San Jose galleon shipwreck with £1 billion treasure found off Colombia 'most valuable in history', says President Juan Manuel Santos

The wreck was found off the coast of Catagena and supposedly is full of emeralds and gold and silver coins

Artifacts found in the wreckage of Spanish galleon San Jose (Reuters)

Colombia has found the wreck of a Spanish galleon that is thought to hold treasure worth £1 billion.

The wreck was found off the coast of Catagena, according to Juan Manuel Santos, the country’s president and supposedly is full of emeralds and gold and silver coins.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said: "This is the most valuable treasure that has been found in the history of humanity."

Juan Manuel Santos tweeted: 'Great news! We have found the San Jose galleon' (Getty Images)

The ship sank on June 8 1708 in the Caribbean Sean near to the city of Cartagena and it thought to be one of the world’s most valuable shipwrecks.

It was part of the fleet that fought the English during the War of the Spanish Succession that belonged to King Phillip V.

American salvagers, Sea Search Armada (SSA) claimed to have found the wreckage site in 1981.

But a battle over who owns the shipwreck between the Colombian government and SSA was resolved in 2011.

The Supreme Court rules that Colombia held the rights to items deemed to be “national cultural patrimony.”

Anything else would be halved between the US salvage company SSA and Colombia.