LA FLORIDA First Encounters

7/23/2019 LA FLORIDA First Encounters

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/la-florida-first-encounters 1/56



2

Funding for this publication and website were provided through grants from the

Florida Humanities Council with funds from the National Endowment for the

Humanities and from NTE Solutions LLC. Any views, ndings, conclusions or

recommendations expressed in this publication and website do not necessarily

represent those of the Florida Humanities Council, the National Endowment for

the Humanities or NTE Solutions LLC.

This publication was produced by Florida Living History Inc. with funding from

grants from the Florida Humanities Council, with funding from the National

Endowment for the Humanities and NTE Solutions. Florida Living History wishes to

thank all the chapter authors for their generosity in volunteering their professional

expertise and time to this endeavor. The measure of our success will be in its use by

teachers, students and parents in the teaching of Florida’s Social Studies Standardsfor grades 3, 4, and 5.

©2013 Florida Living History Inc. Reproduction or modication of this work without

credit to the original author(s) is prohibited.

Florida Living History, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) non-prot, educational organization

dedicated to the support of living history activities, events, and portrayals related to

the history of colonial Florida.

www.oridalivinghistory.org

Florida Standards met by this book:http://www.oridalivinghistory.org/#/ebooklet-standards/4571867001

Bibliographyhttp://www.oridalivinghistory.org/#/ebooklet-bibliography/4571867002

About the Authorshttp://www.oridalivinghistory.org/#/ebooklet-authors/4571867005

Resources

Acknowledgements

http://www.floridalivinghistory.org/

http://www.floridalivinghistory.org/#/ebooklet-standards/4571867001

http://www.floridalivinghistory.org/#/ebooklet-bibliography/4571867002

http://www.floridalivinghistory.org/#/ebooklet-authors/4571867005

http://www.floridalivinghistory.org/

http://www.floridalivinghistory.org/#/ebooklet-authors/4571867005

http://www.floridalivinghistory.org/#/ebooklet-bibliography/4571867002

http://www.floridalivinghistory.org/#/ebooklet-standards/4571867001



3

Table of Contents

Hyperlinks

Introduction: First Encounters .................................2

Finding the Way ...........................................................8

Spanish Soldiers in La Florida...............................16

Two Worlds Meet ......................................................34

First Foods ....................................................................39Playtime in La Florida ..............................................43

Throughout this e-booklet there are

hyperlinks to additional resources and

information. They are very useful and

provide a rich learning experience. In mostinstances, hyperlinks have been shortened

using Google URL Shortener. Though you

cannot see the exact URL that you are being

directed to, the authors guarantee that all

linked content is appropriate for students

in grads 3, 4 and 5 and on topic with the

material being discussed.

For more information about Google URLShortener, visit:

http://goo.gl/wIEw8

http://goo.gl/wIEw8

http://goo.gl/wIEw8



4

Come with us on a journey back in time.

We start our journey in the year 1492 and

end it in the year 1565. Do you know why

these two dates are signicant? You are right!

In 1492, Christopher Columbus unexpectedly

nds the Americas while searching for ashorter trade route to Asia from Europe. In

1565, Pedro Menendez de Aviles establishes

the city of Saint Augustine in Spanish La

Florida which becomes the rst permanent

European settlement in North America. In

this e-booklet, we will explore together the

profound changes that took place in the 73

years between these two dates in Florida’sand America’s history and in the lives of

Native Americans, Europeans and Africans.

At the beginning of 1492, the original

Native Americans who lived in North and

South America had never met anyone from

Europe or Africa. Likewise the people of

Europe and Africa did not know that they

were tens of millions of people living on twolarge continents separating them from Asia

to the west. These were people that they had

never met. For both these were new worlds,

new peoples and new cultures with strange

animals, plants and diseases.

By the end of 1492 what people thought

they knew about their world and their ways

of life were changed forever. Imagine what

it was like for them to meet for the rst time

on the tiny Caribbean island of San Salvador

For Christopher Columbus and his sailors,

they thought that they were meeting Asians

living on newly discovered islands off the

Asian coast. That is why they called them

Indians and the islands became known as the

West Indies, which they are still called to this

day. For the Native Americans, the Europeans

and Africans were strange looking people

dressed in clothes made from metal with

animals, weapons and other things that they

had never ever seen. For both it was both

awesome and terrifying at the same time.

At rst they may have thought that they

were dreaming. But it was not pretend or

make believe. It was real. We experience

what it might have been like from Lope de

Vega’s play Nuevo Mundo (New World), the

scene “Monster from Another World”. This is

found in the chapter “Playtime in La Florida”

A young Native American boy, Tecue, has just

seen for the rst time the big ships from Spain

and their strange cargo. The most frightening

of all was “the monster.” He runs back to the

village to tell the chief and his tribe what he

has seen in words and images drawn from his

known world. See if you can solve the riddle

When America, Europe and Africa First Meet

(1492 to 1565)By Dr. Richard L. Shortlidge, Jr.



5

and guess what it is. Also try and think of

how you might describe something you had

never seen before.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus had a

simple idea. He knew that the world was

round. The Greeks had proved

this more than 1000 years earlier.He also thought he knew how

far around the earth was at the

equator. Europeans and Asians

had been trading by land for

centuries. They knew how far it

was from Europe to Asia by land.

So as far as they knew the late

15th century world consisted ofEurope, Asia and Africa.

According to Columbus’

calculation, a shorter route to

Asia was sailing west across

vast uncharted ocean. Denitely

shorter than sailing around the

tip of Africa which is what the

Portuguese were doing. But hehad three big problems. First,

no one had ever gone on a long

voyage across a vast ocean out

of sight of land for months without getting

lost. Or if they did they never made it back

to tell their stories. Second, he needed help

paying for the trip. Third, he had to gure

out how much food and fresh water to takefor his crew, soldiers and the animals that he

would bring along on the journey.

He solved the money problem by getting

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain

to nance the trip. King Ferdinand and Queen

Isabella may have thought his proposal a little

crazy. However, if Columbus was correct,

Spain would have a great trade and economic

advantage over its main rival Portugal. So

they felt the potential pay-off to them and

Spain was much greater than the costs. Like

any new business adventure

even today there are many risksand obstacles to overcome.

The rst chapter in this

e-booklet is “Finding the Way

How Explorers Crossed Trackless

Oceans to New and Distant

Lands and Lived to Tell About

it.” By 1492, the advancements

in navigation instruments, shipbuilding and sails made it

possible to venture out of sight

of land without getting lost

Both Spain and Portugal were

the leaders in ocean navigation

Spain had also already captured

the Canary Islands just off the

North African coast. With itsfavorable easterly blowing

winds, these islands were an

ideal launch point for travel

across the open waters of the Atlantic.

In this chapter, we learn how to measure

latitude and direction using the compass,

quadrant and astrolabe. Latitude tells you

how far north or south of the equator youare. The maps of Europe, Africa and Asia

even 500 years ago contained the latitudes for

many major cities, towns, rivers, mountains

and other important landmarks.

Perhaps at this time, the major obstacle to

sailing out across uncharted ocean was the

Astrolab

Chronometer



6

fear of the unknown. That is why maps of the

time showed these uncharted waters full of

monsters and demons which scared peopleeven more. Maybe your class could talk about

times in your own lives when it was difcult

to do something for the rst time and your

own experiences with the “unknown.”

Figuring out how far east or west you had

travelled when out of the sight of land was

more difcult. If you look at very old maps

of the world, land masses look narrower thanthey actually are. In the rst chapter you will

discover how east and west distances were

measured with charts, tables and maps while

tracking time with a sandglass and speed

with the lead and line. Measuring where you

are either east or west of another location is

called longitude. It would be another couple

of hundred years before measuring longitudeis gured out and even longer before there is

global agreement on where longitude starts

and ends. The instrument for measuring

longitude is the chronometer. The starting

and ending point for longitude is called the

Grand Meridian which is located today in

Greenwich, England, just outside

London. Before agreement was

reached on Greenwich as the

site, there were many Grand

Meridians around the world

Even Washington, DC, in the

years following the AmericanRevolution was where the

Americans said the Grand

Meridian began and ended.

Packing for a trip is not easy

What we can take dependson how we are traveling – foot, bicycle,car, plane or boat. Deciding what to put

in or take out of a backpack or suitcase isdifcult. Today we can buy food and water

in stores along the way, eat in restaurants ortake along food and beverages in a coolerpacked with ice. So when we travel wedon’t need to take all the food and waterfor the entire trip.

However, Christopher Columbus did not

have these options in 1492. The Portuguesegoing to Asia around Africa followed the

coastline. They could stop every now and

then to resupply their ships with food and

water. However, if the ships head out across

a great unknown ocean for the rst time,

they had to take along all the food and water

needed for the estimated journey. This is

what astronauts do today when they travelin space. To carry more food, it needs to be

made lighter. One way to make it lighter is

to dry it and reduce the water content. Dried

vegetables, fruits and meat weigh less than

fresh ones. Also dried food does not require

refrigeration. Another way to keep meat from

Map of Florida and the Caribbean with illustrated sea monsters



7

spoiling is to salt it. These were all methods of

food preservation in 15th and 16th centuries

which are still used even today. Can you think

of some common food items today that might

t the bill for a long ocean voyage without

refrigeration? You will nd clues about what

the early explorers took along in chapter fouron “First Foods.”

But also not knowing exactly what

you were going to nd at the end of your

journey you needed to take along those

basic European domesticated animals which

would be important for your survival and

protection. So even as early as 1492, dogs,

chickens, goats, pigs, cattle and horses wereon board ships going to the Americas. With

the exception of the dog, there were no other

major four legged domesticated animals living

among the native North Americans. With

little competition and few predators, pigs,

cattle and horses in particular adapted easily

to the American environment and spread

rapidly. The introduction of these animals to

the Americas is discussed in chapter three on

“Animals of the Old and New World.”

Within the short span of 20 years after

Columbus’ rst voyage, Spain had conquered

most of the islands of the Caribbean with

devastating consequences for the Native

Americans living on them. They foundthemselves forced to work in Spanish

mines for precious metals such as gold and

silver and to cultivate the elds of Spanish

plantations. The Spanish also overlaid the

Native American society with their own form

of government, Christian religious beliefs and

practices and culture.

By far the worst aspects of these earlyencounters were the deadly bacteria, parasites

and viruses that the Spanish brought

unknowingly with them. Before the arrival

of Columbus and his men, diseases such as

small pox, inuenza, measles, chicken pox

typhoid fever, scarlet fever and the plague

were unknown in the Americas. Within just a

couple of decades after the Europeans arrived,



8

these diseases had infected, debilitated and

killed hundreds of thousands of Native

Americans living in the Caribbean. Islands,

once populated, became completely void

of native peoples. Tragically after the rst

century of Spanish conquest and exploration

the tens of millions of Native Americans livingin both North and South America had died

of diseases for which they had no immunity.

Whole cultures, societies and civilizations

were destroyed as a consequence. These

unforeseen consequences made it easier rst

for the Spanish and later the French and

English to settle and establish colonies in

the Americas. Any signicant resistance to

European colonization had vanished by the

early sixteenth century.

Chapter two describes the early explorations

of what was to become known as La Florida and

the continent of North America. If you look at

early 16th century maps of the Caribbean and

compare them to maps of the region today, youwill notice that the islands in the Caribbean and

even the big island of Cuba look very much

like modern maps. However, if you look to the

north of Cuba you will see what looks like an

island. To the early explorers, they were still not

sure if they had reached islands off the coast of

the Asian mainland or discovered whole new

continents that lay between Europe and Asia.

You might want to consider doing a display

in your class room of early 16th century maps

and late 16th century maps to see how the

continent of North America better knownat the time as La Florida after Juan Ponce de

Leon took possession in the name of the King

of Spain in 1513.

