shipwreck is uncertain, but its historical significance most definitely is not. A Ship Built For An EmpireFrom the beginning, the San Jos was no ordinary vessel. Constructed around 1698, the imposing 64-gun galleon represented the pinnacle of Spanish naval engineering. Measuring about 150 feet long, with multiple decks, it was designed to handle warfare and transporting cargo particularly the wealth flowing from New World mines back to Europe. For a long time, Spains American empire had been the envy of much of Europe. The Spanish took silver from present-day Bolivia, extracted gold from modern-day Colombia, and uncovered emeralds from the Andes.And the San Jos, the flagship of the Flota de Tierra Firme, was entrusted with possibly the most valuable cargo ever loaded onto a single ship. In May 1708, the San Jos departed from Portobelo, Panama, en route to Spain. It was said to be packed to the brim with treasure: chests of gold doubloons, bars of silver, bags of uncut emeralds, and other items. While the exact inventory has been lost to history, colonial records suggest the official cargo alone included up to 200 tons of precious metals and stones. Public DomainKing Philip V of Spain was supposed to receive the treasure loaded on the San Jos.That said, unofficial estimates accounting for the contraband that Spanish colonists routinely smuggled on their ships to avoid taxation suggest that the actual treasure may have been even greater. Some have even claimed it was the biggest treasure in the history of humanity.For Spain, though, the treasure was also a lifeline. The nation was embroiled in the War of the Spanish Succession, a brutal conflict that had European powers battling over who would inherit the Spanish throne. Britain and her allies wanted to curb the power of the French and Bourbons, Ann Coats, an associate professor of maritime history at the University of Portsmouth in England, told HISTORY in an interview. Britains Royal Navy needed to control the Atlantic to protect its merchant trade coming back from the Americas.King Philip V of Spain desperately needed the treasure to pay his armies, finance his fleet, and maintain his claim to the crown. Essentially, this meant that the San Jos was carrying the fate of the empire when it departed.The Tragic Sinking Of The San JosOn June 8, 1708, as the San Jos and its fleet sailed near Cartagena, preparing to return to Europe, lookouts spotted their sails. A British squadron under Commodore Charles Wager had been lying in wait. The British forces, which were allied with other countries like the modern-day Netherlands against the rise of King Philip V in Spain, hoped to capture the presumed treasure onboard the San Jos and bring it back to England. Before long, Wagers ships closed in. The San Jos moved to engage the British vessels, but what happened next isnt entirely clear. According to Vanity Fair, commands were shouted, cannons were fired, and, as the air was thick with smoke and the smell of gunpowder, disaster struck. Public DomainThe War of the Spanish Succession made the ships cargo invaluable to King Philip V.Suddenly, the San Joss powder magazine ignited amidst the ambush by the British. The explosion was catastrophic, and some witnesses claimed that the fireball could be seen for miles. The ship broke apart and plunged to the ocean floor in moments, taking with it approximately 600 souls sailors, soldiers, and other passengers. Only 11 men survived.The loss of such a massive cargo of valuables at sea sent shockwaves throughout the Spanish empire. With the San Jos went not only hundreds of lives, but also the financial resources that Philip V needed to continue his war. Some historians have even argued that the sinking directly influenced the wars outcome, eroding both Spain and Frances power.But in Spain and beyond, word also spread of the lost treasure, lying at the bottom of the ocean for anyone clever enough to discover it. Centuries Of Searching For Spains Lost TreasureFor more than 300 years, the San Joss location remained one of maritime historys greatest mysteries. Treasure hunters, both amateur and professional, combed the Caribbean searching for the legendary wreck and its fabled cargo but the task was easier said than done. Imprecise 18th-century navigation records, strong currents, and the vast expanse of potential search areas all compounded the difficulty.It wasnt until the 1980s that an American salvage company named Sea Search Armada claimed to have located the San Jos shipwreck and entered into agreements with the Colombian government. However, disputes over the terms of the agreements led to decades of litigation. Armada de ColombiaThe Colombian Navy said that they discovered the true San Jos shipwreck in 2015.As Ann Coats outlined in a piece for The Conversation, Sea Search Armada had proposed a 50-50 split of the proceeds from the wreckage, which Colombia would later contest. Eventually, in 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that Colombia would be entitled to any artifacts that were declared to be national cultural patrimony, further complicating things.But the story took yet another turn in 2015, when the Colombian government called Sea Search Armadas findings into question. Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos announced that the Colombian Navy had found the true wreckage, with the help of an autonomous underwater vehicle, British maritime archaeology consultants, and the U.S. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Of course, they released few details about the exact location of the wreckage due to concerns about looters. Given that estimates for the treasures value lay anywhere between $4 billion and $20 billion, it seemed as if the Colombian government had just earned itself a fortune. Except, it was unclear if they actually owned it. The Ongoing Battle For The San Jos ShipwreckSince 2015, a number of non-invasive campaigns have surveyed the sunken galleon, some details of which were published in the journal Antiquity in June 2025. Researchers reportedly found hand-struck, irregularly shaped coins known as cobs in English and macuquinas in Spanish, which served as the primary currency in the Americas for more than two centuries, providing further evidence that this wreckage was the San Jos.While its still unclear exactly how much of the vessels presumed treasure survived following the attack by the British and centuries of lying on the ocean floor, images released of the shipwreck have shown some promising clues, like gold coins, blue and white porcelain, and bronze cannons. ARC-DIMAR 2022/Vargas Ariza et al. Antiquity 2025Coins from the San Jos shipwreck.Beyond the potential monetary value, though, the wreck holds significant archaeological value, making the debate of ownership even more complex.Colombia has claimed the San Jos, arguing that it was the Colombian Navy that discovered the wreckage and the vessel sank in Colombian waters. Spain, however, has countered that the San Jos was a Spanish naval vessel, and it should remain Spanish property. Meanwhile, Indigenous groups from Bolivia and Peru say they should receive at least some of the vessels treasure because much of it was plundered by the Spanish from mines in the Andes.Throughout all of this, Sea Search Armada has maintained it discovered the wreck first and has contractual rights to a portion of its contents. Colombian PresidencyColombian President Gustavo Petro examining a cannon from the San Jos shipwreck.Yet others, including many archaeologists, think that the vessel should only be explored in a limited capacity on the ocean floor, considering the age of the treasure and the hundreds of lives lost when the ship went down.The Colombian government has expressed interest in raising the wreckage and putting its contents on public display in a museum, but questions about recovery, preservation, and ownership are still somewhat unresolved. As of November 2025, only a handful of artifacts have been recovered from the San Jos, including a cannon, a porcelain cup, and coins. For the time being, the San Jos itself remains on the ocean floor, its presumed treasure at least partly intact and its ultimate fate uncertain. After reading about the San Jos shipwreck, see more famous shipwrecks from history. Then, go inside some frightening stories of ghost ships.The post Inside The Sinking Of The Spanish Galleon <em>San Jos</em> And Why Its Considered The Holy Grail Of Shipwrecks appeared first on All That's Interesting.

MediaPunch Inc / Alamy Stock PhotoViola Ford Fletcher testifying in Congress in 2021.Viola Ford Fletcher, one of the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, died on Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, surrounded by family at a Tulsa hospital. She was 111. She had a beautiful smile on her face, her grandson Ike Howard told CNN. She loved life, she loved people. Fletcher had spent her later years seeking justice for the massacre, a deadly attack by a white mob on the once-thriving Black community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was seven years old when the assault on her neighborhood began on May 31, 1921, after local news outlets released sensationalized reports about a young Black man accused of assaulting a white woman, with one outlet running the headline Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in an Elevator.Over 18 hours, the Greenwood district once referred to as Black Wall Street was decimated by an angry white mob that killed hundreds of people, burned and looted homes