EARLY EXPLORERSOF TEXAS

http://www.all-kids.us/ships-page.html

BIG QUESTIONS• Are you a leader or a follower?

• Have you been or would you be the first person to do something?

• How could you gain the courage to meet “impossible” goals?

THEY OPENED THE DOOR

Someone had to be first. Some brave

explorer had to go where no one else would dare. It took courage. It took leadership. It took strength to ignore those who said it was impossible. These

explorers were the first to open the door to an unknown world. They made it possible for others to follow.

Christopher Columbus1451 - 1506

In the 15th century, educated

people knew the earth was

round. “Sail west and you’ll

reach the east.” The only

real question was, how far west???

Too far, thought most seamen. Christopher Columbus disagreed. The earth was much smaller than people thought, he said. And Asia was bigger.It stretched around the globe, well within reach. Columbus even stakedhis life on it.

http://shots.oxo.li/hot/OXO-World

This daring seaman came from the trading port ofGenoa, Italy. He knewall about the silk, spices,and other riches in the Indies (India, China, andJapan).

http://www.geology.wisc.edu/~char/jpg/spicers.jpg

He asked Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain to sponsor a voyage.

http://www.ignatiushistory.info/00100.html

He asked for 3 fully-stocked ships, for 90 men, and to be governor of all new land. He asked for the title of admiral, noble (royal) status for his family, and one tenth of the riches. Queen Isabella finally agreed to all his requests. Her cost: $14,000.

In 1492, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria set sail under Columbus’s command. When he reached land on October 12, Columbus was sure he had reached the outer Indies. (He had actually landed on one of the Islands ofthe Bahamas.) Three more voyages never changed this belief. Columbus died thinking he had sailed to Asia.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/080_columbus.html

Columbus’s legacy, for better and for worse, changed the course of history for centuries.

http://www.4america.com/archives/columbus?day=3

Hernan Cortes1485 - 1547

http://18explorers.tripod.com/Hernan%20Cortes.htm

Hernan Cortes

At age 14, Cortes left his family to study law. The life of a lawyer would have been cozy. But to Cortes, it was just plain dull. He had adventure in his blood. Cortes quit school and later sailed to the New World. He joined his fellow Spaniards in Cuba.

By this time, most of the Caribbean islands were under firm Spanish rule.Soldiers had murdered, starved, or driven out the native people. But the biggest killer was the tiniest one. TheSmallpox virus from Europe had wipedout entire native populations.

Smallpox

In 1519, Cortes led an army to Mexico – a land firmly ruled by Indians. The goal was to steal riches from the Aztecs. The Aztec cities were large and advanced.The spectacular city of Tenochtitlan wasthe Aztec capital. It had palaces, zoos,and beautiful art.

Tenochtitlan

http://www.interamericaninstitute.org/Tenochtitlan_National_Palace_Diego_Rivera.JPG

Tenochtitlan

http://www.missouri.edu/~njseef/ancient/aztec%20temple%20in%20tenochtitlan.jpg

At first, the Aztecs welcomed Cortes. They believed he was their legendary god Quetzalcoatl, who had sailed east many years earlier with a promise to return.

To avoid war with theSpaniards, Moctezuma,the Aztec leader, tried to buy off the army with gold,silver, and gems. Moctezuma’s plan backfired. To Cortes, the gifts simply meant that the Aztecs had plenty of riches to plunder.

http://pedagogie.ac-toulouse.fr/lyc-bellevue-toulouse/calendriers/azteques/images/moctezuma2.JPG

Cortes’s army attacked, but the Aztecskilled half the men. In Cuba, Cortes amassed a bigger army.

http://www.famsi.org/research/pohl/images/aztec4figure12.jpg

Moctezuma

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/aztecs/moctezuma.jpg

By the time Cortes’s army could attackTenochtitlan a second time, the deadly smallpox virus had found its way to theAztec people. They began to get sick and die. The Spanish soldiers imprisoned and killed Moctezuma. They tore down Tenochtitlan and plundered the city’s riches. Upon the ruins they built Mexico City, which became the capital of New Spain.

