Battle of Jenkins' Ear (incident)

E104203

The Battle of Jenkins' Ear was a notorious 1731 naval incident between Britain and Spain, in which Spanish coast guards allegedly mutilated British captain Robert Jenkins, later used as a pretext for the War of Jenkins' Ear.

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Label Occurrences
Battle of Jenkins' Ear (incident) canonical 1

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Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf historical event
naval incident
allegedPerpetrator Spanish coast guards
Spanish guarda costa commander Julio León Fandiño
alsoKnownAs Jenkins ear incident
chronologicallyPrecedes War of Jenkins' Ear
wider War of the Austrian Succession
conflictBetween British merchant shipping
Guardia Civil
surface form: Spanish coast guard
context competition for trade in the Caribbean
enforcement of Spanish monopoly over colonial trade
countryInvolved Kingdom of Great Britain
Kingdom of Spain
date 1731
hasCause Spanish efforts to suppress British smuggling in the Caribbean
enforcement of the Spanish guarda costa system
hasEffect deterioration of Anglo-Spanish relations
propaganda use in Britain
hasHistoricalSignificance served as a rallying story for British hawks advocating war with Spain
hasPartOfName Battle of Jenkins' Ear
historicalAuthenticity details of the mutilation are disputed by some historians
influenced British parliamentary debates on war with Spain
British public opinion against Spain
legalContext Treaty of Utrecht
surface form: Treaty of Utrecht (1713)

asiento contract granted to Britain
location Caribbean Sea
near Havana trade routes
off the coast of Spanish Florida
mainSubject Robert Jenkins
mediaCoverage widely reported in British pamphlets and newspapers
notableAction alleged mutilation of Robert Jenkins by cutting off his ear
boarding of a British merchant ship by Spanish coast guards
notableAftermath Robert Jenkins reportedly displayed his severed ear before the British Parliament
partOf Anglo-Spanish maritime disputes
pointInTime April 1731
relatedTo Anglo-Spanish War (1739–1748)
Asiento de Negros
British smuggling in the Spanish Empire
War of Jenkins' Ear
result heightened anti-Spanish sentiment in Britain
symbolizedBy severed ear of Robert Jenkins
timeGapBeforeWar about eight years before the War of Jenkins' Ear began in 1739
typeOfViolence maritime violence
mutilation
usedAsPretextFor War of Jenkins' Ear
victim Robert Jenkins

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Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

War of Jenkins' Ear hasPart Battle of Jenkins' Ear (incident)