After you have read chapter two and learned

about the early explorers in La Florida such as

Ponce de Leon, Hernando De Soto, Tristan de

Luna and Pedro Menendez, you might want

to play a game of exploration using a modernmap. From chapter two you can cut out the

pictures of these early explorers. Divide your

class into two teams. The rst team takes a

picture of one of the early explorers and puts

it on the map where he may have landed

along with the year. The rst team would give

a little description of what the explorer was

looking for at the sight. The second team can

then challenge the rst team if they think the

information given by the rst team is wrong or

not accurate. If the challenge holds up then, theit is the second team’s turn to place an explorer

on the map.

Florida Living History Inc and the authors

of this e-booklet on the teaching of Florida’s

4th Grade Social Studies Educational

Standard 3, “Exploration and Settlement of

Florida,” hope that this will prove to be a

valuable resources for use in the classroom byteachers and students as well as by parents at

home with children 8 to 10 years of age. We

also would very much appreciate and value

your feedback and suggestions on how this

e-booklet can be improved to better serve

your interests and needs.

A Note to Teachers



9

How Explorers Crossed Trackless Oceans to New and

Distant Lands — and Lived to Tell about It.by Peter Cowdrey

Welcome aboard as we set sail for faraway

places, with nothing to guide us except a

compass, and estimating our position on

the Earth by means of such instruments as

the astrolabe and the quadrant, and keeping

track of where we go by means of a chartand a logbook so we can nd our way back

to our starting place.

The “Old World”and the “New World”

5 centuries ago, European explorers

were just learning about places around the

world where other people had been livingand raising families for many thousands of

years. For the explorers, these were new and

undiscovered lands, but not for the people

living there already. They were already

home, and sometimes they were amazed at

the clothing, tools, and food of the explorers.

Each group considered the other “new,” and

for the explorers the lands they found acrossthe Ocean were a “New World.”

Europe and the Far East

If we look at a globe, we can see where

the continent of Europe is in relation to the

continents of Africa and Asia, and to such

island nations in the Pacic as Japan, the

Philippines, Taiwan, and others. Europeans

had been reading Marco Polo’s book, TheTravels, for two hundred years and some

were interested in going to the Far East of

Asia in order to trade with far off people for

spices, silk, and precious metals like goldand silver, while others wanted to spread

knowledge of the Christian faith to those

who had never heard of it.

Portugal and Spain

Although like Marco Polo and other

Europeans had traveled to the Far East

by overland routes for the most part, thebest way Europeans thought they could

accomplish their goals was by ship, since

overland travel was more slow and even

more dangerous than ship travel. By 1492,

the Portuguese were trying to reach the Far

East by sailing southward around Africa and

then northeast to India and beyond, while

Christopher Columbus was attempting toreach the same Far East by sailing westward,

across the Atlantic Ocean. The Portuguese

King was supporting his own subjects in their

efforts, and Columbus had the backing of

Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain

for his voyage. In Portugal and in Spain, the

rulers hoped to gain great prots from any



10

overseas trade that they were sponsoring,

so there was competition between Portugal

and Spain for the riches of the Far East.

The Ships andThose Who Sailed in Them

Sailing ships of 500 years ago werewooden and carried sails to move them

through the water. There were different

kinds of ships for different purposes, but

they all were made of wood and they carried

their canvas sails on poles, called masts and

yards. The men who sailed in the ships were

experienced sailors who knew how to steer

the ships, to change the sails, and to do allsorts of other things sailors had to know to

keep the ship sailing smoothly and to keep

from hitting any of the reefs or rocks along

the shore or running aground in shallow

water. Everyone on board the ship had

responsibility to work as a team, and to obey

the ofcers who gave orders. The oldest men

might be 60 years old or more, and were themost experienced. They had sailed through

many storms, had survived wars at sea, and

had seen many places in the Mediterranean

Sea and in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. The

youngest people were “Ships’ Boys,” some

as young as 10, who acted as messengers,

and who kept a sharp eye on the sandglass

to turn it every half hour exactly. In thisearly period, there were no clocks, and all

time was told by a sandglass that hung close

to the helm where the steering was done by

the man holding the tiller (a horizontal pole

connected to the rudder), or a whip-staff (a

vertical pole connected to the rudder).

Those who sailed the ship were called

the crew, and the crew was divided into

two equal halves so that half of the sailors

could do their jobs in sailing the ship for

four hours at time, then the other half took

over for four hours, and so on. This went on

for 24 hours (except for the “dog watches”of 2 hours each, usually from about 4 PM

until about 8 PM), night and day, every day

of the trip. Sleep was done in naps of not

more than four hours each,1 and while half

the crew slept, the other half worked.

Food and Water

When the weather was good, hot foodcould be served once a day. There was no

refrigeration, so the food at the beginning of

a voyage, or sailing trip, was always better

than it was at the end of that voyage.

Food was limited and was served out

in measured amounts, the same as the

water. Food and water were very scarce on

board, and the longer the voyage, the moreuncertain the food and water allowance.

In their book, a secondary source (a recent

source that looks back on a historical event

from an earlier time) titled Florida’s GoldenGalleons: The Search for the 1715 SpanishTreasure Fleet, authors Robert F. Burgess

and Carl J. Clausen, described the food and

water this way:

During the early part of the voyage, when provisions were abundant and fresh,everyone ate reasonably well. Breakfastmight consist of boiled meal with molassesor our dumplings fried in pork fat. On meat

days, fresh fruit and vegetables were often



11

served with Tassajos Fritos—sun- or wind-dried jerked beef. Other meals included a

thick bean soup cooked with salt pork, andvarious meat and turtle stews. The choicest food was served to ofcers and upper-class

passengers, who often feasted on roast fowl,

wine and honey. The usual after-dinnertreat for everyone above the rank of commonseaman was a mug of chocolate, a favoritebeverage among the Spaniards since theconquest of Mexico, when Cortés’s meninherited the bitter cacao bean drink fromthe Aztecs and discovered how good it waswhen sweetened. On sh days, boiled sh

supplemented the meat, along with a kindof kidney bean soup called Mongos. Saucer-sized biscuits made of wheat our and dried-

pea our served as bread. In the course of

the voyage these weevil-ridden disks wouldbecome hard as a rock and could be skippedacross the water like at stones. When there

was an ample supply of water, the total daily

ration was three pints. A shortage reducedthe amount to a small coconut shell full.This was all that was allowed for drinkingor bathing.

This quote is taken from Robert F. Burgess

and Carl J. Clausen, Florida’s Golden Galleons:The Search for the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet

(Port Salerno, Florida: Florida Classics

Library, 1982).

Navigation, and Finding the Way

People traveling by ship had to trust their

instruments to have any idea of where they

were, or where they were going, or how

to get home. When a ship leaves its home

port and goes out of sight of land, the water

looks very much alike in any direction.

Every wave looks like every other wave,

and it would be very easy to get lost and

never nd their way at all. For that reason,

several instruments were available to these

early sailors and explorers, and there weretrained ofcers who knew exactly how to

use them. Being safe at sea was so important

to early sea travelers that according to advice

that Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdéz

gave his readers in this primary source (one

that is original to the period under study)

that was published in Spanish in 1548:

It is, moreover, a warning for the person

who is to set out to sea to inform himself ofthe following if he values his life:First of all is to know what is the state ofthe ship one boards?Second, how experienced is the pilot whowill guide it?Third, how many sailors does it carry?

Fourth, how well provisioned is it with food and water?Fifth, what stops is the ship to make on itsway to the passengers’ destination?Sixth, is the ship old or a bad sailer?Seventh, how well are the sails rigged?

If these defects exist it would be ill advised

to board such a ship. Of the pilot is notexpert, knowing it and sailing with him islike committing suicide. If the ship lacks the

sailors and people2 it should have for its size,it is a noteworthy error and very perilous.Some masters, in order to save salaries,do not staff their ships with the necessary

people, and this is disastrous in a storm, for



12

The above quote is taken from Gonzalo

Fernández de Oviedo y Valdéz, “Chapter

XXI: Of the unfortunate event and shipwreck

(which some have attributed to a lack of

prudence) of a pilot named Juan Bermúdez

who departed the port of this city of Santo

Domingo on the island of Hispaniola boundfor Castile in the year 1538 and returned

from the Azores the following year, 1539,

without making Spain,” in Misfortunes andShipwrecks in the Sea of the Indies, Islands, and

Mainland of the Ocean Sea (1513-1548): Book

Fifty of the General and Natural History of theIndies, Translated and edited by Glen F. Dille

(Gainesville: University Press of Florida,2011), pp. 99-100.

the few in times of need cannot make up forthe many when they are required. Of course,

men cannot live without the necessary foodand water. It is better that there is a loaf

of bread too much than to be short a half,because hunger is an intolerable thing.

Many times a passenger expects to be at seaten days and it turns out a hundred and hedies. The rth point, with more time and

more —to know the stops a ship is to make—is something the novice passenger does notconsider and is later very troublesome forthose not forewarned. If the ship is a bad

sailer or old or not easily steered, it is a risky

thing to board and unwise if another ship isavailable. All these things are important.

Photo of reproduction of mariner’s compass by ErickLopez, Outreach Coordinator, Mission San Luis,Tallahassee, FL

Photo by Museumof Florida

HistoryProfessional

DevelopmentOfcer Wanda

Richey,Tallahassee FL

1. The Mariner’s Compass. This was the

most important instrument on board the

ship and indicated the direction of the

magnetic north with the thirty-two major

directions arranged in a circle. In the

picture below, the north-pointing compass

indicates that north is to the right, and that

our direction is toward the west (west by

north).

2. The Quadrant. This was an instrument

for observing the North Star at night and

nding one’s latitude in the Northern

Hemisphere. The navigator sighted the

Instruments used in finding the way



13

North Star through the sights along one

side of the instrument while a weighted

string indicated the approximate latitude

on the edge, as read by an assistant.

3. The Astrolabe. The astrolabe was an

instrument for observing the sun’soverhead angle as the rst step in

determining one’s latitude during the

day. By comparing this reading with a

reference chart and doing some simple

arithmetic, the navigator could determine

how far north or south of the Equator his

ship was on any day in the 4-year Leap

Year cycle.

4. Globe. At sea, the navigator regularly

consulted a globe, such as this replica of

one designed by Martin Waldseemüller in1507. Because maps of that day gave the

earth a atness that it does not have, globes

were needed to help the navigator correct

the maps he was using. As technology

became better, globes and maps became

greatly improved, especially when the

problem of determining longitude became

solved in the 1700s.

By studying the maps of the early

explorers and those who came after them,

we can learn a great deal about how well

they understood the lands they were

visiting, including Florida.

Charting the Way.

Each day at noon the navigator plotted

on his chart how far the ship had sailed

since noon of the day before. Day by day, as

the ship moved through the water toward

some New Land, the navigator kept track of

every compass direction, latitude reading,

and distance sailed so that the ship could

safely return to its home port. All along the

way, he and those with him depended on

Photo by Museum ofFlorida HistoryProfessionalDevelopmentOfcer WandaRichey

Photo by Museum of Florida History ProfessionalDevelopment Ofcer Wanda Richey, Tallahassee FL

This primary source illustration is from Pedro de Medina’s Regimiento de Navegación (Seville: 1563).



14

his abilities to use his instruments wisely

and correctly. Direction, latitude, anddistance could be determined, but longitude

remained a mystery. Then and later storms

were a constant hazard, pirate attacks

were common, diseases posed serious and

constant dangers, and everyone prayed for

a safe voyage.

Many different people came to Florida

and elsewhere in what was being calledthe “New World.” Some were soldiers and

sailors, some were settlers who hoped to

start a new life, and some were

priests and missionaries who

hoped to spread the faith by

establishing missions among the

Native American people living

in Florida and throughout the

Americas and teaching them theCatholic faith.

