9 April: The War of Jenkins' Ear

On this date in 1731, the inciting incident for the War of Jenkins's Ear occurred. 10 facts about this war:

1. The incident in question concerned the English captain of a ship named Rebecca, a commercial vessel, which was boarded by Spanish coast guards off Cuba. The coast guard accused the Rebecca of carrying contraband and demanded to inspect the cargo.
2. As it happened, the English were indeed carrying contraband. The Spanish captain, Juan de Leon Fandino, decided to carry out the punishment himself. He drew his sword and cut off Jenkins' left ear.
3. Fandino declared that he would do the same to the King of England if he was there and breaking the law.
4. According to some accounts, Jenkins, for reasons best known to himself, had his ear pickled and carried it around with him for over seven years before presenting it as evidence in the House of Commons as part of a complaint against Spain. However, there isn't actually a written record of the proceedings that day so there's no concrete evidence that Jenkins walked into Parliament and produced his pickled ear.
5. Nevertheless, whatever Jenkins did or said was grasped upon by the British as a good enough excuse to declare war on Spain. The war lasted from 1739 to 1741 and became known as The War of Jenkins' Ear.
6. Strictly speaking, though, the ear incident was actually the final straw in years of tension between England and Spain. There had been tension since the 1690s and the War of Spanish Succession. Back then, Spain's King Charles II was dying without a clear heir to his throne. France and Austria both had claims of lineage on the Spanish throne and went to war over it. While Spain and England weren't the main protagonists in that war, they piled in anyway, taking opposing sides.
7. The war of Jenkins' Ear mostly took place in the New World with a series of tit for tat skirmishes in Florida and Georgia where both England and Spain had a presence. So did France – France pitched in on the side of Spain while the Native American Creek, Cherokee and Chickasaw tribes sided with England. There were also battles in the Caribbean.
8. History doesn't record a clear winner for the War of Jenkins' Ear. It was merely absorbed into a larger war, King George's War, which broke out in 1740.
9. In Spain, the conflict is known as Guerra del Asiento, which translates as War of the Seat.
10. The War of Jenkins' Ear is commemorated annually on the last Saturday in May at Wormsloe Plantation in Savannah, Georgia.

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