Juan vasquez de coronado biography examples pdf

American history begins not with the English at Jamestown or the Pilgrims at Plymouth but with Spanish exploration of the border country from Florida to California in the 16th century. This handbook describes the expeditions of three intrepid explorers—De Soto, Coronado, and Cabrillo—their adventures, their encounters with native inhabitants, and the consequences, good and ill, of their journeys.

This little-known story is related by David Lavender, author of many books on the American West. His work gives perspective to the several national parks that commemorate the first Spanish explorations. National Park Handbooks, compact introductions to the natural and historical places administered by the National Park Service, are designed to promote public understanding and enjoyment of the parks.

These handbooks are intended to be informative reading and useful guides. More than titles are in print. They are sold at parks and by mail from the Superintendent of Documents, U. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. This 16th-century woodcut, the product of an artist with a fertile imagination but little information, epitomizes the contemporary view that European discoverers were bringing civilization to the grateful natives of the New World.

A magic date: The year began with Christopher Columbus watching the Moors surrender the city of Granada, their last stronghold in Spain, to the joint monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. He reminded them of the triumph in a summation he wrote later of what he too had accomplished that year.

Early Life and Ambitions:

By Cuba had been conquered and its cities of Santiago and Havana established as bases for further exploration. A decade later Francisco Pizarro began his dogged and even more lucrative conquest of the Incas of Peru. Meanwhile, what of the Northern Mystery, as historian Herbert E.