They came—the old and the

young, rich and poor, military

and civilian, free and unfree,

Europeans and Africans—men,

women, and children—and they

all came on ships as this illustration

shows. Juan Ponce de Leon named this land

La Florida when he and those with himrst saw it in 1513, and in 1521 he and the

European and African explorers with himreturned to establish a permanent home inFlorida. They failed, and in later years manysimilar attempts were made—and they

also failed. With each unsuccessful attemptthe survivors learned more and eventually,

Photo by Museum of Florida History Professional DevelopmentOfcer Wanda Richey

Mid-16th century Spanish map of Florida, publishedin 1586. This primary source is provided courtesy ofthe State Archives of Florida.

1565 French map of Florida, published in 1591. This primary source is provided courtesy of theSt. Augustine Historical Society.



15

1. Why did people leave their

homeland to cross the ocean during

the 1500s and after?

2. How did people cross the ocean

long ago?

3. How safe was it for people to travel

by ship?

4. Who was responsible for nding the

way at sea?

5. What concerns did people have who

were crossing the ocean long ago?

6. What was it like to eat and drink while

on long voyages at sea?

7. What instruments did the navigator

carry with him on the ships to help him

nd the way?

1. Different people had different motives.

Some wanted to enrich themselves by

nding gold or other wealth. Some

wanted to make their fortune through

trade with people from distant lands.Government ofcials were interested

in claiming and occupying as much of

new lands as possible. Families came

looking for a new start in life, perhaps

the opportunity to acquire land and farm

it, while missionaries wanted to serve

the Native peoples and convert them to

Christianity. Many who came did not

have their names recorded, but among

the men and women who came to Floridawith Juan Ponce de León were the African

soldier, Juan Garrido, and the Spanish

navigator, Antón de Alaminos.

2. They came by ship.

Review Questions

Answers to Review Questions

following the French establishment of FortCaroline in what is today Jacksonville,Florida, Spain sent Pedro Menendez de

Aviles and a major force of soldiers andsettlers to reclaim Florida from the French

and to nally establish a permanent

presence here.That takes us to the story of the founding

of St. Augustine, the subject of a separate

lesson plan in this series.



16

3. It was dangerous to travel by ship because

it was not possible in those days to predict

the weather to know when storms were

coming, to be safe from pirates and from

the diseases that threatened the travelers.

4. The navigator was trained in the use ofinstruments and maps and charts, and

had considerable experience usually over

many years of travel at sea, and in Spain

was licensed to practice his trade. He was

a professional who knew the stars, the

sea, and the sky, and who knew how to

use the instruments he carried with him.

5. People who crossed the ocean long ago

had many concerns. Some of these were

what might be called common sense

concerns, those dealing with the ship, its

age, suitability, provisions, how long the

journey will be, how many sailors the

ship has, the experience of the navigator

or pilot (see the primary source quote byGonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdéz

above, pp. 2 and 3).

6. People crossing the ocean long ago started

out with fresh food and plenty of water,

but with no refrigeration leafy vegetables

and fresh fruit spoiled quickly. Dried or

salted meat lasted well enough, but thebread became stale, moldy, and infested

with weevils and water grew rancid with

storage (see secondary source quote by

Burgess and Clausen on p. 2, above).

7. The navigator carried with him several

instruments. The most important was

the mariner’s compass, a magnetized

instrument that indicated magnetic north

in every ocean. It had thirty-two different

directions marked on it, and the navigator

knew the names of every one of theseIt helped him to set and maintain his

course. The quadrant was a pie-shaped

instrument for measuring the height of

the North Star at night in the Northern

Hemisphere in order to nd the ship’s

latitude. The astrolabe was used in the

daytime at noon to measure the height

of the sun in order to calculate latitude.A small globe reminded the prudent

navigator of the true shape of coastlines he

was encountering and gave him a way to

correct the imperfections on the maps he

was using. The charts and maps, imperfect

as they were, gave him large drawings of

outlines of the coasts he was seeking and

provided him with a means of reachingdistant harbors and anchorages safely.

The navigator carried and used other

instruments also—instruments for telling

time without the use of clocks or watches,

and for determining the depth of the

water beneath the ship when approaching

land. He had books of instructions and

mathematical tables for reference, and heregularly consulted these as well.



17

The First Voyage (1511 – 1513)

Rumors of lands to the north Cuba, known

as the Islands of Benimy (Bimini) reached the

Spanish court around 1511 prompting King

Ferdinand to urge Ponce de Leon to nance,plan and lead an expedition to nd them,

granting Ponce de Leon a royal contract

which outlined his rights and authorities.

Research question 2: What title was

Ponce de Leon granted with respect to his

contract to search for Benimy?

March 4th 1513, Ponce departed SanGerman Puerto Rico with around 200 men

in three ships, the Santiago, the San Cristobaland the Santa Maria de la Consolacion. Ponce’s

small eet sailed northwest along the great

chain of islands then known as the Lucayos,

present Bahamas, reaching the northern end

of the chain on March 27th, Easter Sunday

Ponce then set off over open water headingwest, but being swept north by the then

unknown Gulf Stream current, he sighted

land on April 2nd, 1513 and christened it La

Florida, (“Flowery Land”) due to the lush

vegetation and it being the Easter season

which the Spanish called Pascua Florida

The Early Years (1474 – 1511)

Born in Santervás de Campos, Castile,

Spain in 1474 Ponce de Leon rst visited

the new world as a soldier accompanying

Christopher Columbus on Columbus’ssecond voyage in 1493.

After distinguishing himself Ponce

de Leon was appointed rst Governor of

Puerto Rico, then called San Juan Bautista,

in 1509. This posting

came under political

attack from Diego

Colón Moniz, theson of Christopher

Columbus, who was

engaged in a legal

battle to inherit the

titles and privileges

granted to his father.

Diego Colón nally

succeeded in establishing his claims andPonce de Leon was forced to relinquish the

Governorship to Colón in 1511.

Research question 1: Why is Diego Colón

Moniz properly referred to as Diego

Colón rather than Diego Moniz?

by Allen Hilburn

Pomce de Leon

Ponce de Leon (1474 – 1521)



18

(Festival of Flowers). The following day,

Ponce de Leon came ashore and believing

this land to be another island took possession

of the land for Spain.

April 3, 1513, Ponce de Leon rstset foot on what would become Florida

USA. Interestingly he claimed this and all

attached lands as part of La Florida, which

would indicate, no matter where you are

in North America that could be construed

as “attached” you are in what was once

Spanish Florida. ( Additional information on

the subject of navigation in the time of Ponce deLeon can be found in the Chapter 1 dealing withNavigation.)

Ponce stayed in the area of the initial

landing for about ve days, then headed

south along the coast where on April 8th

1513 he encountered, and more importantly

recognized, the Gulf Stream at its strongest

between the Bahamas and Florida. Thisstrong current forced the eet to anchor

and the smallest ship the San Cristobal was

separated from the eet for a couple of days.

Linking back up, the eet proceeded south

hugging the shore to avoid the current.

Research question 3: What was the

signicance of the discovery of the north

bound Gulf Stream for later events in the

Spanish empire?

By May 4th Ponce reached Biscayne

Bay and stopped at an island named SanMarta, now known as Key Biscayne, to take

on water. Continuing south Ponce de Leon

discovered the Florida Keys, eventually

nding a passage through to the west coast

of Florida getting as far north as Sanibel

Island before heading south where they

encountered the Dry Tortugas on June 21st

1513 before making an attempt to sail to

Cuba. Again, the Gulf Stream plays a roll and

the eet is carried east through the Straits of

Florida eventually reaching Grand Bahama

on July 8th 1513. Here the eet disbanded

and Ponce returned home arriving in Puerto

Rico on October 19, 1513.

The In-between Time (1513 – 1521)

In 1514 Ponce de Leon returns to Spain to

report personally on his expedition. There he

was knighted and awarded a personal coat

of arms by King Ferdinand, the rst Spanish

explorer to be so honored. Wile in Spain

Ponce was also awarded a new contract

conrming his rights to the “islands” of La

Florida and Benimy

Having been ordered to subdue the Caribs

who were attacking Spanish settlements in

the Caribbean, Ponce left Spain May 14th

1515 with three ships and was so engaged

until the mission ended with the death of

Ferdinand in 1516. Ponce again served as

Professor Dr. Michael Gannon speaks at the VivaFlorida 500 Summit



19

Governor of Puerto Rico from 1515 to 1519

where the Governorship and, following the

death of his wife Leonor, family matters

keep him busy.

Final Voyage (1521)

Under the provisions of the contractissued in 1514 Ponce de Leon organized

an expedition consisting of some 200 men

and two ships. In contrast to his earlier

voyage of exploration, this was a voyage of

colonization, including not just soldiers and

sailors, but priests, farmers, horses, domestic

animals and farming implements.

Soon after their arrival near CharlotteHarbor or the Caloosahatchee River on the

southwest coast of Florida, they were set

upon by Calusa warriors and Ponce de Leon

was struck in the leg by an arrow. Following

this attack the colonists withdrew back to

Havana, Cuba where Ponce de Leon died of

his wound in July of 1521 at the age of 47.

Ponce de Leon and theMyth of the Fountain of Youth

It is widely reported today that Ponce

de Leon’s explorations of La Florida were

motivated by the search for the legendary

Fountain of Youth. Many societies attribute

great signicance to water and water

sources. A widely believed myth at the timewas that of the well at the end of the world

which had magical healing properties.

It was generally believed this well was

located in India, so keeping in mind that the

Caribbean was initially thought to be near

India and even called to this day the West

Indies, the connection was logical based on

the thinking of the time.

The Fountain of Youth rumor in relation toPonce de Leon was probably initiated by the

publication of Gonzalo Fernandez’ HistoriaGeneral y Natural de las Indias published in

1535, some 14 years after the death of de

Leon. In it Fernandez states Ponce de Leon

was looking for the waters of Benimy to

regain youthfulness. This assertion is further

propagated by Francisco Lopez de Gomarain his Historia General de las Indias in 1551

The Fountain of Youth rumor was picked

up by succeeding authors and expanded

upon until Ponce de Leon and the search for

the Fountain of Youth have become almost

synonymous. The fact is the expeditions of

Ponce de Leon were in keeping with and

aimed towards the expansionist agenda ofthe Spanish beginning in the late 15th century

and continuing through the early 18th

century. The Fountain of Youth myth related

to Ponce de Leon is an excellent example of

the type of inaccuracies that can creep into

history and why a dedicated historian has

to delve deeply into the secrets of the past in

order to gain a real understanding of thosewho came before, their motivations were

and what their actually accomplished.



20

The Early Years (1496/1497 – 1539)

Born in 1497 or 1497 in the Extemadura

region of Spain, two towns claim to be his city

of birth, Barcarrola

and Badajoz both

of which he spent

time in during his

childhood. De Soto

rst sailed to the

new world with

the rst Governorof Panama,

Pedrarias Davila,

where he gained

gained fame for his

abilities as a soldier, including the capture

and subsequent ransom of native leaders.

Keep in mind, the ransom of captured

noblemen was common in Europeanconicts, so while some sources point to this

as an example of de Soto’s brutality, it was

in keeping with the practices of the time in

the old world.

In 1530, de Soto became a regidor of

Leon, Nicaragua and explored the Yucatan

Peninsula before joining Francisco Pizarro

in campaigns against the Incas where deSoto distinguished himself, quickly being

promoted to Captain. Here again, ransom

was used to acquire more wealth, and de

Soto, who was actually of quite humble

nancial status, became very wealthy.

Research question 4: What is a regidor?

In 1534 de Soto returned to Spain with his

new found wealth where he was admitted

to the Order of Santiago, a Spanish orderof knighthood. During this period de Soto

married Isabela de Bobadilla, and was

granted governorship of Cuba. As part of

this contract, he was expected to colonize the

North American continent for Spain within

four years. A tall order to say the least.

