Chapter 4
Early Explorers
Section 1
First Steps in a New Land
• Christopher Columbus- 1492
• Italian, sailing for Spain
• Discovered new land, thought he was in the
Indies
• Greatest contribution- opened the door for
western colonization- SPAIN
New Spain
• Conquistadores- Spanish soldiers
• Sought riches, power and glory
for Spain
• Brutally defeated the Inca, Maya and Aztec
to control their land
• Brought with them friars and set up
missions
Cortes
• 1519- Cortes sailed to the eastern coast of
Mexico
• Went inland to Tenochtitlan to defeat Aztec
• Aztecs welcomed him- GOD
• Tenochtitlan was a modern city.
• Took emperor hostage-Moctezuma
• Aztecs were defeated, city destroyed, riches taken
• Mexico City stands where Tenochtitlan once stood
• Inspired others to explore= $, God or Glory
Alvarez de Pineda
• First European to explore Texas’ coast
• Mapped coastline from Florida to
Mexico
Shipwrecked in Texas
• Cabeza de Vaca on expedition led by Panfilo de
Narvaez
• Expedition failed
– Built boats to take them to Mexico
– Shipwrecked in a storm near Galveston
– Karankawas saved them-building fires, food, fish
– Spaniards brought
disease killing Karankawas
– De Vaca and his slave- Estevanico traveled and traded
with natives and noted the Texas interior
– Traveled around with Natives for 6 years
Section 2
Spanish
Explore Texas
• De Vaca’s tales of what he saw intrigued the
Spanish
• Fertile land, “hairy” cows, cities made of
gems and gold.
• Viceroy –official that represents the
monarch-found de Vaca’s tales of cities of gold
interesting
• Wanted to send an expedition to search
Fray Marcos
• Fray Marcos de Niza sent to check on
stories validity
• Priest
• Estevanico went with the party
• Cibola was rumored to be close
• Zuni killed Estevanico
• Fray saw Cibola- pueblos in the sunset that
looked like cities of gold
Coronado
• After Frays discovery Viceroy Mendoza sent
Francisco Coronado to lead an
expedition to search for Cibola
• Coronado found the Zuni village and its fierce
warriors, not golden cities!
• Coronado didn’t leave with Fray he sent out
expeditions to find Cibola
• One group went into Grand Canyon
• One group went to NM
Coronado
• Met a man, Turk ,and he spoke of riches and
Coronado decided to investigate
• Crossed the plains of Texas
• Got lost often because of terrain
• Saw lots of “cows” on the plains
• Went north to Kansas
• Found no treasure, killed Turk
• Reported back to viceroy, Texas was fine and no
gold was to be found
Moscoso
• Florida to Texas
• De Soto led original expedition but died on
the Mississippi
• Moscoso led expedition to the Brazos
• Went back to Mississippi and sailed to Mexico
New Mexico
• Spain interest in Texas decreased b/c no
treasure found
• New Mexico established and Santa Fe was as
well
• Sent expeditions from Santé Fe to Texas
• Traded with Jumano frequently
• Abandoned trading post by San Angelo
Section 3
La Salle Awakens Spanish
Interest
• France will challenge Spanish claims
• France will claim land from Texas to
Mississippi
• La Salle led the first European expedition to
navigate the Mississippi
• Named Louisiana
• Brought settlers to North America looking for
mouth of the Mississippi
• Missed it by 400 miles
• Settled in Matagorda Bay
French Flag in Texas
• Built a stockade (enclosure of posts for a defense)
known as Ft. St. Louis
• La Salle went to explore leaving settlers
• Upon return all was destroyed
• By 1686 20 remained of original 280
• La Salle went east to explore and was killed
by his own expedition
• Karankawa took over camp murdering most
• Ft. St. Louis will give the US a flimsy claim to Texas
when it purchases the Louisiana Territory