Early Explorers

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Early Explorers

• First Steps in a New Land
• p. 102 - 105

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How did the Natives get to America?
Bering Strait
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Columbus Sights a New World

• After sailing for 33 days, Christopher Columbus
  spotted several islands in the Caribbean Sea.
  (1492)
• While searching for a new route to Asia, Columbus
  had reached a new continent unknown in Europe.
• Columbus was an Italian, sailing under the flag
  of Spain.
• In the years following the first voyage, Spain
  established an empire in what came to be known as
  America.

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New Spain

• Spanish soldiers, conquistadors, sought riches
  and power for themselves and wealth and glory for
  Spain. 3Gs- God, Gold, and Glory
• The conquistadors made it possible for others to
  follow after them and build towns, lay roads,
  open mines, and develop farms and ranches.
• Friars, members of Catholic religious orders,
  helped convert Native Americans to the Catholic
  faith.
• Friars established religious outposts called
  missions.

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Cortes Lands in Mexico

• In 1519, Hernan Cortes sailed from Cuba and
  landed on the eastern coast of Mexico.
• On his way to the capital, Tenochtitlan, Cortes
  persuaded thousands of suppressed Native
  Americans (Aztecs) to rebel against their ruler.
• At first the Aztecs welcomed Cortes because they
  believed he was their legendary god Quetzalcoatl.
• To control the city, Cortes took the emperor,
  Moctezuma, hostage.
• The Aztecs rebelled and killed Moctezuma.

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Cortes Lands in Mexico

• Cortes and his forces tore down Tenochtitlan and
  built a new city named Mexico, after the Aztec
  name for themselves.
• Mexico City became the capital for New Spain.
• The success of Cortes inspired other Spaniards to
  come to the Americas in search of treasure,
  adventure, or to spread the Catholic faith among
  the Native Americans.

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Alvarez de Pineda Explores Texas

• In 1519, Alonso Alvarez de Pineda became the
  first European to explore the Texas coast.
• He sailed along the
• uncharted coastline
• from Florida to
• Mexico, he observed
• and mapped the land.

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Shipwrecked in Texas

• Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was part of an
  expedition to conquer the area between Florida
  and Mexico in 1527.
• The expedition failed and a storm grounded Cabeza
  de Vaca on an island near present-day Galveston.
  He called the island Malhado, the isle of
  misfortune.
• The Karankawas, who lived on the coast, built
  fires and brought food to the starving explorers.
• Within a few months, however, most of the
  explorers and many Native Americans had died of
  diseases.

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Shipwrecked in Texas

• In time, Native Americans would associate
  Europeans with disease and find both unwelcome.
• Cabeza de Vaca survived by adopting the ways of
  the Karankawas.
• He became highly regarded as a shaman, or healer.
  
• One of his companions, Estevanico, from Morocco,
  became the first known black man to enter Texas.