Florida (1539 – 1540) Departing Havana in seven ships of the

King and two caravels of his own, de Soto

made landfall in Tampa Bay near Shaw’s

Point, Bradenton Florida in May of 1539

which he named Espiritu Santo (Holy Spirit)

Here, at what is now De Soto National

Memorial, de Soto came ashore with some

620 colonists and supplies, including soldiers,mercenaries, craftsman, clergy, engineers,

farmers and tons of equipment including

the weapons and armor so associated with

Spanish Conquistadors.

Research question 5: What does

Conquistador mean in English?

Undoubtedly to his surprise, de Sotomeets Juan Ortiz, a member of the earlier,

failed, Narvaez Expedition who has been

held by the Uzita natives. Ortiz joins de

Soto’s party acting as interpreter and

guide. Leaving the Tampa Bay area, de Soto

raveled north along Florida’s West Coast

ghting a running battle with the natives

Hernando de Soto (1496/1497 – 1542)

Hernando de Soto



21

Born in Borobia, Spain in 1519, Tristan

de Luna y Arellano, after serving with

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in Mexico

was selected by the Viceroy of New Spain

(Mexico), Luis de Velasco to establish a colony

on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico

and setup an overland trade route to the

yet-to-be established colony of Santa Elena

in present-day South Carolina. De Luna’s

expedition was massive in comparison to

Ponce de Leon’s and de Soto’s, consisting of

some thirteen ships and over 1500 soldiers

and settlers. Unfortunately, de Luna proved

to not the leader one could have hope for and

a series of disasters plagued the endeavor

from its outset.

On June 11, 1559, the de Luna Expedition

departed Vera Cruz, Mexico, arriving in

what is now Pensacola Bay on August 14,

1559. There, at the site currently occupied by

until he reaches Anhaica in Florida’s

western panhandle, where he encamps for

the winter. Here, near present Tallahassee,

De Soto and his men celebrated the rst

Christmas in what is now, the continental

United States and Canada.

After Present-day Florida(1740 – 1743)

The spring of 1740 de Soto leaves present-

day Florida, heading north east into present

Georgia. During the remainder of 1740

through 1741 de Soto explores areas of the

present states of Georgia, the Carolinas, and

Tennessee, crossing the Mississippi Rivernear present Memphis, Tennessee. Cutting

back through North West Georgia de Soto

then passed through, Alabama, Mississippi,

and Arkansas. The winter of 1741 was spent

in Autimique on the Arkansas River In 1742

Juan Ortiz dies and de Soto’s path becomes

more erratic, wondering through Arkansas,

possibly Oklahoma, Texas and possibly a

small part of Louisiana. May 21, 1542, almost

exactly three years after landing in Florida,

de Soto dies of fever. Historians disagree

as to the exact location, but possibly either

near present-day MacArthur Arkansas or in

Louisiana. Before his death de Soto appoints

Luis de Moscoso Alvarado as commanderof the expedition. De Moscoso leads the

expedition back to the Mississippi River

where they build boats, sail down the river

and along the gulf coast to Matagorda Bay

in Texas near Aransas or Corpus Christi Bay,

where they traveled overland to Mexico

City, arriving in mid to late 1543.

For ease of reference, I have referred toHernando de Soto’s travels with relation to the

present-day states through which he traveled;but a point to keep in mind. Recall the initialclaim by Ponce de Leon regarding La FloridaBased on this claim, all of de Soto’s travels in thenew world could be said to have taken place inLa Florida.

Tristan de Luna y Arellano and the Founding of Pensacola (1559)



22

The Early Years(1519 – March 20, 1565)

Pedro Menendez de Aviles (1519 – 1574)

was born on the northern Iberian Peninsula

in the Asturian Region of Spain on February

15, 1519, and is perhaps one of the more

colorful characters in the history of Spanish

Florida. A sailor, Menendez, operated as a

corsario (privateer) and with all probability

as a contrabandista (smuggler) for much of

his career before receiving a contract from

Philip II in 1565 to establish a colony on the

Naval Air Station

(NAS) Pensacola,

they established

the encampment

of Puerto de Santa

Maria and began a

reconnaissance ofthe area. De Luna

also dispatched

one of his ships

back to Vera Cruz

to report on the

successful landing and two ships to Spain,

bringing the number of vessels on hand

down to ten.Unfortunately de Luna waited to unload

his supplies from the ships while these

scouting missions were ongoing. On the

night of September 19th 1559 a hurricane

devastated the anchorage resulting in the

loss of seven ships and their supplies with

one caravel aground, but with it’s cargo

recoverable.The shore party abandoned the

encampment and moved up the Alabama

River to the village of Nanipacana

(Nanipacna or Ninicapua), renaming this

abandoned village Santa Cruz, where

they lived for several months awaiting the

arrival of the relief ships from Vera Cruz.

Once they arrived, these relief supplies got

the de Luna party through the winter, but

supplies expected to arrive in the spring hadnot arrived by September. The deteriorating

situation led to a near mutiny when some

colonists began refusing de Luna’s orders

This situation was averted when Angel de

Villafane arrived and offered to take all who

wished to Cuba and Santa Elena. The majority

of the party departed with de Villafane,

including de Luna, who never returned toFlorida, dieing in Mexico in 1571.

De Villafane left fty men under Captain

Biedma at the Pensacola colony awaiting

further orders from Viceroy Velasco

When after several months the remaining

Spaniards sailed away marking the end of

the de Luna attempt to establish a colony

on Pensacola Bay. The area would remainuninhabited by Europeans until 1698 when

the Spanish successfully founded the city

of Pensacola.

Tristan de Luna y Arellano

Pedro Menendez de Aviles andthe Founding of Saint Augustine (1565)



23

east coast of La Florida which went into

effect with the King afxing his signature on

March 20, 1565.

Research question 6: What is the

difference between a corsario and a pirata

(pirate)?Research question 7: What did the Spanish

call the contracts issued to Ponce de Leon

and Pedro Menendez de Aviles?

Cadiz to Saint Augustine(March 20th, 1565-September 8th, 1565)

As part of

this contract,the Adelantado

( M e n e n d e z )

was required

to fulll certain

o b l i g a t i o n s .

These included

establ i sh ing

se t t lements ,but also the

expulsion of

the French who

had established

a fort, Fort Caroline, on the St. Johns river

near the current location of Jacksonville,

Florida.

As one of his obligations under theasiento, King Philip II provided Menendez

with ten ships, most ranging from sixty

to seventy-ve tons, including the galley

Victoria, but also including the caravel San

Antonio of one hundred and fty tons. To

the Kings ten ships, Pedro Menendez added

his own, San Pelayo, at over 900 tons, by far

the largest ship in the eet, thus bringing

the eet to a total of eleven sail. (Note: In the

age of sail, it was common to refer to the numberof ships in a eet as so many sail, rather than so

many sailing ships.)

Research question 8: What is the

distinguishing feature of a galley?

This was however not all of the Menendez

Expedition. Besides the eet at Cadiz, other

ships were sailing from northern Spain with

additional personnel and supplies, and a eet

under command of Pedro de las Roelas had

sailed somewhat earlier. Both of these eetsintended to rendezvous with the Menendez

and his eet in the Caribbean. As you can see,

this was a massive undertaking. The reader

will also note how these expeditions have

increased, almost exponentially, in size from

the 200 men accompanying Ponce de Leon,

to the just over six hundred with the de Soto

expedition to the thousands participatingwith Pedro Menendez.

By the end of June, Pedro Menendez had

assembled his eet at Cadiz in preparation for

the crossing to La Florida via the Caribbean

Onboard the eleven ships were some fteen

hundred souls, eight hundred plus of whom

were soldiers, but also consisting of tailors,

carpenters, shoemakers, millers, masons,silversmiths, gardeners, barbers, a hat-

maker, a weaver of silk and a brewer. All

in all, there were some thirty-eight trades

represented not to mention almost one

hundred and twenty farmers. Along with

all these landsmen, the ships company,

Pedro Menendez



24

that is those sailors and seamen who were

responsible for actually sailing the ships,

numbered some one hundred and seventy,

including eighteen artillerymen or, to use

the nautical term, gunners. This was not,

however, an all male endeavor for aboard

the San Pelayo sailed twenty-seven families,including women and children. And least

we forget, the massive inuence of religion

in the time of Menendez, no less than seven

priests accompanied the colonists, including

Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales,

whose writings will chronicle the Menendez

Expedition for future generations.

Wednesday, June 27, 1565, under a clearsky, Pedro Menendez de Aviles and his eet

weigh anchor and depart the ancient city of

Cadiz sailing west into the Atlantic. Following

an uneventful passage, on July 4, 1565, the

eet entered the harbor at Las Palmas on the

island of Great Canary in the Canary Islands

chain. Here, after resupplying, eight ships

sailed on for the Windward Islands of theCaribbean while three ships stayed behind,

making preparation to return to Spain.

This passage would prove to be not as easy

as the passage from Cadiz to the Canaries.

On July 21, 1565 the eet was struck by a

hurricane which caused serious damage to

all the ships including the Pelayo which lost

two masts and was in danger of founderingsince she lacked maneuverability without

her sails. When the storm abated on July

23, 1565, one ship had become lost and one

had run aground and sunk on the island of

Guadalupe. As a result, Menendez decided

to forego the Windwards and make directly

for Puerto Rico. The Pelayo, under jury rig,

along with the remaining ve ships, arrived

in San Juan harbor on August 8, 1565.

This was a serious setback for Menendez

His ships were in desperate need of repair,

he had lost two of them with their personnel

and supplies and to make matters worse, theexpected rendezvous with his northern eet

and the third eet under Pedro de las Roelas

had failed to materialize. In one of those

strange turns history sometimes takes, to

the rescue comes Juan Ponce de Leon. Juan,

of the family of Ponce de Leon, was a large

landowner with good credit. He and Pedro

Menendez was able to negotiate a businessarrangement in which Menendez was able

to establish a line of credit in exchange for

basically cutting Juan Ponce in on some of

the rights Menendez exercised under his

contract with the King. This alliance also

provided him with a point of supply near

at hand in Pureto Rico which could be

invaluable in the future.While retting his existing ships,

Menendez was able to acquire one additional

ship and two small boats. He also recruited

forty two soldiers but this gain was offset by

the desertion of thirty of his men and three

of the Priests.

Planning on visiting Havana to

acquire reinforcements, Pedro Menendezdeparted San Juan on August 15, 1565,

with his revamped eet, heading west and

crossing the Mona Passage before sighting

Hispaniola, modern Haiti and the Dominican

Republic, on August 15, 1565. At this point

the Adelantado abandons his plan to go to



25

Havana, possibly due to concerns about

being intercepted by the French and heads

directly for La Florida, navigating through he

dangerous shoals of the Bahamas. Emerging

into the Gulf Stream, the eet sailed North

West sighting land near Cape Canaveral

then tuning North toward Fort Caroline.At about the same time a French resupply

eet had arrived on the River May (St. Johns

River) under the command of Jean Ribault.

Around two in the afternoon of

September 4, 1565 Menendez sighted four

ships anchored in the mouth of a great river

and observing French colors ying from

the masthead, realized this to be Ribault,who Menendez had known was en route

to resupply Fort Caroline, and had been

hoping to beat to the fort before it could be

resupplied and reinforced. Having dispense

with landing in Havana to reinforce his

own ships in order to beat Ribault to Fort

Caroline, Menendez was now faced with

the possibility he was going to be encountera superior force. Menendez, corsario that

he was, decided on the direct approach, as

soon as the winds were favorable, he would

attack the French eet.

It was well after dark when the wind

began to blow and the Spanish eet was able

to move in on the French. Menendez’ plan

was to anchor near the French and attack atrst light. This was not to be however. As

the Spanish approached the French ships,

the they haled the French, demanding they

identify themselves. The French responded

they were French, under the authority of the

French King and command of Jean Ribault.

