Monday -
1513 - Juan Ponce de León finds and names Florida. Legend has it, he searches for the Fountain of Youth.
Vasco Núñez de Balboa becomes the first European to reach the Pacific Ocean.
Lesson plan
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1519 - Alonso Álvarez de Pineda sails from Florida to Mexico, mapping the gulf coast along the way.
Legends of America
Captain Alonso Alvarez de Pineda (1494-1520) - A Spanish explorer and map-maker, Pineda and his crew were probably the first Europeans in Texas, claiming it for Spain. Little is known of Pineda's early life, but, in 1517, he was sailing for the Spanish Governor of Jamaica, Francisco de Garay. The Spanish thought there must be a sea lane from the Gulf of Mexico to Asia and In 1517 and 1519, Pineda led several expeditions to map the western coastlines of the Gulf of Mexico, from the Yucatan Peninsula to Panuco River, just north of Veracruz, Mexico.
On
June 2, 1519, Alvarez de Pineda entered a large bay with a sizable Native
American settlement on one shore. He sailed upriver for 18 miles and
observed as many as 40 villages on the banks of the large, deep river he
named "Espíritu Santo." It has been long assumed that he was the first
European report of the mouth of the
Mississippi River. Álvarez de Pineda
continued his journey westward and one of the regions he explored and mapped
was the area around Corpus Christi Bay, entering the bay on the feast day of
Corpus Christi, hence the name. Shortly thereafter, he sailed up a river he
named Las Palmas, where he spent over 40 days repairing his ships. The Las
Palmas was most likely the Rio Grande River. The expedition established the
remainder of the boundaries of the Gulf of Mexico, while disproving the idea
of a sea passage to Asia. It also verified that
Florida was a peninsula
instead of an island, and allowed Alvarez de Pineda to be the first European
to see the coastal areas of western Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana, and
Texas, lands he called "Amichel." His map is the first known
document of
Texas history and was the first map of the Gulf Coast region of
the United States. The next year, he was killed in a fight with Huastec Indians in Panuco, Mexico.(from:http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ah-spanishexplorers5.html)
1519-1521 - Hernán Cortés defeats the Aztecs and conquers Mexico.
Cortés was a Spanish conquistador (soldier and explorer) who conquered the vast Aztec empire in central America.
Hernán (or Hernando) Cortés was born in 1485 in Medellín, western Spain. He initially studied law but left university to make his fortune in the Americas.
In 1504 he sailed for Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), moving to Cuba in 1511 where he assisted Diego Velázquez in his conquest of the island and made his reputation for courage and daring.
In 1518 Cortés persuaded Velázquez, who was now governor, to make him commander of an expedition to Mexico. It had only recently been discovered by Europeans and was rumoured to contain great wealth.
Shortly before Cortés set sail, Velázquez, who was now suspicious of his motives, cancelled his commission. Cortés ignored Velázquez and set out. On arrival he established a settlement (now Veracruz) and made local allies.
The major civilisation in the region was that of the Aztecs, led by Montezuma II. Cortés headed for the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán, which was a three-month journey over difficult terrain. It is thought that Cortés’ arrival coincided with an Aztec prophecy about a white-skinned god arriving from the east, which would explain why Montezuma welcomed Cortés and gave him lavish gifts. However, relations quickly deteriorated and, fearing an attack, Cortés took Montezuma hostage, demanding a huge ransom from his people.
In April 1520, Velázquez sent an expedition to capture Cortés. As Cortés left to fight the expedition, an Aztec revolt began in Tenochtitlán. Cortés returned and obliged Montezuma to face the crowd, but the Aztec leader was struck by a stone and died. The Spanish were driven out of the city, incurring heavy losses.
Cortés re-organised his forces and in 1521 returned to Tenochtitlán, which fell after a three-month siege. A new settlement, Mexico City, was built on the ruins and settled with Spanish colonists, becoming the centre of Spanish America. Cortés secured control over Mexico, inflicting great cruelty on the indigenous population. Western diseases such as smallpox also caused huge fatalities.
In 1523 Cortés was named governor and captain general of New Spain. In 1528, amid Spanish fears that he was becoming too powerful, he was forced to return to Spain where the king reinstated him as captain general, but not to the position of civil governor. On his return to Mexico, his powers were significantly limited and his activities monitored. He continued to explore Central America, hoping to find a strait from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He failed, instead discovering, and naming, California.
In 1541, Cortés returned to Spain an embittered man and retired to an estate near Seville where he died on 2 December 1547.
From http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/cortes_hernan.shtml
Biography.com
Interactive map
Wednesday -
1519-1522 - Ferdinand Magellan sails around South America into the Pacific. Despite Magellan's death in 1521, his expedition becomes the first to circumnavigate the globe.
biography video
1523 - Pánfilo de Narváez became governor of Florida but died after dealing with a hurricane, attacks by native americans, and disease.
Panfilo Slide show and quiz
Friday -
- 1524 - In a French sponsored voyage, Giovanni de Verrazano discovers the Hudson River before sailing north to Nova Scotia.
- 1534-36 - One of the four survivors from the Narváez expedition cited above, Cabeza de Vaca, explores from the Sabine River to the Gulf of California. When he arrives in Mexico City, his tales reinforce ideas that the Seven Cities of Cibola, also known as the Seven Cities of Gold, exist and are located in New Mexico.
Cabeza de Vaca
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Youtube biography
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