 Spanish interest in Hispaniola began to wane in the 1520s, as more lucrative gold and silver deposits were found in Mexico and South America.Thereafter, the population of Spanish Hispaniola grew at a slow pace.The settlement of Yaguana was burnt to the ground three times in its just over a century long existence as a Spanish settlement, first by French pirates in 1543, again on May 27, 1592, by a 110-strong landing party from a four-ship English naval squadron led by Christopher Newport in his flagship Golden Dragon, who destroyed all 150 houses in the settlement, and finally by the Spanish themselves in 1605, for reasons set out below.