Demanding the Spanish identify themselves,

the Spanish responded they were under the

command of Pedro Menendez de Aviles,

the Adelantado of Florida and under orders

form the Spanish King to capture any French

heretics they found in Spanish lands and

bring them to justice, which he intended todo as soon as it was light. The French scoffed,

replying why wait?. The exchange then

deteriorated into curses and name calling,

infuriating Menendez, who decided not to

wait but to attack immediately. Anchoring

Pelayo forward of Ribault’s agship, Trinite,

Menendez began paying out his anchor line

in order to bring Pelayo alongside TriniteAs this was being accomplished, the French

eet cut their cables, raised sail and began to

move off to leeward. San Pelayo got off ve

shots from her massive bronze guns, but in

the darkness was not able to determine if any

damage had been done to the French ships.

Hoisting anchor and giving pursuit, the

Spanish ships chased the French throughoutthe night, but were unable to keep up,

probably due to the damage sustained during

the hurricane in July and the fact that the

French had unloaded their cargo and were

therefore lighter than the still fully loaded

Spanish ships. By dawn it was obvious the

French had escaped so Menendez ordered

the eet to regroup and considered animmediate assault on the French position

ashore. Unfortunately, the shoal area near

the shore prevented the Pelayo form being

able to get in close enough for this plan to

work, so Menendez abandoned the idea and

determined to establish his own base from



26

which to pursue a longer, more drawn out

campaign.

Sailing south, the Spanish eet anchored

off Saint Augustine, which they had

discovered a few days before. There, on

September 8th, 1565, Pedro Menendez de

Aviles came ashore and was sworn in as

the Adelantado, as well as the Captain-

General and Governor of La Florida. This

ceremony was followed by feasting along

with some of their new native allies and the

giving of thanks for their successful arrival

in Florida. Thus begins the history of the

oldest continuously occupied European city

in what was to be the continental United

State and Canada, with the celebration of the

rst Thanksgiving.

Immediately following, construction of

what would be the rst in a series of wooden

forts was begun, while simultaneously plans

were made to move against the French in

Fort Caroline. During this period, the French

perform a reconnaissance of the Spanish

activity at Saint Augustine and begin planning

their attack which they determine should

proceed immediately while the Spanish

forces are split up working on multiple

projects, including construction of their fort

After some delay, Ribault’s eet sails south

with some four hundred soldiers and two

hundred seamen to attack Saint Augustine.

Being concerned that the San Pelayo was

at the mercy of hurricanes, in unknown

waters and could be sunk or captured by

the French, Menendez determined to have

her sail to Hispaniola, returning in January

She sailed just after midnight on September

10th, 1565. At dawn, the French eet arrived,

having just missed the San Pelayo. As she was

the most formidable ship the Spanish had,

they, the French, set off in pursuit intending

to capture or sink her.

First Muster © Jackson Walker http://jacksonwalkerstudio.com/

http://jacksonwalkerstudio.com/

http://jacksonwalkerstudio.com/



27

Two days later, a storm, possibly a hurricane,

blew up and realizing this storm would

prevent the French eet from returning to Fort

Caroline, Menendez, having been advised by

the natives that he could reach the French

fort by traveling up the river now known as

the Matanzas River, decided to immediatelyattack Fort Caroline. Prior to marching north

to attack Fort Caroline, on September 16th

1654 Pedro Menendez established a Militia

which would remain in Saint Augustine as

a defense in case the French eet returned

while he was away attacking Fort Caroline.

This was the rst muster of civilian soldiers

in Florida which today is sighted as the rstmuster of the Florida National Guard.

On September 18, 1565, two days after

mustering the militia, Pedro Menendez,

personally lead an expedition of 500 men at

arms north toward Fort Caroline. Arriving

in the area of the French outpost, September

20, 1565, the Spanish attacked Fort Caroline

at dawn, easily gaining entry to the fortand it’s depleted garrison. Inside, a bloody

skirmish ensues with over a hindered

French causalities.

In the meantime, Ribault’s eet had

suffered disastrously, all but one sunk or

aground near Mosquito (Ponce de Leon)

Inlet. The crew of the one ship to survive

deciding to desert Florida and head in to theCaribbean. Ashore, the castaways, formed

into two groups and set off toward the north

and Fort Caroline.

September 28, 1565, friendly native bring

news of a large number of Frenchmen some

eighteen miles south near a small inlet

Menendez sets off with one company of

men and a French interpreter, arriving at

the inlet the morning of September 29, 1565

A parley is held with the French in whichthey are advised that no promise of safety

will be given if they surrender. As their only

other option after hearing of the capture

of Fort Caroline is to set off to the south

where starvation and capture by the natives

is assured, they surrender and are ferried

across the inlet where all but a few skilled

individuals are executed.Returning to Saint Augustine, Menendez

begins writing his rst report to the King

since arrival in Florida. He is interrupted

when he is advised that a second group of

French have arrived at the inlet. This time

he takes 150 men with him as he heads

back to the inlet. Arriving on the morning

of October 11, the proceedings were muchthe same as before, only this time half the

French decided to take their chances to

the south. The rest, including Jean Ribault

surrendered, and again after sparing a few

skilled men, the remainder including Ribault

were put to death. Today this area bears the

name Matanzas, Spanish for slaughter in

remembrance of the vengeance of MenendezWhile this tactic was somewhat common at

the time, it remains the largest stain on the

memory of Pedro Menendez.



28

This is an intriguing period from the

perspective of a weapons historian. The age

of the Conquistadors combines elementsof the days of knights in shining armor

and that of rearms, for both exist at this

juncture of history.

The Arms and Armor of Old

Carried by the Conquistadors are a

number of medieval offensive and defensive

systems. Offensive systems in includedswords, notably the rapier, crossbows, while

defensive systems included shields, helmets

and chain and/or plate armor.

The Sword

The rapier, a gentleman’s blade, is a longthrusting weapon designed for use by askilled individual. It would serve for bothoffensive and personal defense use. Due

to their length and the relative thinness ofthe blade, rapiers were not suited for useaboard ship or in conned spaces such as

the thick vegetation encountered ashore

by the early explorers. The carrying ofa rapier served more as a badge of rank

than a weapon to be used during andexpedition, so many, especially those ofnoble birth, did carry them. There is someevidence that the explorers would havethe blades replaced with stouter unitsfor eld use. Pictured left, a couple of

typical Spanish a cup-hilt rapiers. Otherdesigns featured a scroll like hilt, but the

employment was similar.The rapier was sometimes employed

with a shorter, dagger like weapon called a

main-gauche (French for “left hand”) that

acted to perry or trap the opponents blade

The rapier would have been worn on the

hip, left hip for a right handed individual,

while the main-gauche would have been

worn diagonally, tilted to the left, acrossthe back. The sword would be drawn using

the right hand, and the main-gauche drawn

with the left.

The Crossbow

This is one of the premier ranged

weapons of history, originating somewhere

in the middle of the 4

th

century BC, butexactly where or with what culture remains

a mystery. European use of the crossbow

can be documented during the 5th century

by the Greeks, and versions existed that

ranged from individual carried weapons to

artillery sized even predating the catapult in

this latter respect.

Of Arms and Armor in the Age of the Conquistadors



29

The rst recorded introduction of the

crossbow to La Florida was with Ponce de Leon,

and its use in Florida

continued through the

establishment of Saint

Augustine, with Pedro

Menendez. In fact, whilemuch focus is placed upon

early rearms during the

Conquistador period,

crossbows undoubtedly

outnumbered them,

as they were not

subject to logistical

shortcomings, ie lack ofgun powder, and they

were less expensive

both to produce and to

operate.

The crossbow, like

the bow, res an arrow

like projectile, but the crossbow

“quarrel” is shorter in lengthand has only two opposing

feathers or wooden ns where

arrows can have three feathers.

This is to allow the quarrel to

pass between the corssbow’s

stock and the bow string, a

design consideration the bow

does not share. Crossbows arealso easier to train soldiers to

use effectively when compared

to the bow and the length of time required

to so train them is very greatly reduced. To

train a long bowman typically takes years, the

recruit beginning training at a very young age.

In contrast, training of a crossbowman will

only take a few weeks, thus allowing masses

of crossbowman to be

deployed to the battleeld

much more rapidly and to

be, likewise, replaced much

more rapidly. Crossbowsalso allow for much

higher draw weights, the

draw weight being the

peak amount of weight

in pounds or other

units that an archer will

pull while drawing the

bowstring to the rearWhile long bows are

limited by what a man

could draw using the

strength his arm alone,

crossbows can employ

various mechanical

methods to assist in the drawing

of the bowstring includingleaver type devices and hand

cranked wenches. While the

rate of re of a long bow is

much greater than a crossbow

this ability to mechanically

cock a crossbow means the

crossbow can have a draw

weight of hundreds of poundsthereby greatly increasing its

power and range.

As with modern ammunition, crossbow

quarrels were “mission specic”. By this

we mean, they were designed for specic

purposes, like general hunting or armor



30

piercing. The main difference in these

variations was the metal tip of the quarrel.

Where a hunting quarrel would have a

attened point, a metal piercing quarrel

would have a much heavier tip that would

be square in cross-section rather than at.

Chainmail

Dating back

to the 3rd century,chainmail is atype of armormade up ofi n t e r l o c k i n g

links. Small rings are made with theiroverlapping ends riveted together. It iseffective against sword slashes, but less

so against thrusting weapons and arrows.It’s advantages are that it is exible, of

relatively light weight and less expensivethen plate armor.

Chainmail could be worn alone, or in

combination with plate armor, which was very

common during the medieval period.

Plate Armor

Plate armor has been in use since at least the

Roman-era, but full plate armor, the type we

usually think of

when we picture

an armored

knight, was a

development of

the Late Middle

Ages (1300 -

1500). By the

time of Ponce de

Leon, we were

approaching the

end of this period,

and with the advent

of rearms, the

tactical use of plate

armor was waning.

Plate armor is

effective against

swords and arrows,

but less so against

the more powerful

crossbow quarrel

Typically, during the

exploration of La

Florida, the arm and

leg pieces had been done away with and the

chest and head protection all that was used

In ceremonial situations, however, more

elaborate plate armor was still seen.

Interestingly, in recent times, plate armor

has made a reappearance, although the

plates are now made of ceramic material



31

rather than steel. Sometimes are called plate

carriers, that is a fabric vest with pockets

into which the plates are placed, are now

in quite common use by modern military

organizations. As a result, the Spanish soldier

with his helmet and chest armor looks much

less antiquated.

Quilted Armor

Quilted armor in its simplest form is

designed to help distribute the force of any

received blows like other types of armor. It

was primarily used by individuals of lessor

means as it was very inexpensive and easily

self fabricated. It also served as an underarmor garmet for plate and other type of

metal armor to prevent chafng.

Many variations of this type or armor

exist. In some instances, scrap metal plates

could be sewn into the fabric or hard leather

scales could be attached to the exterior.

The Horse

Also of great importance as a weaponwas the horse, which could be armoredin its own right and effectively acted asa modern tank would during a battle,transporting the soldado at great speed

and placing him above the fray where hecould attack from this high ground. Thephysiological effect alone would havebeen devastating, at least initially. Later inour history, the plains Indians would bedescribed as the world’s best light cavalry,which points out the eeting nature of

technological advantage in war.



32

Handgonnes

Also referred to as the gonne or handcannon, the handgonne is perhaps a

modication of the crossbow, where the bow

has been removed and a small cannon barrel

has been lashed or otherwise attached to the

crossbows stock. The handgonne probably

originated in China in the 1200s. The earliest

European use of such weapons dates from

the 14th

centuryThe handgonne was operated by one or

two men, one to load and aim the other to

use a botafuego to

re the handgonne.

