country discovered by Narvaez. ward, and for two years wandered to and fro over the plains and mountains. of the West, crossing the state of Kansas twice.1 13. The Spaniards on the Mississippi. In 1537 De Soto was appointed governor of Cuba, with instructions to conquer and hold all the On this mission he set out in May, 1539, and landed at Tampa Bay, on the west coast of our state of Florida. He wandered over the swamps and marshes, the moss-grown jungles, and the forests of the Gulf states, and spent the winter of 1541 near the Yazoo River. Crossing the Mississippi in the spring of 1542 at the Chickasaw Bluffs, he wandered about eastern Arkansas, till he died of fever, and was buried in the Mississippi. His followers then built rude boats, floated down the river to the Gulf, steered along the coast of Texas, and in September, 1543, reached Tampico, in Mexico. More than half a century had now gone by since the first voyage of Columbus. Yet not a settlement, great or small, had been established by Spain within our boundary. Between 1546 and 1561 missionaries twice attempted to found missions and convert the Indians in Florida, and twice were driven away. In 1582 others entered the valleys of the Gila and the Rio Grande, took possession of the pueblos, established missions, preached the Gospel to the Indians, and brought them 1 Do not fail to read a delightful little book called The Spanish Pioneers, by Charles F. Lummis. In it the story of these great journeys is told on pp. 77-88, 101-143. under the dominion of Spain. But when Santa Fé (sahn'-tah fa') was founded, in 1582, the only colony of Spain in the United States, besides the missions in Arizona and New Mexico, was St. Augustine in Florida. 14. St. Augustine. - St. Augustine was founded by the Spaniards in order to keep out the French, who made two attempts to occupy the south Atlantic coast. The first was that of John Ribault (ree-bō'). He led a colony of Frenchmen, in 1562, to what is now South Carolina, built a small fort on a spot which he called Port Royal, and left it in charge of thirty men while he went back to France for more colonists. The men were a shiftless set, depended on the Indians till the Indians would feed them no longer, and when famine set in, they mutinied, slew their commander, built a crazy ship and went to sea, where an English vessel found them in a starving condition, and took them to London. In 1564 a second party, under Laudonnière (lō-do-ne-ar'), landed at the St. Johns River in Florida, and built a fort called Fort Caroline in honor of Charles IX. of France. But the King of Spain, hearing that the French were trespassing, sent an expedition under Menendez (ma-nen'-deth), who founded St. Augustine in 1565. There Ribault, who had returned and joined Laudonnière, attempted to attack the Span Gateway at St. Augustine 2 iards. But a hurricane scattered his ships, and while it was still raging, Menendez fell suddenly on Fort Caroline and massacred men, women, and children. A few days later, falling in with Ribault and his men, who had been driven ashore south of St. Augustine, Menendez massacred 150 more.i For this foul deed a Frenchman named Gourgues (goorg) exacted a fearful penalty. With three small ships and 200 men, he sailed to St. Augustine, took and destroyed the fort, and put to death every human being within it. Menendez, who was then in Spain, returned later and rebuilt St. Augustine. SUMMARY 1. From 1492 to 1513 the Europeans who came to America explored the coasts of North and South America, but did not go inland. 2. In 1513 exploration of the interior of the two continents began. Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, 1513, and Cortes conquered Mexico, 1519-21. 1 The story of the French in Florida is finely told in Parkman's Pioneers of France in the New World; also J. Sparks's Life of Ribault; Baird's Huguenot Emigration. 2 Remaining from the Spanish occupation of Florida. 3. In 1528 Narvaez made the first serious attempt to enter the Mississippi valley. He died, and some of his followers, under Cabeza de Vaca, crossed the continent. 4. When the Spanish governor of Mexico heard their story, he sent Fray Marcos to find the "Seven Cities of Cibola"; and began the exploration of the southwestern part of the United States. 5. In 1539-1541 De Soto and his band explored the southeastern part of the United States from Florida to the Mississippi River. 6. By 1582 two Spanish settlements had been made in the United States - St. Augustine, 1565, and Santa Fé, 1582. Atlantic Coast. 1492. 1493. Columbus. 1498. Islands off the coast. North America. Labrador. John and Sebastian Cabot. Labrador to Cape Pinzon and Solis. Florida to Chesapeake Bay. 1500. Cabral. Discovers Brazil. 1501. Vespucius. Explores Brazilian coast. 1500-1502. Cortereals. Explore coast North America. Discovers and names Florida. 1513. Ponce de Leon. Pinzon and Solis. Explore Gulf of Mexico and coast of Florida. 1498. 1519. Pineda. 1528. 1543. Sails from Florida to Mexico. Narvaez. Florida to Texas. Followers of De Soto sail from Mississippi River to Mexico. 1519-21. Cortes. Conquers Mexico. De Vaca. From the Sabine River to the Gulf of California. 1539. Fray Marcos. Search for the Seven Cities. Wanders over New Mexico. 1540-42. Coronado. Gila River, Rio Grande, Colorado 1539-41. De Soto. Wanders over Florida, Georgia, and 1513. Balboa. Discovers the Pacific Ocean. 1521. Magellan. Sails around South America into the 1578-1580. Drake. Sails around South America and up the Pacific coast to Oregon. (See p. 26.) THE ENGLISH COLONIES CHAPTER III ENGLISH, DUTCH, AND SWEDES ON THE SEABOARD 1 15. The English Claim to the Seaboard. After the Spaniards had thus explored the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and what is now Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, the English attempted to take possession of the Atlantic coast. The voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot in 1497 and 1498 were not followed up in the same way that Spain followed up those of Columbus, and for nearly eighty years the flag of England was not displayed in any of our waters. At last, in 1576, Sir Martin Frobisher set out to find a northwest passage to Asia. Of course he failed; but in that and two later voyages he cruised about the shores of our continent and gave his name to Frobisher's Bay. Next came Sir Francis Drake, the greatest seaman of his age. He left England in 1577, crossed the Atlantic, sailed down the South American coast, passed through the Strait of Magellan, and turning northward coasted along South America, Mexico, and California, in search of a northeast passage to the Atlantic. When he had gone as far north as Oregon the weather grew so cold that his men began to murmur, and putting his ship about, he sailed southward along our Pacific coast in search of a harbor, which in June, 1579, he found near the present city of San Francisco. There he landed, and putting up a post nailed to it a brass plate on which was the 1 For Cabot's voyages read Fiske's Discovery of America, Vol. II., pp. 2-15. 2 See map on p. 15. |