Spanish Explorers of
Texas
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The first EUROPEAN to discover the New World
Mission:
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Looking for a quicker route to Asia
Interested in gaining riches and power for Spain
Looking to spread the Catholic religion to Asia
Importance to Texas
 Never came to what would be Texas!!!!
 But, he started Spanish exploration in the area and that would lead
Short Video - Biograhpy of Columbus
the Spanish to Texas
1519-1521
Cuban governor wanted to explore the continent
so he sent Hernan Cortes

Mission:
 Report on the “rich and powerful”
civilization rumored to be there.
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Clashed many times with the natives along
the Coast
 Finally reached Tenochtitlan (Aztec Capital)
 Thought to be a God (Quetzalcoatl)
 Montezuma welcomed them in
Short Video - Biography of Cortes
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Took Aztec’s gold, silver and land by force
 Renamed to Mexico City, New Spain
 Brought Gold back to Spain
IMPORTANCE TO TEXAS

He was never in what would be Texas!!!!!
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His success got the Spanish government and other
conquistadors thinking that there may be more gold in
New Spain (including in the area that would become
Texas)
1519
Tampico
He tries to establish
a colony but is killed
by Natives in 1520
His Mission: Map the
Gulf Coast between
Florida and Mexico
Cabo Rojo
Sailed to Cabo Rojo, Mexico
• Run in with Cortes
• Cortes arrests some of Pineda’s men
• Pineda retreats to modern day Tampico
Spanish Governor of
Jamaica sent Alonzo
Alvarez de Pineda
Jamaica
Importance to Texas
 Never actually set foot in Texas
 But, he was the first European to set eyes on what would
become our state
 Texas History BEGINS with Pineda’s maps (YOU NEED TO
KNOW THAT DATE!!!!!)
Cabeza de Vaca and the other survivors became the first
Europeans to set foot in what would become Texas
• One of the survivors was named Estevanico
• He was the first person of African descent known to be in the
United States
Helped by the Karankawas
•
•
•
Karankawas taught him how to use
herbs for healing, as well as how to
perform surgery
This helped him stay on good terms
with the natives as he traveled
As he traveled through Mexico he
spread stories of cities of gold known
as “Cibola”
1528-1536
Importance to Texas
Texas’ first explorer
• De Vaca and his fellow Spaniards were the FIRST Europeans to set foot
in what would become Texas
Texas’ first author
• When de Vaca got back to Spain, he wrote a book about his
experiences with the Native people of Texas called La
Relacion
Texas’ first surgeon
• De Vaca performed surgery on a Native Texan while with
the Karankawa
• He is still the “patron saint” of the Texas Surgical Society
Viceroy Mendoza (viceroy of New Spain)
wanted to find the cities of gold Cabeza de Vaca
told about (1539)
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Mendoza sent Friar Marcos de Niza and
Estevanico (from de Vaca’s expedition) to report
on the cities of gold
Estevanico (the first person of African descent
known to be in the United States) rode ahead and
was told by the Zuni Indians that there were in
fact cities of gold in this part of New Spain… Yay!
Then the Zuni Indians killed him for venturing
onto their land… oops.
Because they were scared after Estevanico’s
death, Fray Marcos only rode far enough to see
Cibola from a distance
It was a small village of adobe houses, but in the
sunlight, from a distance, it looked like gold
He rode back to Mexico City to tell Mendoza
about the golden city that he saw
After the reports of “actual” cities of gold Mendoza sent another
expedition - Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
Travelled to the Zuni village of Cibola and did not find any golden rooftops
Not wanting to come home empty handed, he split his party into 2 groups.
One group west (first to see the Grand Canyon)
The other east
Short video - Biography of Coronado
There they meet
El Turco (the
Turk)
• Said he knew of
another city of
gold “Quivira”
Cibola
• Made it to
Quivira and there
was no city of
gold.
• Had El Turco
killed and
claimed the land
for Spain
•
•
•
•
•
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Importance to Texas:
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Explored the Panhandle of Texas
Told about the “Sea of Grass” that would be great
for cattle and farming
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Mission: To search for the 7 Cities of Gold
Hernando de Soto
This time they searched parts of present day Georgia,
the Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and
Arkansas
Found nothing
De Soto died of a fever along the western bank of the
Mississippi
 Before he died, he appointed Moscoso to take command of the
expedition
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After continuing their trip into East Texas, they
determined there were no cities of gold and made boats
to sail back to Mexico
Importance to Texas: 1st European in East Texas
(Southeastern Culture)
Onate led a 4-mile long expedition into West Texas
and New Mexico
 After 3 months they reached the Rio Grande and
performed a ceremony claiming the land for Spain
 They also held a feast with the Native Americans of
the area which could have been the first
Thanksgiving in the nation
Importance to Texas:
 Explored West Texas
 Named El Paso

