GRADE 7 - Into the Borderlands
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A SPANISH MILITARY AND RELIGIOUS EXPEDITION In Mexico and Peru, conquistadors had found riches beyond their wildest dreams. Hoping for more, the Spanish soon began to send entradas-armed expeditions northward into lands that are now northern Mexico and the southern United States. This area was known as the borderlands. |
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Spanish explorer who sailed with Columbus on his second voyage (1493-1494)
and discovered Florida (1513) while looking for the legendary Fountain of
Youth. The Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon, was born in Palencia in
1460, is credited with the discovery of Florida. As a teenager he joined In Search of the Fountain of Youth
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Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca (c.1490-c.1557) The journey of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca remains one of the most amazing feats of exploration in the Americas. Cabeza de Vaca was born into the Spanish nobility in 1490. Little of his early life is known, except that he made his career in the military. In early 1527 he left Spain as a part of a royal expedition intended to occupy the mainland of North America. After their fleet was battered by a hurricane off the shore of Cuba, the expedition secured a new boat and departed for Florida. They landed in March 1528 near what is now Tampa Bay, which the expedition leader, Pánfilo de Narváez, claimed as the lawful possession of the Spanish empire. Despite this confident declaration, the expedition was on the verge of disaster. Narváez's decision to split his land and sea forces proved a grievous error, as the ships were never able to rendezvous with the land expedition. The party soon overstayed its welcome with the Apalachee Indians of northern Florida by taking their leader hostage. Expelled and pursued by the Indians, suffering from numerous diseases, the surviving members of the expedition were reduced to huddling in a coastal swamp and living off the flesh of their horses. In late 1528, they built several crude rafts from trees and horse hides and set sail, hoping to return to Cuba.
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When the renowned Hernando De Soto, who had been in close attendance on Pizarro throughout his romantic career in Peru, asked for and obtained permission from Ferdinand of Spain to take possession of Florida in his name, hundreds of volunteers of every rank flocked to his standard. Narvaez had failed for want of knowledge as to how to deal with the natives; doubtless the land of gold could yet be found by those who knew how to wrest the secret of its position from the sons of the soil; and so once more a gallant company set forth from Spain to measure their strength against the craft of the poor Indians of Florida. De Soto, who was in the first place appointed governor of Cuba that he might turn to account the resources of that wealthy island, sailed from Havana with a fleet of nine vessels and a force of some six or seven hundred men on the 18th May, 1539, and cast anchor in Tampa Bay on the 30th of the same month. Landing his forces at once, the leader gave orders that they should start for the interior immediately, by the same route as that taken by his unfortunate predecessor; and the men were eagerly plugging their way through the sandy, marshy districts immediately beyond the beach, driving the natives who opposed their progress before them, when one of those romantic incidents occurred in which the early history of the New World is so remarkably rich. |
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Spanish, born in Salamanca, ca. 1510, died in Mexico City, 1554. Coronado was governor of New Galicia (contemporary Sinaloa and Nayarit, Mexico). As such he had already sent out Fray Marcos de Niza on a voyage to the north, to New Mexico. When Marcos returned he told about a wealthy, golden city, called Cibola. Of course this raised Coronado's interest, and he decided to try to get that gold. He set out in 1540, joined by a large expedition of 340 Spanish, 300 Indian allies, and 1000 slaves, both native Americans and Africans. He followed the coast of the Gulf of California northward to the Sonora, then traveled upstream the Sonora, and crossed the Gila to Cibola, in the west of present-day New Mexico. There he was met by disappointment. Cibola was nothing like the great golden city fray Marcos had described, it was just a simple pueblo of the Zuni indians. Marcos was sent back to Mexico in disgrace. Coronado conquered Cibola, and explored the other six Zuni pueblos. He also sent out various expeditions. Melchior Diaz was sent out to the mouth of the Colorado, to meet Hernándo de Alarcón who would be shipping supplies for Coronado. Pedro de Tovar was sent northwest, and heard of a great river further west. Garcia Lopez de Cardenas was sent out to find this river, and found himself being the first European to see the magnificent Grand Canyon. Hernando de Alvarado was sent east, and found villages around the Rio Grande. Coronado set up his winter quarters in one of them, Tiguex (present-day Bernalillo near Albuquerque). During his wintering he suffered from fierce attacks by the Indians.
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