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The Spanish Explorers
Lesson 5.1 Notes
The Spanish Discover a “New World”
Europeans looked for a new trade route to India and East
Asia to avoid the old land routes across the Middle East
because the ottomans who controlled the area demanded
high fees from traders.
The Age of Exploration:
•Navigation tools were not accurate enough to enable
travel across oceans so sailors had to stay close to the
coast.
•In 1488 Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias sailed along
the west coast of Africa indicating there might be a sea
route to Asia.
Columbus Reaches the Americas:
•Columbus left Spain with three small ships in
August 1492 to find the new sea route to Asia.
On October 12, 1492, Columbus came ashore on a
small island in the Caribbean Sea that he had
originally though was the West Indies.
•No one in Europe knew this land or these people
existed. They gave him credit for “discovering
the new world” but clearly, the indigenous natives
living there did not need to be “discovered.”
•Even though Columbus was Italian, Spain had
funded the expedition so he claimed all of the
land and its resources for Spain.
The Beginnings of Colonization:
•In the 1500s Spain explored much of the southern half
of the American mainland, the Caribbean, most of South
America and all of Central America and Mexico.
•With their superior weapons and well-trained
Conquistadores, Spain was able to conquer and settle
many of these areas to gain wealth and glory for
themselves.
Farming and Mapping New Spain:
•In February 1519, Spanish Conquistador Hernan
Cortes landed in what is now called Veracruz,
Mexico.
•He marched into the interior of Mexico and into
the capital of the Aztec Empire, Tenochtitlan
where he saw the city’s vast collection of gold.
•He was originally mistaken as an Aztec god –
Quetzalcoatl – that they Aztecs believed was
scheduled to reappear that year.
•He gained the trust and faith of the Aztec
people and when he had the opportunity, he seized
the city by kidnapping the Aztec King, Montezuma
and destroying the Aztec army with Spain’s
superior weapons.
Farming and Mapping New Spain:
•He rebuilt the city and named it Mexico City, the capital
of New Spain and claimed all of the gold for himself and
Spain.
•Many more people followed Cortes – conquistadors that
continued the plunder of other civilizations for gold and
glory and Catholic priests and nuns that wanted to
convert the Natives to Catholicism with a system of
missions.
Alonso Alvarez de Pineda:
•1n 1519, Pineda became the first European to explore
the Texas coast and map the coastline from Florida to
Mexico.
•He later died in 1520 during a Native uprising in Mexico
where he had attempted to start a settlement.
Cabeza de Vaca Meets the Karankawas:
•In 1527, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca is shipped wrecked on
the Texas coastline when his original expedition with Panfilo de
Narvaez is destroyed by a hurricane.
•Panfilo de Narvaez and most of his men die in the Gulf of
Mexico when they unknowingly sailed into the middle of a
hurricane as they attempted to get from the mainland of North
America to their Spanish colony in New Spain.
Cabeza de Vaca Meets the Karankawas:
•Cabeza de Vaca was among the lucky few how survived the
storm and washed ashore on the Texas coastline near
present-day Galveston.
•The Karankawas helped Cabeza de Vaca and the others by
building fires and providing them with food - fish and
roots to eat.
•Cabeza de Vaca established himself as a trader and
survived by trading goods from Galveston Island with the
natives on the mainland.
Cabeza de Vaca Meets the Karankawas:
•Eventually, diseases start to hit everyone, including the
Karankawa tribe.
•In 1535, Cabeza de Vaca and the other survivors from the
hurricane left to find a route back to Mexico. In early
1536, they reached a Spanish settlement at Culiacan,
Mexico.
•Cabeza de Vaca told the stories of his adventures in a book
called La Relacion that amazed many Spaniards and even
encouraged some of them to go to the New World.
Cabeza de Vaca Meets the Karankawas:
•In his book, he told stories of huge “cattle” with small
horns (bison), and cities of wealth - gold, emeralds,
turquois, copper.
•However, Cabeza de Vaca never saw those wealthy cities
but only heard stories of them - these stories inspired
other conquistadores to explore the new world in hopes of
obtaining these riches.
•The began an new era in Texas called the Age of Contact
that last until 1690 when Spain’s starts its first
settlement.
Coronado Explores the Plains:
•Spain’s highest-ranking official in New Spain, Viceroy Antonio de
Mendoza decides to send an expedition to investigate Cabeza de
Vaca’s stories of the Seven Cities of gold, also known as Cibola.
Coronado Sets out in Search of Gold:
•Viceroy Mendoza chose Francisco Vasquez de Coronado to lead the
expedition to explore and locate Cibola.
•Coronado brought with him 300 soldiers, cattle, sheep and a large
food supply to last them on their 1200 mile journey for Cibola.
•The Zuni settlement was the first stop on his journey. However,
Coronado only found a village made of mud and stone and no gold.
A Failed Mission:
•Even though the Zuni village did not provide him with the gold
he desired, he continued on to explore the New World.
•He divided his men into smaller groups and sent them in
different directions. One group saw the Grand Canyon but
found no gold.
•Eventually, the group Coronado was
leading met a Pawnee native called
the Turk. He told of a place on
the Great Plains called Quivira
that was full of wealth and
treasure.
