Spain used various colonies to send its colonies, often sending convicts to fortified settlements called presidios. In 1787, Ceuta had a population of 7,076 of whom 2,365 were presidiarios or prisoners. That same year Oran and Mazalquivir had 7,764 with 2,214 being presidiarios. An estimated 26,000 Spaniards were shipped to Oran during the period of Spanish rule, The practice of sending convicts to North Africa continued until 1911. Estimates suggest that Spain sent some 80,000 convicts to North Africa between 1550 to 1911.
Spaniards were also sent to the New World, with some 25,000 making their way to serve in New Spain between 1550 and 1811, often being settled in the frontier regions of New Spain. Additionally, some 4,000 Spaniards were sent to the Antilles to serve out their sentences between 1769 and 1837. Most were shipped to Havana and from there distributed to different parts of Cuba along with Puerto Rico, New Orleans, and Pensacola. Until 1817, much larger numbers of prisoners were shipped from Spanish America, particularly from New Spain to the Philippines and Marianas. In the latter years these were often insurgents from the independence wars shipped from Acapulco or San Blas across the Pacific.
During the late 19th century several thousand prisoners from Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines were also sent to Fernando Poo, these were usually political prisoners.