The botafuego

was a stick with

a fork like metal

end which holdsmatch cord to

igniting muzzle

loading cannons

etc. These weapons

were marginally

effective, probably more of a psychological

weapon than anything else. However when

loaded with shot consisting of multipleprojectiles, similar to a modern shotgun

using buckshot, they could be quite

devastating at close range. Unfortunately

the reloading process was not conducive

to use in close quarter combat where an

adversary could use a sword on the gunner

while he was trying to reload.

By the time of Ponce de Leon this was

old technology, however, in larger calibers

(1-inch or above) they would have provided

usable, easily transportable repower on the

order of a small eld gun (cannon).

The Matchlock

Technically an arquebus or harquebus,

but generally referred to as a matchlock

today. The matchlock or matchlock full

musket weighed about seventeen pounds

and was red using a support stick as was

the custom with the handgonne, while the

arquebus weighed on average around ten

pounds and could be red without the

support stick. The lock, or lock plate on both

was similar, so we will refer to both here as a

matchlock for clarity’s sake.

The matchlock was rst appeared in

Europe in the mid-15th century and in

common use by the beginning of the16th

century. Interestingly, while gun powder was

the invention of the Chinese, the matchlock

was a European invention, introduced to the

Orient by the Portuguese in 1543. Therefore

all of our explorers, including Columbus

(1492) had access to matchlock weapons.

The matchlock improved on the

handgonne by offering a lighter individual

weapon with improved aiming and accuracy

It’s major drawback was its inability to be

reloaded and re quickly and the inherent

danger of a lit match cord in close proximity

The Dawn of Modern Firearms



33

to gun powder. The matchlock was

used in conjunction with what was

called the twelve apostles, twelve

wooden containers, each containing

a single powder charge, suspended

from a strap worn diagonally across

the body. In some instances there wasa larger apostle which held priming

powder while in other cases, a separate

priming ask or horn was employed.

Attached to the lower end of the diagonal

strap was a pouch which held the bullets.

Loading a matchlock consisted of

holding the burning match cord away from

the powder as the soldado primed the panof the weapon using the larger apostle or

separate priming ask or horn. He then

charged the matchlock by selecting a full

apostle and pouring the powder down the

barrel. A bullet was then selected from the

bullet pouch and placed in the barrel and

extracting the scouring stick, what we now

refer to as a ram rod, he rammed downthe ball, seating it and the powder charge

in the breech of the matchlock. The match

cord was then placed in the serpentine and

tested to make sure it was in line with the

pan, which was closed to prevent premature

discharge. The weapon was ready to re.

Firing consisted of opening the pan

and squeezing the trigger in an upwarddirection causing the serpentine to

descend with the lit match cord into the

pan igniting the priming powder which

ashed trough the touch hole igniting the

main charge in the breech and discharging

the weapon.



34

Answers to Research Questions

1. In Spain the rst name is followed by

the father’s surname then the mother’smaiden surname For legal purposes it

is proper to refer to oneself using only

the rst name and father’s surname and

when naming children the father’s name

is passed along exclusive of the mother’s

maiden name.

2. Adelantado

3. Because of the powerful boost provided

by the current, it would soon become the

primary route for eastbound ships leaving

the Spanish Indies bound for Europe

4. A member of a council of municipalities,

effectively a city councilman.

5. A conqueror.

6. A corsario or privateer is a private man

of war, operating under a contract known

as a letter of marque and reprisal by theEnglish and more commonly referred to

simply as a letter of marque. This letter

of marque, at least in theory, exempts the

holder from being hung as a pirate. This,

however, requires the capturing nation

to recognize the holder as exempt which

was often not the case.

7. An asiento, specically the contract that

granted the title Adelantado was an

Adelantamiento. The bearer of such a

contract could be correctly referred to as

Adelantado, as we would, today, refer to

the Governor of Florida as Governor.

8:. It can be powered by sweeps, large oars

that can be run out the sides of the ship,

as well as by sail.



35

As early as 1492, Spanish explorers likeChristopher Columbus had been carryingEuropean animals on their voyages ofexploration and colonization. European

breeds of dogs, chickens, pigs, goats andcattle were all established on islands inthe Caribbean.

In 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon became the

rst known European to set foot in what

is today the United States of America. Heand his human shipmates, however, werenot alone. On board Ponce’s ships, and

in the later Spanish voyages of discoveryand settlement, came the rst European

animals—horses, dogs, cattle and hogs

and even such unwelcome visitors as therat and cockroach.

It was a meeting not only of cultures, but

of worlds. While the Spanish brought new

species of animals to America, they also

met amazing new creatures they had never

before seen. Humans and animals met and

mixed in the Spanish colony of Florida,

helping create the state we know today.

What Was Here?

Spanish explorers who reached the

shores of Florida discovered a strange and

fascinating new world of animal species.

They found a land teeming with exotic

animals, some of them completely unlike

anything they had ever seen in Europe.

Among the new animals the Spanish

encountered in Florida were:

• Alligators

• American Crocodiles

• Manatees

• Whitetail Deer

• Red Wolves

• Florida Panther

It was not only on land that the Spanish

encountered new varieties of wildlife

Sailing past the southern tip of Florida in the

spring of 1513, Ponce de Leon’s crew caught

fourteen “Lobos Marinos,” or Caribbean

Monk Seals, as well as hundreds of sea

turtles. Ponce de Leon named the islands on

Animals from the Old World and the Newby Andrew Batten

This 16th Century drawing shows members of theTimucua tribe hunting alligators



36

which he found the turtles the “Tortugas,”

the Spanish name for the species, a name

that exists to this day.

Later Spanish explorers also took

advantage of Florida’s abundant wildlife,

and found some of it delicious. Hernando

de Soto, passing through northern Florida

in the summer of 1539, named one river he

crossed “The River of Deer” (today known

as the Suwannee River) because a local

native village offered him several whitetail

deer as food.

Timucua preserving meat using woodsmoke on a framecalled a barbacoa—the source of our modern barbeque

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

http://goo.gl/akMjW

http://goo.gl/s8wUI

http://goo.gl/DG8Rn

What Came With The Spanish?Florida is a land of rsts in terms of the

introduction of non-native species. The rst

European horse to arrive on our shores sailed

with Ponce de Leon in 1513, although it is not

known if the horse made it ashore. It is also

unknown if Ponce brought his famous war-

dog (a greyhound named Bercerillo), on his

rst voyage to Florida. If so, than this was the

rst European breed of dog on Florida soil.

Ponce’s second voyage to Florida in 1521

introduced cattle and hogs, which may have

been the origin of the feral hogs and “cracker”

cows of today. Coming not to explore but to

establish a settlement, Ponce brought a full

inventory of livestock for his new colony

on the west coast of Florida (near today’s

Charlotte Harbor). One account of Ponce de

Leon’s cargo states “as a good colonist, he

A Sixteenth Century engraving shows Florida nativehunters wearing deerskins to stalk their prey

Greyhound, similar to Ponce de Leon’s war dog“Bercerillo”

http://goo.gl/akMjW

http://goo.gl/s8wUI

http://goo.gl/DG8Rn

http://goo.gl/DG8Rn

http://goo.gl/s8wUI

http://goo.gl/akMjW



37

way to the shores of Florida in those early

days of exploration.


http://crackercattle.org/

http://goo.gl/GhAC7

http://goo.gl/Z8rpZ

http://goo.gl/JBgNI

http://goo.gl/prA55

http://goo.gl/llZUZ

What is Missing?

Many native species which would have

greeted the Spanish explorers in 16th century

Florida are now extinct. The Caribbean Monk

Seal, which Ponce de Leon’s men captured off

(Ponce) carried mares and heifers and pigs

and sheep and goats and all sorts of useful,

domestic animals to serve the people.”

Ponce de Leon’s settlement failed, and the

colonists quickly ed back to their homes in

the Caribbean. It is not known if they took

their animals or not. What is known is thatone of the next Spanish Explorers, Hernando

de Soto, brought even larger herds of animals

on his voyage of exploration and conquest.

Hernando de Soto landed on the west

coast of Florida (somewhere near present

day Tampa) in the spring of 1539. He did not

come to settle, but to explore. Still, de Soto

brought with him a good supply of animals—240 horses, several breeds of dog (probably

greyhounds, mastiffs and deerhounds) and

a herd of pigs. Not the fat, pink pigs that we

think of today, Spanish pigs of the Sixteenth

Century were small, strong and used to

rooting for their own food. These hogs

were not only hardy, but they reproduced

at a fantastic rate, providing fresh meat tode Soto’s men all the way along their four

year trek through the Southeast. Some of the

hogs, however, wandered off along the way,

establishing a population of feral hogs which

today number in the millions throughout

the southern United States.

Along with useful animals like horses,

hogs and dogs, there were other species whorst traveled to Florida with the Spanish. A

shipwrecked Spanish vessel discovered in

Pensacola Bay shows that black rats had

reached Florida by at least 1559, and it is

probable that cockroaches followed them

as well. Even unwelcome pests made their Mayan rendering believed to represent the Caribbean Monk Seal

T his medieval illustration shows the type of hogsthat would have come to Florida with the Spanish.Here, a swineherd knocks acorns from the trees forhis hogs to eat.


http://goo.gl/GhAC7

http://goo.gl/Z8rpZ

http://goo.gl/JBgNI

http://goo.gl/prA55

http://goo.gl/llZUZ

http://goo.gl/llZUZ

http://goo.gl/prA55

http://goo.gl/JBgNI

http://goo.gl/Z8rpZ

http://goo.gl/GhAC7




38

the Florida Keys, is now extinct. The wildlife

of this new world seemed so abundant to the

Spanish and later explorers and settlers that

it was impossible to imagine that some of it

might vanish forever, and yet it did.

Some of the other species found in

Sixteenth Century Florida which are nowextinct include:

• Carolina parakeet

• Passenger pigeon

• Eastern bison

• Eastern cougar

• Red wolf (considered virtually extinct

in the wild, although a small population

is maintained in several Florida zoos)


http://goo.gl/4AbYv

http://goo.gl/GjudG

http://goo.gl/5KEsI

IV.“A Two-Way Street” Just as the Spanish imported new

species into the Americas, so they were also

sending American animals back to Europe.

Small monkeys from South America, like

Although she later became Queen of

England, Kathryn of Aragon was bornand raised in Spain. Here she holds aspider monkey, circa 1530.

Two Spanish princesses pose with their parrot

This elegant Spanish lady has her maid hold two pet cotton-top tamarin monkeys, natives of South America. Portrait circa 1585.

http://goo.gl/4AbYv

http://goo.gl/GjudG

http://goo.gl/5KEsI

http://goo.gl/5KEsI

http://goo.gl/GjudG

http://goo.gl/4AbYv



39

cotton-top tamarins and spider monkeys,

and all types of tropical birds became popular

fashion accessories for elegant Spanish

ladies. The Atlantic Ocean now carried

animal settlers in both directions—horses,

dogs, cows and pigs to the New World and

monkeys and parrots from the jungles of theAmazon back to the Old World.


http://goo.gl/SniEN

V. Two Worlds Blend

Just as human settlers came from Europe500 years ago and met the native inhabitants,

so too with animals. Today, Florida is truly

a blended environment, where species from

two worlds met, struggled and eventually

helped establish the state we inhabit.Hogs, cattle and horses with origins inSpain now share the Florida peninsulawith native deer, panthers and alligatorsTwo worlds met, then became the one inwhich we live today.

