Havana began as a trading port, and suffered regular attacks by buccaneers, pirates, and French corsairs. The first attack and resultant burning of the city was by the French corsair Jacques de Sores in 1555. Such attacks convinced the Spanish Crown to fund the construction of the first fortresses in the main cities – not only to counteract the pirates and corsairs, but also to exert more control over commerce with the West Indies, and to limit the extensive ''contrabando'' (black market) that had arisen due to the trade restrictions imposed by the ''Casa de Contratación'' of Seville (the crown-controlled trading house that held a monopoly on New World trade).