Quivira:
•The Turk guided Coronado away from the Pawnee village and
took him in search for the place called Quivira. The expedition
went on and on and seemed to almost go in circles at times.
Eventually, the Turk led Coronado to a place near present day
Wichita, Kansas and proclaimed it to be Quivira.
•However, no gold was found in Quivira and
Coronado was convinced that the Turk had lied
to him and sent him on a wild goose chase.
Coronado had the Turk put to death for his lies and failure to
find gold.
•Coronado does send the King word of the good soil in Texas
(great for farming)
Other Spanish Explorers:
•Two other Spanish expeditions will take place in Texas
the 1500s: Luis de Moscoso and Juan de Onate
during
Moscoso Reaches East Texas:
•Moscoso was on an expedition led by Hernando de Soto in 1539. De
Soto became ill in 1542 and died on the expedition. Moscoso took
command and began exploring into Texas.
•Moscoso traveled into East Texas – near Nacogodoches and down to
the Guadalupe River before running low on supplies and turning back
to find a way back to New Spain (Mexico).
•He eventually finds the Mississippi River and builds a boat to sail
back to Mexico.
•Before leaving Texas, Moscoso does make a discovery of great
importance in today’s world – he found a black, bubbly substance coming
from under ground or better known as OIL.
Spaniards Settle on the Rio Grande:
•In 1598, Juan de Onate led a huge expedition to start
several settlements on the upper Rio Grande River area.
•He brought with him 600 people, 83 wagons and 7,000 animals to
start the settlements.
•They started several settlements including the city of Santa Fe in
1609.
•As the Spanish spread their settlements across the area, they
unknowingly brought with them diseases and illnesses that greatly
impacted the indigenous people of the area.
La Salle Leads the French into Texas:
•In the 1600’s, England, France, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands
had established colonies in either North, Central or South America.
La Salle Explores the Mississippi:
•Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle was the first French
explorer to enter the Spain’s territory of Texas.
•In 1682, he led an expedition south from Michigan down the Illinois
and Mississippi Rivers to explore the rivers delta and claim the land
for France. La Salle named the area Louisiana after French King
Louis XIV.
The French Found Fort St. Louis:
•La Salle gained the authority from King Louis XIV to start a colony at the
mouth of the Mississippi River. La Salle had planned to use the colony
as a base to capture silver mines in New Spain.
•However, he had many problems with the colony from the
very beginning:
1. La Salle had arguments with the ship captains
2. One of his ships were captured by a Spanish privateer causing
great loss of supplies needed for the journey
3. La Salle was not a skilled navigator and couldn’t find the mouth
of the Mississippi River to start the colony so ended up settling
in Texas – Garcitas Creek
4. Another ship ends up hitting a sandbar along the Texas coast
and becomes stuck in the sand leading to the loss of more
supplies
5. One ship returns back to France with settlers that decided not to
stay because of all of the problems La Salle encounters
6. La Salle argues with the Karankawas who in retaliation attack
the settlement repeatedly or kill settlers out looking for firewood
or water.
7. Crops fail leading to starvation
8. Diseases and illness hit the settlement hard killing many people
Fort St. Louis Fails:
•With no ships, few supplies and fewer than 40 survivors left, La
Salle decides he must find help for his settlement and creates a
small “rescue” expedition from the strongest remaining colonists.
•However, several attempts had already been made to find the
Mississippi River. He repeatedly took the same route to find the
river in each attempt and was unsuccessful every time. He also
didn’t seem to want to listen to any advice or guidance from other
colonists either.
•In East Texas, the members of the “rescue” expedition refuse to
continue on with their current route. They demand that La Salle
listen to them and attempt a new route. La Salle refused and his
men rebelled and murdered La Salle on March 19, 1867. Six men led
by Henri Joutel continued on and found the Mississippi River and
were able to finally reach the French settlement of Quebec.
• Henri Joutel pleaded with King Louis XIV to send a rescue
expedition back to Fort St. Louis but he refused because he
had “wasted enough money” on the colony.
• Those remaining at Fort St. Louis managed to survive for a
while without La Salle or the needed supplies. Around
December of 1688, the Karankawas attacked the settlement
killing most of the people there. A few of the children’s lives
were spared and they were raised by the Karankawas for
several years before the Spanish Conquistadors freed them
after a short battle.
Spain and France Feud:
•Even though the French colony failed to survive, it had an impact on the future
of Texas.
•Spain was in constant competition with France in Europe and in constant battles
as well. When Spain hears of a French settlement in their territory, they are
furious and decide they must do something to secure the area.
•Spanish explorer Alonso de Leon is sent to locate and destroy Fort St. Louis.
However, he finds out that La Salle’s poor planning, navigation and leadership
skills led to the settlement’s own destruction.
•De Leon is able to spend more time to explore the interior areas of Texas and
meets the friendly Caddo tribe. The Caddoes are friendly and eager to please
him. He believes their friendliness shows an eagerness to convert to
Catholicism and with the help of Father Massanet and Father Hidalgo, they
build several missions in East Texas.
•France continues to build settlements in their nearby territory as a challenge
to Spain’s control of the area in East Texas.