The success of Cortes inspired other Spaniards, or Conquistadors, to come to the Americas. They came for:

The Conquistadors

Spanish Explorers at this time are called Conquistadors which means conquerors.

They were looking for glory, gold, and adventure.

They would often practice brutality to get it.

"We Spaniards have a disease of the heart, for which the only cure is gold."  Cortes

Alonso Alvarez de Pineda

http://www.texancultures.utsa.edu/publications/exploration/graphics/74_241sm.gif

Alonso Alvarez de Pineda

In 1519, Pineda became the first European to explore the Texas coast. As he sailed along the uncharted coastline from Florida to Mexico, he observed and mapped the land. Pineda was hoping for a strait that would lead through the continent to the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately he found a solid continent.

Piñeda's voyage produced an excellent sketch

map of the Gulf of Mexico.

Cabeza de Vaca“Head of the Cow”

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

The first Europeans and Africans who came to Texas came by chance and

not by choice. Cabeza de Vaca and the

African slave Estevanico

were part of a huge

expedition exploring the

area between Florida and

Mexico.

Storms, thirst, and starvation had reduced the expedition to about 80 members when a hurricane dumped Cabeza de Vaca and his companions near what is now Galveston, Texas.He called it “Malhado” – the Isle of Misfortune.

The Karankawas, who lived on the coast, were kind and generous to their cold and starving visitors at first. However, as de Vaca recorded, “half of the natives died of a disease of the bowels and blamed us.”

Cabeza and Esteban had some medical knowledge. They showed the Karankawas that their hands had healing powers, and soon were regarded as powerful shamans. They learned the Indians’ language and

customs.

They also learned about the Seven Cities of Cibola, each made of gold. After escaping, the explorers walked hundreds of miles. They looked in vain for golden cities. Eight years later they reached the Spanish city of Culiacan, Mexico.

The Spanish viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza, heard Cabeza de Vaca’s report with interest and was eager to investigate, but Cabeza de Vaca wanted to return to Spain.

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/colonial/antonio-mendoza.jpg

Fray Marcos de Niza

Governor Mendoza hired a priest named Fray Marcos de Niza to investigate Cibola. Esteban accompanied him and scouted ahead for good routes. He wore the colorful feathers and bells of a medicine man to protect against attack.

http://jeff.scott.tripod.com/marcossm.jpg

Near present-day Gallup, New Mexico,Esteban reported back that Cibola was near. Soon after, Zuni Indians killed him as a spy. Marcos himself saw Cibola from afar. He saw sparkling jewels and gold houses – justas the stories said. Fray Marcos didn’t dare venture closer, but returned to Mexico to report to the viceroy.

Francisco Coronado

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl

Francisco Vasquez de CoronadoIn the 16th century, gold was like a magnet. Gold pulled men across oceans, over mountains, and through deserts. So imagine Governor Mendoza’s reaction to Fray Marcos’s news: A whole city made of gold! Roofs lined with jewels! And

proof! Fray Marcos said he had seen it.

In 1540, the governor put FranciscoCoronado on the trail. Fray Marcos pointed the way. They reached Cibola, but they did NOT find a golden city, but a Zuni village. The walls were sunbaked clay, not gold.The walls were dotted with stones, notjewels. Fray Marcos admitted he had led everyone astray and hurried back to Mexico in disgrace.

Coronado continued his quest for gold for 2 more years, in which hisexpedition explored parts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, andKansas. Coronado was left empty-handed. But the trip wasn’t worthless.The payoff was land. Coronado expanded Spain’s empire. He extended the frontiers and showed how very, very wide this land stretched.

Coronado’s “Plates”

Coronado’s men described the lakes as “round as plates”. These are called playa lakes (playa means beach in Spanish). These circular depressions in the earth formed tens of thousands of years ago on the Great Plains.