Many zoos in Florida have some of thespecies discussed here on exhibit. In addition,

there are many organizations in our state

dedicated to preservation and conservation

of native species. Here are some resources to

nd out more about Florida wildlife:


http://goo.gl/TIos4http://myfwc.com/

http://goo.gl/J0JHk

http://goo.gl/fz1qN

http://goo.gl/0y6wm

http://goo.gl/SniEN

http://goo.gl/TIos4

http://myfwc.com/

http://goo.gl/J0JHk

http://goo.gl/fz1qN

http://goo.gl/0y6wm

http://goo.gl/0y6wm

http://goo.gl/fz1qN

http://goo.gl/J0JHk

http://myfwc.com/

http://goo.gl/TIos4

http://goo.gl/SniEN



40

Timucuan women also gathered wild fruits,

roots, nuts, and berries. These included

acorns, coontie (COON-tee) roots, pecans,

native grapes, palm berries, hickory nuts,maypops, blackberries, persimmons,

and blueberries. Corn was

ground into meal and used

to make pesolo (PAY-so-

lo), an “ancestor” of today’s

cornbread. Grits and hominy

are also Native American

corn dishes that are still eatentoday. Stews were made from

vegetables and avored with

meat, fruit, and nuts. One

such Timucuan stew, gacha

(GAH-cha), was the rst form

of succotash encountered by

Europeans and Africans in

North America.

The Timucua sometimes brewed and

drank a native tea, which they called “the

black drink” or cassina (cuh-SEE-nuh). It

was made from the leaves and twigs of the

Yaupon Holly tree, which were harvested and

lightly roasted. After browning, the leaves

and twigs were boiled in large clay pots

Timucuan Foods In La Florida

Before the Europeans and Africans rst

came to Florida in the 16th century, our

state was inhabited by a number of NativeAmerican peoples. One of the rst groups

of Florida’s Native Americans

to have regular contact with

these newcomers from the Old

World was a people known as

the Timucua (tee-MOO-qua),

who lived in Northeast and

North Central Florida andsoutheast Georgia. They were

the largest native group in

that area, consisting of about

35 chiefdoms composed of

approximately 200,000 people.

One of the Timucua’s major

sources of food was farming –

planting maize (corn), beans,squash, native peas, melons, pumpkins, and

other native vegetables as part of their diet.

Fields were cultivated with wooden hoes

and digging sticks. After being harvested,

their crops were kept in storehouses to

protect them from insects and weather.

How the founding of Florida in the 16th century and the

blending of Native American, European, and African foodways led to the birth of the first uniquely American foods.By Davis Walker and Shannon Golden

Photo by Jackie Hird



41

Spanish Foods In La Florida

The leader in 16th-century European

exploration and colonization, Spain was

the rst nation in Europe to discover the

treasures of the New World. Beginning in

the late 1400s, Spanish explorers returned

from voyages to the Americas carrying

such exotic, new foods as corn, potatoes,

beans, tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes,

chocolate, and vanilla. In the 16th century

the settlers of colonial Florida were the rst

to introduce into the continental U.S. such

European foods as oranges, rice, peaches,

pigs, wheat, chickens, onions, cheese, sugar

cane, cattle, garlic, sweet potatoes, European

grapes, and various spices and herbs.

Upon arriving in Florida, the Spanishcolonists used plows, iron hoes, and otherEuropean farming tools to prepare elds.

They planted the seeds and cuttings theyhad brought with them from Spain to seeif they would grow in this new land. Theybegan clearing land for pastures for theircattle and goats and building pens for theirpigs, chickens, and the other livestockthey had brought with them from theOld World.

Asturias, on the northern coast of Spain,

was the homeland of Admiral Don Pedro

Menéndez de Avilés, the Adelantado

of Florida, and most of his colonizing

expedition, which founded St. Augustine,

Florida, our nation’s oldest city, in 1565

The most famous regional dish of Asturias

was fabada (fuh-BAH-duh), a rich stew

made with white beans, pork shoulder,

pork sausages, onions, garlic, and saffron

lled with water until the liquid reached a

dark brown or black color, giving it its name.

Cassina was important to the Timucua and

to other native groups. The Timucua would

trade cassina with Native Americans to the

north of Florida, where Yaupon Holly trees

do not grow, for items from those regions

that the Timucua wanted.

In addition to food produced by farming,

Timucuan men would hunt game. This

included deer, turkeys, rabbits, bears,

ducks, raccoons, turtles, geese, frogs,

opossums, water fowl, and snakes, as well

as manatees, alligators, and, occasionally,

whales. They would also sh in local rivers,

lakes, and the sea – for sharks, bass, rays,

catsh, bluegills, drums, mullet, ounders,

and others – using nets, sh-traps, spears,

and shing lines. Freshwater and marine

shellsh and crustaceans, such as oysters,

clams, crabs, coquina, mussels, shrimp, and

conchs were also collected and consumed.

Meat was cooked by boiling or roasting; or

preserved by smoking it on a wooden grill

or rack known as a barbacoa, the origin of

our word “barbecue.”




42

in a letter to his king, FelipeII of Spain, on October 20,1566: “This land awaits good

and honorable men ... raisedup with gazpacho, garlic,

and onion…”

African FoodsIn La Florida

Africans, both free and

enslaved, arrived in early

colonial Florida with the

Spaniards. Most, but not all,

came from the western region

of Africa. The cultivation and use of manyagricultural products in the modern-day

southern U.S., such as yams, peanuts, okra,

sorghum, black-eyed peas, sweet potatoes,

watermelon, and sesame seeds – all common

elements in West Africa’s cuisine – can be

traced to African inuences.

Some of the foods widely eaten in Africa

(such as peanuts, sweet potatoes, cassava)had been introduced to that continent by

European traders after Columbus sailed

to America in 1492. These foods were then

carried to Africa by the Portuguese from

Brazil, the Caribbean, and tropical Asia

Some of these New World foodstuffs were

then “reintroduced” to North America by

Afro-Spanish colonists and slaves.An important element of African cuisine

imported to colonial Florida and the

Caribbean was nyami (NYAH-may or YAH-

may), a word from Africa’s Wolof language

for our modern-day yam (not the sweet

potato, which is an entirely different root)

This became the rst version

of America’s popular dish,

pork-and-beans.

When Menéndez founded

the settlement of St.

Augustine on September 8,

1565, the Spanish celebrateda Mass of Thanksgiving.

Afterward, Menéndez hosted

a feast to which he invited as

guests the local Timucuan

natives. We do not know

what this meal consisted

of, but, based on what we

know the Spaniards had on board their veships, we can guess that it was cocido (coh-

SEE-doh), a stew made from salted pork,

garbanzo beans, and garlic, accompanied

by hard ship’s biscuits. It is likely that the

local Timucuans contributed to the meal

from their own food stores, so the menu

could have included turkey, venison, and

gopher tortoise; seafood, such as mullet,oysters, and shark; and maize (corn), beans,

and squash. This “First Thanksgiving” at St.

Augustine was celebrated 56 years before

the English Pilgrims had their thanksgiving

at Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts.

Many of the settlers who arrived in Florida

in 1565 and later came from southern Spain.

This region’s foods include gazpacho (guz-PAH-cho), fried sh, and hams. Gazpacho,

a soup made with chopped tomatoes,cucumbers, onions, peppers, herbs, andthickened with stale bread, was a traditionalfood of Spanish farmers. Referring to hisnew Florida colony, Menéndez commented




43

This is the native African food equivalent

of the potato and can be served similarly –

mashed, baked, fried, boiled, or roasted.

Another basic part of the African diet was efo (or greens – spinach, collard, mustard,

turnip, dandelion, pokeweed, amaranth,

etc.; pronounced EH-faw). They were eaten

throughout Africa and were prepared in

many traditional ways – boiling, frying,

steaming, raw, etc. Efo would be avored

with meat (pork, sh, game, etc.) or meat

drippings, vinegar, onions, citrus juice,

peanuts, garlic, peppers, and so on. Greens

remain a popular and healthy dish in the

American South to this day.

We can see the founding of Florida in

the 16th century and the blending of Native

American, European, and African foodways

led to the birth of the rst uniquely American

foods. And we still enjoy many of these same

foods today!

Some of Colonial Florida’s “Food Firsts” include:

• 1521 – The rst introduction of Old World

horses, cattle, and pigs, as well as food

crops, into the continental U.S. by Don

Juan Ponce de León at the rst European

colony near today’s Ft. Myers, FL;

• 1576 – The rst “restaurants” - the Olmos

family ran a taberna (tavern; pronounced

tah-BER-nah) in St. Augustine, while

another was owned by Don Martín de

Argüelles the Elder, the city’s rst mayor;

• 1580s – The rst agricultural exports in

the continental U.S. - shipments of onions

began from St. Augustine to Havana;

• 1598 – The rst public market in the

continental U.S., established in St

Augustine by Governor Don Gonzalo

Méndez de Canzo, who also built the rst

grist mill;

• Early 1640s – The rst cattle ranches in the

continental U.S., such as the Hacienda de la

Chua (now Alachua County, FL), founded

by the Menéndez Marquez family;

• Late 1640s – The rst cattle drives in the

continental U.S. - Native American and

African vaqueros (cowboys) drove herds

across north Florida to St. Augustine,

where the cattle were slaughtered, the

beef sold, and the hides and tallow

exported to Havana;

• And much more!



44

Three Kinds of CLUES

Right now, we’re going to work with three

kinds of clues about playtime in Spanish

colonial Florida. We’ll examine clues about:

1. GAMES that Florida Natives and Spanish

newcomers played,

2. SONGS that people from Spain and people

from Florida used to sing, at moments

when music had a big role to play in

public life, and

3. PLAYS and other moments of high drama

that Florida Indians and European settlers

acted out.

To help us get up close and personal

with these mysteries, we’ll use some of the

oldest pictures that historians have found

of Native people playing in Florida, songs

from plays that the rst Spanish explorers

may have brought to Florida with them,

and scenes from plays that famous Spanish

playwrights wrote about characters from

Florida history, while newcomers from

Spain were building the rst European

settlements in continental North America.

Watch out! These clues call for peeling

your eyes, putting on your thinking caps, and

stepping inside what historians call primary

sources – documents produced hundreds

of years ago by eye- and ear-witnesses

You might see things that we miss in these

sources … and the sources that we visit as

clues may contain new mysteries to solve.

History is full of mysteries – mysteries

that you can help solve. Here’s an example:what was playtime like for people in Spanish

colonial Florida?

This chapter will give you some starter

solutions to that mystery. More advanced

solutions remain to be discovered in all

kinds of places:

• in museums and living history villages

(like Mission San Luis in Tallahassee),• in archaeological digs at historic sites all

over the Sunshine State (for example,

the City of St. Augustine Archeology

Program), and

• in books and letters and pictures that people

who came to La Florida from France and

England and Spain sent home to tell the

world about their adventures in the NewWorld (like the treasures stored in the

Archivo de Indias in Seville, Spain).

For a sneak peek at these amazing clues

about life in La Florida hundreds of years

ago, click on these links. Then make a note

of things you’ll need to learn in order to

become a conquistador of the mysteries

hidden in Florida’s history:


http://goo.gl/5ATYL

http://www.digstaug.org/

http://goo.gl/rynQH

http://earlyoridalit.net/?page_id=130

http://goo.gl/wCX6c

by Ben Gunter

http://goo.gl/5ATYL


http://goo.gl/rynQH

http://earlyfloridalit.net/?page_id=130

http://goo.gl/wCX6c

http://goo.gl/wCX6c

http://earlyfloridalit.net/?page_id=130

http://goo.gl/rynQH


http://goo.gl/5ATYL



45

This picture (below) is chock full of clues

about games that young Natives used

to play in Florida. The picture’s caption

specically names ve games. Can you

crack this mystery, and dig all ve games

out of the picture … before you read the

caption? (Hint: try stepping into the picturefrom the front, listing games you see in the

foreground rst, then games you see in the

middle areas of the picture, then games you

see in the background.)

To read the caption for this picture from

Le Moyne’s Short Story of What Happened to

Us in La Florida, click on the Le Moyne link

below. (This click will also point you towardways to learn more about Native Florida

games from Le Moyne, and ways to learn

more about Native games from other parts of

the Americas, from Theater with a Mission’s

Gabrielle Reed-Sparkis.)


http://goo.gl/5GvIi

GAMES played by Florida Natives

From June of 1564 to September of 1565

(when Spanish soldiers killed them off

or chased them out of Florida), a group

of settlers from France lived at a place

called Fort Caroline along the St. Johns

River, where Jacksonville stands today. A

cartographer (mapmaker) and artist named

Jacques le Moyne de Morgues was one of

these French newcomers to the New World,

and Le Moyne left wonderful clues about

playtime in 16th-century Florida.

