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Christopher Columbus Arrives in America, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
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Christopher Columbus
Columbus, a Genoese sailor and explorer, left Spain in 1492 on his "Enterprise of the Indies." Sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, the purpose of the voyage was to reach the riches of the East by sailing West. His first voyage made landfall on an island in the Bahamas called Guanahani by the Natives. He established the colony of Hispaniola on the present day island of Haiti/Dominican Republic. During 3 subsequent voyages, Columbus explored other islands in the Caribbean including Cuba, Virgin Islands, and Jamaica as well as the coasts of Central and South America. His voyages sparked the beginning of the Age of Discovery and the European exploration and settlement of the Americas
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Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda
Alvarez de Pineda was a Spanish explorer and cartographer. In 1519, the Governor of Jamaica, Francisco de Garay, sent de Pineda to explore and chartg the Gulf Coast from Florida to Mexico in order to find a water route from the Gulf to the Orient. During this 9 month expedition, he mapped about 800 miles of coastline from western Florida to Veracruz, Mexico. Although de Pineda was killed in a battle with Native at the Panuco River in Mexico, his map made it back to Governor Garay. The map and an account of the expedition are in the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain |
Illustration by permission of David Macaulay
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Hernan Cortez
Cortez, like many other well born Spaniards, made his way to the Caribbean. Cortez arrived in Cuba and served under the Governor of the Island. In 1519, he landed at present day Vera Cruz and proceeded inland with his force. Cortez fought and then befriended the Tlaxtecans, who hated the ruling Aztecs. Wih their help he conquered the great city of Tenochtitlan in 1521 at the battle of Templo Mayo and defeated the Aztec empire. The Spanish crown appointed Cortez as the first Governor General of “New Spain of the Ocean Sea”. |
The Battle for Tenochtitlan from Conquest of the Mexico
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Ships Departing-Engraving by Theodore de Bry
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Pánfilo de Narváez
Narváez, a Spanish Explorer, had several plantations in Cuba and was Lt. Governor of that Island. Diego Velázquez, Governor of Cuba, sent him and 900 men on a punitive expedition to remove Cortez from command in Mexico. After a battle with Cortez and his followers, in which he lost an eye, he was imprisoned by Cortez. After 3 years he was allowed to return to Spain, where he petitioned the Spanish Authorities to let him explore and develop La Florida, which extended from the Cape of Florida to the Río de las Palmas (Rio Grande). Funding the expedition himself, his five ships and 400 soldiers landed near the mouth of Tampa Bay in 1527. The expedition was a disaster and the men wandered the wilderness, finally taking to the gulf in 5 canoes constructed by the survivors. They sailed as far as the Texas Coast where they were capsized and Narváez and most other survivors drowned. After years of wandering across Texas, Cabeza de Vaca and 3 companions were the only survivors who made it back to Spanish Civilization to tell their tale. |
Illustration by permission of Tom McNeely
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Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
Cabeza de Vaca was an early Spanish explorer who came to the New World as a member of the ill-fated Narváez expedition to Florida. The expedition wrecked on Galveston Island; he was one of only four that survived. His Relacion, an account of the expedition, describes his seven years of wandering in the Texas Gulf Coast area and Northern Mexico. This account provided detailed information about tribal groups including the Karankawas, Caddoes, Jumanos, Mariaines and Coahuiltecans as well as descriptions of the landscape, flora and fauna of the region. His tales of Native groups encouraged other explorers such as Coronado and de Soto.
Cabeza de Vaca was appointed Governor of Paraguay in the 1540s. He returned to Spain where he died in the 1550s. His Relacion is still considered one of the most important primary documents of early Texas Gulf |
Alonso De Leon, the Younger
Alonso De Leon was born in Nuevo Leon c. 1640. He was educated in Spain and served briefly in the Spanish Navy. After returning to Nuevo Leon, he earned the reputation as an extraordinary explorer and astute entrepreneur. He led a series of entradas that criss-crossed the upper coasts of New Spain as far as the Rio de San Juan. When news of La Salle's colony on the Texas coast reached the government of New Spain, De Leon was send to find and expel the French from the uninhabited northern regions of Spanish territory. His four expeditions between 1686 and 1689 found the ruined French settlement and survivors of the ill-fated colony including the Talon children who had been adopted by local tribes.
De Leon became the governor of the state of Coahuila; he died there in 1691. He was one of the first Europeans to explore the area from the Rio Grande to East Texas. His explorations enabled New Spain to begin colonizing the area as a deterrent to further French incursions. |
DeLeons 1689 Entrada -Courtesy of estate of Jack Jackson
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