New Mexico

Between 1528 and 1543, Spaniards had seen much of the land that is now Texas. NO treasures had been found like those in Mexico. The natives of Texas often proved to be hostile, so

even exploration could be dangerous.

For this reason, Spain’s interest in Texas decreased, and there were few attempts to build settlements there.

• DeSoto/Moscoso- DeSoto moved westward from Florida, but dies at the Mississippi River. Moscoso took over, but no riches were found.

(Hand write these notes anywhere you can find room )

The Lady in BlueOne of the legends that arose at this time was that of a Spanish nun named Maria de Jesus de Agreda, known as the Lady in Blue. She claimed that her spirit made 500 trips to this region from 1620 to 1631, all without physically leaving Spain. http://www.oicpuerto.org/images/Image3.jpg

The Jumanos in New Mexico and Texas, as well as the Caddos in east Texas, told numerous stories of having been introduced to Christianity by the legendary Lady in Blue.

http://newsaints.faithweb.com/year/17Century_files/Coronel.jpg

Maria de Agreda “Lady in Blue”

http://www.legionhermosillo.com.mx/Cuerpo_incorrupto_de_la_Venerable_Maria_de_Jesus_de_Agreda.html

Rene Robert CavalierSieur de La Salle

http://www.thc.state.tx.us/images/lasalle/lasportrait.jpg

Spain, Britain, France, and Holland competed for the best land in America.In an era of good sailing ships, good land meant good waterways, France had already grabbed the St. Lawrence River. Thanks to Robert La Salle, France took the Mississippi River, too.

In 1682, La Salle sailed the MississippiRiver. At each bend he grew more excited. The land was rich and ripe for settlers. Best of all, the river could carry those settlers to and from the Gulf of Mexico.

http://www.fermatainc.com/wis/images/mississippi_river.jpg

At the river’s mouth, La Salle shouted, “In the name of Louis, the Great King of France, I take possession of this country.” In honor of King Louis, he named it Louisiana.

http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/CentervilleES/mholland/Exploration/lasalle.jpg

La Salle’s Louisiana included all the sources of water that drained into the Mississippi. It stretched from the Appalachian Mountains in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west, and from the Great Lakes in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the South.

LOUISIANNA

TERRITORY

La Salle later tried to set up a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River.Spanish pirates captured one of his ships and the other three were separated in a storm. Worst of all, theships missed the mouth of the Mississippi and sailed 400 miles to Texas, where La Salle decided the expedition must go ashore.

La Salle’s colonists built a crude stockade as protection. They named it Fort Saint Louis.

http://www.thc.state.tx.us/images/lasalle/fsl/fortdrawing.jpg

The colonists tried three times to reach the Mississippi by land. Frustrated, they shot La Salle on March 19, 1687.

http://www.westirondequoit.org/iroquois/explore/lasalle.htm

What happened to the colony of Fort Saint Louis? Crops had failed and disease struck one colonist after another. Others died fighting with the Karankawas. Of the 280 original settlers, only 40 remained alive in 1686. Around Christmas of 1688, the Indians staged a final attack. Most of the remaining colonists were killed and several children were adopted by the Karankawas.

Although Fort Saint Louis failed as a permanent settlement, La Salle’s efforts bore many results.1. It led to trade with the Native Americans along the Mississippi.2. It shifted the Spanish interest from west Texas to east Texas.3. It gave the U.S. a reason to claim Texas as part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, since part of it drained into the Mississippi.

Explorers of the FutureThis Means You!

Soon you and your friends will be the explorers of planet Earth. Where will you go? What will you see? Our planet has plenty of oceans to sail like Christopher Columbus did, andplenty of deserts to cross as CabezaDe Vaca did.

But many future missions will:

Go deep into the ocean,

http://www.esatclear.ie/~paulgart/Submarine.jpg

…and farther into space.

http://wp.li.ru/space/space_014.jpg

Where would YOU like to go?