Galleon

A galleon is a large, multi-decked sailing ship developed in Europe in the sixteenth century, built with a lower, more streamlined hull than the earlier carrack it replaced and used both as an armed warship and as a cargo vessel for long ocean voyages, most famously by Spain to carry silver and goods between its American colonies and Europe in the Spanish treasure fleet system. Typically rigged with a mix of square and lateen sails across several masts, the galleon combined cargo capacity with enough armament to defend itself against pirates and rival navies on the open ocean, and it remained the dominant large sailing ship type for European maritime trade for roughly two centuries before being succeeded by later ship designs.