Spanish Explorers of Texas

The first EUROPEAN to discover the New World Mission:

Looking for a quicker route to Asia Interested in gaining riches and power for Spain Looking to spread the Catholic religion to Asia

Importance to Texas Never came to what would be Texas!!!! But, he started Spanish exploration in the area and that would lead

the Spanish to Texas Short Video - Biograhpy of Columbus

Cuban governor wanted to explore the continent so he sent Hernan Cortes

Mission:

Report on the “rich and powerful” civilization rumored to be there.

Clashed many times with the natives along the Coast

Finally reached Tenochtitlan (Aztec Capital)

Thought to be a God (Quetzalcoatl)

Montezuma welcomed them in Took Aztec’s gold, silver and land by force

Renamed to Mexico City, New Spain Brought Gold back to Spain

1519-1521

IMPORTANCE TO TEXAS He was never in what would be Texas!!!!! His success got the Spanish government and other

conquistadors thinking that there may be more gold in New Spain (including in the area that would become Texas)

Short Video - Biography of Cortes

Cabo Rojo

Tampico

Jamaica

1519

Spanish Governor of Jamaica sent Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda

His Mission: Map the Gulf Coast between Florida and Mexico

Sailed to Cabo Rojo, Mexico • Run in with Cortes • Cortes arrests some of Pineda’s men • Pineda retreats to modern day Tampico

He tries to establish a colony but is killed by Natives in 1520

Importance to Texas Never actually set foot in Texas

But, he was the first European to set eyes on what would become our state

Texas History BEGINS with Pineda’s maps (YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT DATE!!!!!)

Cabeza de Vaca and the other survivors became the first Europeans to set foot in what would become Texas • One of the survivors was named Estevanico • He was the first person of African descent known to be in the

United States

Helped by the Karankawas • Karankawas taught him how to use

herbs for healing, as well as how to perform surgery

• This helped him stay on good terms with the natives as he traveled

• As he traveled through Mexico he spread stories of cities of gold known as “Cibola”

1528-1536

Importance to Texas Texas’ first explorer

• De Vaca and his fellow Spaniards were the FIRST Europeans to set foot in what would become Texas

Texas’ first author • When de Vaca got back to Spain, he wrote a book about his

experiences with the Native people of Texas called La Relacion

Texas’ first surgeon • De Vaca performed surgery on a Native Texan while with

the Karankawa • He is still the “patron saint” of the Texas Surgical Society

Viceroy Mendoza (viceroy of New Spain) wanted to find the cities of gold Cabeza de Vaca told about (1539)

Mendoza sent Friar Marcos de Niza and Estevanico (from de Vaca’s expedition) to report on the cities of gold

Estevanico (the first person of African descent known to be in the United States) rode ahead and was told by the Zuni Indians that there were in fact cities of gold in this part of New Spain… Yay!

Then the Zuni Indians killed him for venturing onto their land… oops.

Because they were scared after Estevanico’s death, Fray Marcos only rode far enough to see Cibola from a distance

It was a small village of adobe houses, but in the sunlight, from a distance, it looked like gold

He rode back to Mexico City to tell Mendoza about the golden city that he saw

After the reports of “actual” cities of gold Mendoza sent another expedition - Francisco Vasquez de Coronado • Travelled to the Zuni village of Cibola and did not find any golden rooftops • Not wanting to come home empty handed, he split his party into 2 groups. • One group west (first to see the Grand Canyon)

Cibola

• The other east • There they meet

El Turco (the Turk)

• Said he knew of another city of gold “Quivira”

• Made it to Quivira and there was no city of gold.

