Transcript Document 7158367

EARLY EXPLORERS
OF 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 Columbus
1451 - 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 staked
his life on it.
http://shots.oxo.li/hot/OXO-World
This daring seaman came
from the trading port of
Genoa, Italy. He knew
all about the silk, spices,
and other riches in the
Indies (India, China, and
Japan).
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 of
the 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 Cortes
1485 - 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. The
Smallpox virus from Europe had wiped
out 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 was
the 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 the
Spaniards, 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 Aztecs
killed 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 attack
Tenochtitlan a second time, the deadly
smallpox virus had found its way to the
Aztec 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 – just
as 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 Coronado
In 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 Francisco
Coronado 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, not
jewels. 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 his
expedition explored parts of Texas,
New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, and
Kansas. Coronado was left emptyhanded. 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 Blue
One 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 Cavalier
Sieur 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 Mississippi
River. 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.
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, the
ships 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 Future
This 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, and
plenty of deserts to cross as Cabeza
De 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?