and businesses, and left 35 city blocks destroyed.The questions I had then remain to this day, Fletcher wrote in her memoir, Dont Let Them Bury My Story. How could you just give a mob of violent, crazed, racist people a bunch of deadly weapons and allow them no, encourage them to go out and kill innocent Black folks and demolish a whole community? The Devastation Of The Tulsa Race MassacreThe Tulsa Race Massacre was the culmination of years of mounting tension between Black and white residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Greenwood had been established in 1906 by wealthy Black landowner O. W. Gurley, who purchased 40 acres of land and began loaning money to other Black citizens who wanted to start businesses. Soon enough, Greenwood was thriving and had earned the nickname Black Wall Street.Racist white residents in the surrounding regions took note, too. The prospering Black community made their blood boil. Resentment built up in them. They were ready to explode with rage. All they needed was something to light the fuse. This spark came in the form of a newspaper article, published in the white-owned Tulsa Tribune, which published a sensationalized report about a 19-year-old Black shoeshine named Dick Rowland who was accused of assaulting 17-year-old Sarah Page in an elevator. The girl said she noticed the negro a few minutes before the attempted assault looking up and down the hallway as if to see if there was anyone in sight but thought nothing of it at the time, the paper reported. A few minutes later he entered the elevator she claimed, and attacked her, scratching her hands and face and tearing at her clothes.Tulsa Historical Society & MuseumBlack men being marched down the street at gunpoint during the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921.Page never pressed charges against Rowland. According to his account, he had simply tripped and fallen on Page while on his way to the restroom. Either way, the fuse was lit.Rowland was taken into custody, and a white mob quickly formed, intending to kidnap Rowland from the local jail to lynch him. The Black men of Greenwood, however, formed their own armed militia to meet the white mob and prevent the injustice from being carried out. A separate violent confrontation between Black and white residents plunged the city into full-on war. Though it lasted less than 18 hours, the Tulsa Race Massacre would end with the declaration of martial law, the deployment of the Oklahoma National Guard, as many as 300 people dead, 35 city blocks leveled, 191 businesses destroyed, and roughly 10,000 Black residents displaced. Thousands of white rioters flooded into Greenwood, unleashing their fury as they shot Black men in the streets while buildings burned around them. One man even fired his shotgun at Fletchers familys horse-drawn buggy as they attempted to flee, mere moments after she watched a Black mans head explode like a watermelon dropped off the rooftop of a barn.These horrific sights remained drilled into Fletchers mind for the rest of her life.Survivors Continue To Fight For ReparationsAlthough she spent much of her life silent on the massacre, Fletcher began to speak about it more publicly in her later years, especially as surviving victims of the attack publicly fought for reparations and accountability. Fletchers death carries significant symbolic weight, too. In June 2024, the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit from the survivors on the basis that Tulsas current residents had nothing to do with the massacre and that the perpetrators of that violence had all since died. The lawsuit was filed in 2020. Public DomainGreenwood residents dig through the ruins of the Gurley Hotel in the aftermath of the massacre.I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams, Fletcher testified in front of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties in 2021, per CBS. None of the perpetrators of the massacre were ever prosecuted for their crimes. Up until her death, Fletcher was one of the few people still alive who could speak to the horrors of the massacre firsthand. Another survivor, Fletchers brother Hughes Van Ellis, died in October 2023 at the age of 102. With Fletchers passing, the only living survivor of the massacre is Lessie Benningfield Randle, who is also 111. I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our home, Fletcher wrote in her memoir. I have lived through the massacre every day. Our country may forget this history, but I cannot.After learning about the death of Viola Ford Fletcher, read the often untold story of the 1919 Elaine Race Massacre. Or, learn how the Brixton Riots forced Britain to have a national reckoning on race.The post Viola Ford Fletcher, The Oldest Living Survivor Of The Tulsa Race