• Had El Turco killed and claimed the land for Spain

Short video - Biography of Coronado

Importance to Texas:

Explored the Panhandle of Texas

Told about the “Sea of Grass” that would be great for cattle and farming

Mission: To search for the 7 Cities of Gold Hernando de Soto This time they searched parts of present day Georgia,

the Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas

Found nothing De Soto died of a fever along the western bank of the

Mississippi Before he died, he appointed Moscoso to take command of the

expedition

After continuing their trip into East Texas, they determined there were no cities of gold and made boats to sail back to Mexico

Importance to Texas: 1st European in East Texas (Southeastern Culture)

Onate led a 4-mile long expedition into West Texas and New Mexico

After 3 months they reached the Rio Grande and performed a ceremony claiming the land for Spain

They also held a feast with the Native Americans of the area which could have been the first Thanksgiving in the nation

Importance to Texas:

Explored West Texas

Named El Paso

1492

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1598 1685

Columbus

EXPLORERS

DATES

French!!!

1. What three things occurred in 1519 that were important to Texas History?

2. Which explorer started in an expedition headed by Narvaez?

3. Which explorer conquered the Aztecs?

4. In what year did Columbus “discover” the New World?

5. Which explorer got lost in a “Sea of Grass”?

6. Who started his expedition with de Soto as leader?

7. Which explorer went looking for gold in East Texas?

8. Which explorer went looking for gold in the Panhandle?

9. Which explorer is credited for being a part of the “First Thanksgiving” in the New World?

Narvaez was sent to Florida by the Spanish King • His mission was to colonize land

between Florida and Mexico • He was supposed to set up at least

two Spanish colonies of 100 people each

• He started with about 400 crew members

The Plan: • 300 people would travel over land

meet up with his ships further up the coast

• 100 people would sail the ships up the coast and meet up in a few weeks

Trouble: • The ships weren’t there… Narvaez and his

men were stranded! • So he and his men melted down their

weapons to make tools, fed off their horses for 6 weeks and built rafts to float to Mexico

• However, hurricane drowned most of the men

Shipwrecked: • Narvaez was dead… • The survivors, including Cabeza de

Vaca washed ashore on what is today Galveston Island

• Here, they came across some Karankawa who helped them at first, but then used the Spaniards as slaves

In 1532, the four surviving men started to walk west to try to find Spanish settlements

The Karankawa traded the Spanish to the Coahuiltecans, whom they lived with for many years

They finally arrived the Spanish settlements in 1536 and then sailed back to Spain

1528-1536

De Soto died of a semitropical fever on May 21, 1542, in the native village of Guachoya (historical sources disagree as to whether de Soto died near present-day McArthur, Arkansas or in Louisiana)[23] on the western banks of the Mississippi.[24] Before his death, de Soto chose his former maestro de campo (roughly, field commander) Luis de Moscoso Alvarado to assume command of the expedition.[25] Since de Soto had encouraged the local natives to believe that he was an immortal sun god (as a ploy to gain their submission without conflict, though some of the natives had already become skeptical of de Soto's deity claims), his men had to conceal his death. However, the actual location of his burial is not known. According to one source, de Soto's men hid his corpse in blankets weighted with sand and sank it in the middle of the Mississippi River during the night.[23] Another possible location for his corpse is within Lake Chicot near present-day Lake Village, Arkansas.

An official in New Spain who represents the King of Spain

A painting of what Cibola may have looked like to the expeditions. Kinda golden?

In an act of thanksgiving for their safe passage across the Chihuahuan desert, the Oñate entrada arranged for a feast to be held and asked the Mansos to be their guests. This thanksgiving was the first to be celebrated in what is now the United States, a full 23 years before that of the Pilgrims at the Plymouth Colony. Painting by Jose Cisneros, courtesy of the University of Texas at El Paso Library and the artis

A Note About Estevanico • Estevan was a slave when he started on this

expedition • He belonged to a man named Dorantes • Dorantes was one of the four (out of the original

400 who survived the trip) • So… the four survivors were de Vaca, Estevanico,

Dorantes and a man named Castillo

• Estevanico survived a failed expedition, shipwreck, angry natives and six years among the Gulf Culture of Texas

• When Dorantes got back to New Spain, he gave Estevan to Viceroy Mendoza • Viceroy Mendoza let Fray Marcos “use” him as a servant • Because of this, Estevanico went on the trip to Cibola with Fray Marcos…

where he was killed by Zuni warriors • Estevanico was the first person of African descent known to be in the New

World