Columbus
EXPLORERS
Cabeza
de Vaca
Friar
Marcos
Coronado
1539
1540-1542
1528-1536
1519
1492
Cortes
Pineda
DATES
1598
1685
Oñate
La Salle
French!!!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
What three things occurred in 1519 that were important
to Texas History?
Which explorer started in an expedition headed by
Narvaez?
Which explorer conquered the Aztecs?
In what year did Columbus “discover” the New World?
Which explorer got lost in a “Sea of Grass”?
Who started his expedition with de Soto as leader?
Which explorer went looking for gold in East Texas?
Which explorer went looking for gold in the Panhandle?
Which explorer is credited for being a part of the “First
Thanksgiving” in the New World?
1528-1536
Narvaez
was sent to Florida by
The
Plan:
Trouble:
Shipwrecked:
the
Spanish
King
The
ships
weren’t
there…
and his
300
people
would
travelNarvaez
over land
• Narvaez
was
dead…
•• His
mission
wasincluding
to colonize
land deup
men
were
stranded!
The
survivors,
meet
up with
his
shipsCabeza
further
Florida
and
Mexico
• between
So
and
his ashore
men
melted
down
their
Vaca
washed
on what
is today
thehecoast
• He
was supposed
set up
least
weapons
toIsland
make to
tools,
fedatoff
their horses
Galveston
• two
100Spanish
people
would
sail
the
ships
up
colonies
of
100
people
for
6
weeks
and
built
rafts
to
float
to
• Here, they came across some
the
coast and meet up in a few
each
Mexico
Karankawa
who helped them at first,
weeks
•• He
started
with
about
400 crew
However,
hurricane
drowned
of the
but
then used
the
Spaniards
asmost
slaves
members
men
The Karankawa traded the
Spanish
to the
Coahuiltecans,
They
finally
arrived
the Spanish
In 1532,
the
four
surviving
whom
they in
lived
with
for
settlements
and
then
sailed back to
men started
to1536
walk
west
to try
many
Spain
to findyears
Spanish settlements
De Soto died of a semitropical fever on May 21, 1542, in the native village of Guachoya (historical sources disagree as to whether de Soto died near present-day McArthur,
Arkansas or in Louisiana)[23] on the western banks of the Mississippi.[24] Before his death, de Soto chose his former maestro de campo (roughly, field commander) Luis de
Moscoso Alvarado to assume command of the expedition.[25]
Since de Soto had encouraged the local natives to believe that he was an immortal sun god (as a ploy to gain their submission without conflict, though some of the natives had
already become skeptical of de Soto's deity claims), his men had to conceal his death. However, the actual location of his burial is not known. According to one source, de Soto's
men hid his corpse in blankets weighted with sand and sank it in the middle of the Mississippi River during the night. [23] Another possible location for his corpse is within Lake
Chicot near present-day Lake Village, Arkansas.
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An official in New Spain who
represents the King of Spain
A painting of what Cibola may have looked like to the expeditions. Kinda golden?
In an act of thanksgiving for their safe passage across the Chihuahuan desert, the Oñate entrada arranged for a
feast to be held and asked the Mansos to be their guests. This thanksgiving was the first to be celebrated in what
is now the United States, a full 23 years before that of the Pilgrims at the Plymouth Colony. Painting by Jose
Cisneros, courtesy of the University of Texas at El Paso Library and the artis
A Note About
Estevanico
• Estevan was a slave when he started on this
expedition
• He belonged to a man named Dorantes
• Dorantes was one of the four (out of the original
400 who survived the trip)
• So… the four survivors were de Vaca, Estevanico,
Dorantes and a man named Castillo
• Estevanico survived a failed expedition, shipwreck, angry natives and six
years among the Gulf Culture of Texas
• When Dorantes got back to New Spain, he gave Estevan to Viceroy Mendoza
• Viceroy Mendoza let Fray Marcos “use” him as a servant
• Because of this, Estevanico went on the trip to Cibola with Fray Marcos…
where he was killed by Zuni warriors
• Estevanico was the first person of African descent known to be in the New
World