Massacre, Has Died At Age 111 appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Wikimedia CommonsEarly humans who inhabited Europe and Western Asia, Neanderthals went extinct about 40,000 years ago.Roughly 45,000 years ago, one group of Neanderthals in present-day Belgium killed and cannibalized another group made up of vulnerable women and children, according to grisly evidence uncovered in Goyet Caves.These caves were first explored by archaeologists in the latter half of the 19th century. The caves were eventually found to hold more than 100 Neanderthal bone fragments, though it long proved difficult to conduct a detailed analysis of these remains.But now, with the help of DNA analysis, radiocarbon dating, isotopic measurements, and virtual reconstructions, researchers were able to construct biological profiles of the six individuals whose remains were found in the cave. Sure enough, the bone fragments all showed cut marks and intentional breakage similar to those found on the bones of animals that were killed and eaten.The Cannibal Attack That Killed Six Neanderthals In Belgiums Goyet CavesQ. Cosnefroy et al./Scientific ReportsThe bones of the victims revealed that the adult women who were targeted were shorter than average.A new study published in Scientific Reports found that, of the six individuals that researchers identified, four of them were adult females and two were male children. They also determined that the adult women were not related to each other.However, there was something about the adults in this group that set them apart from other Neanderthals who lived near Belgiums Goyet Caves. These adult females all were shorter and had smaller builds than the average Neanderthal woman.With this information in hand, researchers compared their results with an existing isotopic analysis from a previous study. They soon found that both the adult females and the children were not from Goyet, but instead from a completely different region.Researchers then determined that the death and consumption of this small group of Neanderthals by the Neanderthals from Goyet was an example of exocannibalism, or the cannibalism of one group by a different group.We cannot determine exactly why these individuals were targeted, but the composition of the assemblage four adult females and two immature individuals is too specific to be accidental, lead author Quentin Cosnefroy told Live Science.Researchers theorized that these smaller women and children may have been targeted because they were the weaker members of a neighboring population. Its also possible they were killed as a way to try and stop a competing population from reproducing.It is also still unclear whether this group all came from the same region outside of Goyet and were cannibalized in a single event, or if they all came from different areas and were killed at separate times.How Exocannibalism Fits Into The Larger History Of Late European NeanderthalsThilo Parg/Wikimedia Commons License: CC BY-SA 4.0More than 100 Neanderthal bone fragments were found inside Goyet Caves.The timing of this cannibal attack, between 41,000 and 45,000 years ago, is also significant.During this period, Homo sapiens began to spread throughout the European continent, and may have already been present in Goyet by the time these individuals were killed. In fact, its not exactly clear whether the perpetrators were Neanderthals or early Homo sapiens.However, researchers do know that it was relatively uncommon for cannibalism among Homo sapiens to be connected to anything other than funerary rituals. This may suggest that the killers were indeed Neanderthals.Researchers believe its unlikely that the six cannibalized individuals were consumed for ritual purposes. For one thing, researchers uncovered the nearby bones of animals that were surely hunted and eaten, and they showed similar butchering marks to those found on the human remains.Furthermore, there is prior recorded evidence of survival cannibalism among Neanderthals in France and Croatia. Perhaps, in this case, the cannibalism was due to inter-group competition.Nevertheless, its possible that as Homo sapiens began to become more common in territories previously occupied only by Neanderthals, the latter group may have begun to get more territorial, and that this may have been the impetus for the macabre cannibal incident that unfolded some 45,000 years ago.After reading about the Neanderthal women and children who were cannibalized 45,000 years ago, see the evidence of prehistoric cannibalism found in a Polish cave. Then, learn about the oldest evidence of early human cannibalism.The post Researchers In Belgium Just Uncovered Evidence Of Brutal Cannibalism Against Neanderthals 45,000 Years Ago appeared first on All That's Interesting.