Forty-two pictures of Florida Natives at

work and at play (plus descriptions of the

activities illustrated in the pictures, and a

short narrative of the whole expedition from

France to Florida) were printed in Europe in

1591, all presented as the work of Jacques le

Moyne. In 1595, the illustrations in one copy

of this rare book were colored as a present to

Prince Maurice of Orange-Nassau.

One of the pictures from that hand-colored

book has a title that reads (translated into

English) “The Youth at Their Exercises.”

http://goo.gl/5GvIi

http://goo.gl/5GvIi



46

one player used to call out, in Latin, ‘ par est

[this will be a match!]’ while the other said

‘non est [no, it’s going to be a miss!], and over

the course of time (as the game got fast and

fun), par est y non est [it’s a match & it’s a miss]

got boiled down to pares y nones [matches

& misses].” (Alberto del Río connected thisdictionary denition to Encina’s play on page

97 of his edition in 2001.)

José Gueitz-Romero, a member of Florida

Living History, Inc., who lives in Ocoee,

Florida, explains pares y nones as “basically a

form of ‘rock-paper-scissors’” with a twist

You know how to play rock-paper-scissors,

don’t you? In rock-paper-scissors, you winby making your hand into the shape of

something that breaks, covers, or cuts the

shape that your opponent makes with his

hand. So “rock” (your hand clenched into a

st) breaks “scissors” (your rst two ngers

splayed out into a scissors shape), but

“paper” (your whole hand spread out at)

covers “rock”, and “scissors” cut “paper.”Pares y nones is one step more complicated

than rock-paper-scissors. In pares y nones,

you win by guessing whether two of your

friends are going to make shapes that match

or miss. So if you call “ pares [a match]” and

both of your friends make “scissors,” you

win – or if you call “nones [a miss]” and one

friend makes “paper” and the other makes“rock,” you win.

But if you call “ pares [a match]” and your

friends make different shapes, or if you call

“nones [a miss]” and your friends make

matching shapes, you lose. Tough game to

win, but lots of fun to watch, and fast to play,

GAMES played bynewcomers from Spain

When they came to Florida, newcomers

from Spain brought Spanish holidays with

them. Did you know that Florida gets its name

from the Spanish name for Easter – “Pascua

orida [Flowered Feast]” – which was the

holiday season when Juan Ponce de León rst

sighted the east coast of Florida in 1513? Did

you know that the rst Christmas celebration

in North America happened in 1539, in an

Apalachee Indian city named Anaica where

Tallahassee now stands, while Hernando de

Soto was exploring La Florida?

In the 1500s, games played a part in

Spanish holiday celebrations. Let’s look at

two games in particular, which turn up in

a Christmas play that early travelers from

Spain could have imported to Florida.

The play is by Juan del Encina, who wrotemusic and poetry – poetry so important thathistorians call him “the founder of Spanishdrama,” and music so ne that people still

perform it today. Around 1498, Encina

premiered the Égloga de las grandes lluvias[Shepherds Play about the Heavy Rains]

in Spain; in 2011, Theater with a Mission

presented the play’s rst translation into

English as Wet Christmas in Florida. Thefour shepherds who star in the play get toplay two games – games we bet you can usehistory’s clues to gure out well enough to

play yourself.The rst game is called pares y nones

[matches & misses]. An important Spanish

dictionary published by Covarrubias in 1611

explains that this game got its name “because



47

someone near him in the room before passingthe candle out again. The idea is to show offthe cleverness of the compliments – kind ofa non-offensive ‘yo mamma’ contest.”

Get the idea?

Try playing a round of vivo te lo doyGet four or ve friends together, and nd

a birthday candle (or something equally

pretty but easy to handle) to pass around

Be sure to have a parent or a teacher present

if you want to light the candle. Now practice

passing the candle around, and strain your

brain to say the nicest things possible to each

other (before the candle burns out).

Remember: the person passing the

candle says, “I present you this present”

to the person who’s taking the candle. The

person taking the candle says, “What for?”

Then the person passing the candle says

something sweet and well-spoken about the

person taking the candle.

Hint: during Florida’s colonial period,

characters in Spanish plays loved to

since every time somebody loses, he has to

put something in the winner’s pot and pass

his turn as the guesser on to the next person

in the game.

Try several rounds of pares y nones with

your class. Can you carry on a conversation

about current events while you’re playingthe game? The characters in Encina’s play

do! To see how Encina has his four Christmas

shepherds play the game (in Spanish) and

how Theater with a Mission has translated

that conversation into 21st-century English

(while the characters play a 21st-century

game), click on this link.


http://goo.gl/RO6pL

The second game in Wet Christmas is called

vivo te lo doy [I present you with this present].

Spanish literature scholars like Alberto del

Río say that vivo te lo doy was a game that

royal people played, by passing a word or anobject from courtier to courtier. Every time

the object changed hands, the person on the

presenting end said, “vivo te lo doy [I present

you this present],” and the person on the

receiving end said, “¿para dó? [What for?]”

Then the person who passed the present had

to pay the person who took the present a well-

turned compliment, saying something nicethat connected the present to the person.

Here’s how José Gueitz-Romero

reconstructs the game for you to play today:

“Participants pass a candle around to eachother, and the candle-holder at the time hasto give a compliment back to the giver or to

Jacob Smith (age 10) and Ed Apodaca getting the ideaof the game in Wet Christmas

http://goo.gl/RO6pL

http://goo.gl/RO6pL



48

While Jacques le Moyne was living in

La Florida, newcomers from France found

their ears opened to brand-new sensations

as Native Floridians made music for them,

repeatedly. The rst time music turns up in

Le Moyne’s Short Story of What Happened

to Us in La Florida is when a Native kingnamed Saturioua comes to visit. (Our best

guess at pronouncing the king’s name is

“sah-too-REE-wah.” Practice saying his

name several times, then nd out more

about him and his family by clicking on the

link below.)


http://www.manataka.org/page1232.html

In Le Moyne’s history, King Saturioua

comes visiting soon after the Frenchmen

have landed, while they’re just starting

construction on Fort Caroline. Here’s how

Le Moyne describes that visit, as translated

by Fred B. Perkins in 1875:“The king was accompanied by seven oreight hundred men, handsome, strong, well-made, and active fellows, the best-trainedand swiftest of his force, all under armsas if on a military expedition. Before himmarched fty youths with javelins or spears;

and behind these, and next to himself, were

twenty pipers , who produced a wild noise,without musical harmony or regularity, butonly blowing away with all their might, eachtrying to be the loudest. Their instrumentswere nothing but a thick sort of reeds, orcanes, with two openings; one at the top toblow into, and the other at the other end for

compliment other characters on their eyes.

So your compliment will sound something

like out of history if you say,

Prince: I present you this present.

Princess: What for?

Prince: Because the light in your eyes

shines brighter than this candle.

or Because the candle nds the

glory of Christmas, shining in

your eyes,

or Because your eyes light

the way to the happiest of

birthdays,

or something even more owery.

The link below will take you to a longer

script with a more complicated game from

Spain to play. (Theater with a Mission’s

Gabrielle Reed-Sparkis can show you how to

have even more fun with games from Spain.)


http://goo.gl/8MhYu

Clearly, games can give you valuable clues

for building a living picture of playtime in

Spanish colonial Florida. By studying games

that Native Floridians and newcomers from

Spain used to play, and then playing them

yourself, you can make history come to life.

Native American MUSIC

Music, songs, and dances offer clues

to living history, too – clues that can openyour eyes and ears to brand-new blastsfrom the past.


http://goo.gl/8MhYu

http://goo.gl/8MhYu




49

An illustrated clue to playing more kinds

of Native music turns up in Le Moyne’s

engravings. Here, a Native leader labeled “R

Holata Oütina” [King-Chief Outina] is showing

his French friends how Florida Natives play

“after returning from a military expedition.”

Outina stands in the front of the picture, onthe left. Notice the gold discs hanging down

around the King-Chief’s legs. Those discs are

actually a kind of music instrument, since

(as Le Moyne says in his Short Story of What

Happened to Us in La Florida) “in walking, they

tinkled like little bells.” In the center of the

picture is the tribe’s “sorcerer,” who’s doing a

homecoming dance. The dance band is on theright. Here’s how Le Moyne’s caption for this

picture describes the band:

“Three men kneeling down, one of whom holds

in both hands a club, with which he pounds

on a at stone, marking time to every word

of the sorcerer. At each side of him, the other

two hold in each hand the fruit of a certain

plant, something like a gourd or pumpkin,

which has been dried, opened at each end,

its marrow and seeds taken out, and then

mounted on a stick, and charged with small

stones or seeds of some kind. These they rattle

after the fashion of a bell, accompanying the

words of the sorcerer with a sort of song after

their manner.” (Bennett 34)

Comb this historic picture (on the next

page) for clues, then see if you can re-create

some of the sounds of Native Florida. (Hint

Le Moyne’s caption has just given you step-

by-step directions for making one of the

instruments that he saw Florida Indians play.)

the wind to come out of, like organ-pipes orwhistles.” (quoted in Bennett, 93-94)

Take a closer look at Le Moyne’s word-

picture of that music, so different from

anything European ears were used to hearing

that Le Moyne could only record a mystery

– a “wild noise, without musical harmony or

regularity.” What “wild” sounds have you

run into unexpectedly, in unfamiliar places?

How did those sounds surprise and scare,

or even delight and thrill you?

Have you ever heard an instrument like

the Native pipes that Le Moyne describes?

You can listen to present-day Natives from

South America performing on Pan Pipes by

following this link to YouTube:


http://goo.gl/65ZNL

Do you hear a “wildness” in the Pan Pipes’

“noise”? Do the Pan Pipes on YouTube look

like the mysterious instruments that Le Moynesaw Native Floridians play – thick reeds, open

at the top and bottom? What would it sound

like, to have 20 people playing Pan Pipes all

together, marching toward you with an army?

Try making some open-reed instruments

with your class. How easy are they to play?

How hard do you have to work “to be the

loudest”? Can you reconstruct an ear-pictureof Saturioua’s visit to Le Moyne’s friends?


For instructions to build pipes of yourown, check out the clues at:

http://www.philtulga.com/Panpipes.html

http://goo.gl/65ZNL



http://goo.gl/65ZNL



50

FOR MORE INFORMATION:http://goo.gl/8g9hd

If you’d like to read Theater with a Mission’s

translation of a food ght from the play that

introduced “Oy Comamos y Bebamos” to the

world, click here:


http://goo.gl/ESMzO

MUSIC – Spanish playmakers meet Native Floridians

Music gives you a chance to look at what

happens in one of history’s most excellent

mysteries – when New World traditionsmeet Old World traditions face-to-face,

and those different ways of living start to

inuence each other in what historians call

“Columbian exchange.”

There’s an excellent (and cleverly hidden)

example of Columbian exchange in the rst

Spanish MUSICWild sounds must have come to Florida

from Spain, too. By 1513, people in Spain

expected music to play a major part in

all sorts of important occasions – church

services, civic holidays, state occasions, and

play performances.

What did the music that Spanish people

brought to Florida sound like? There’s aclue to that mystery in the music of Juan

del Encina, the playwright who wrote Wet

Christmas. Encina was famous as a composer

(someone who writes music) as well as a

playwright, and in 1496 he published a song

for Carnestolendas [Mardi Gras] that people

are still singing today.

The song is called “Oy comamos ybebamos” [Today Let’s Stuff and Swig], and

it’s part of a special playtime that people in

Spain enjoyed on Antruejo [Fat Tuesday],

the day before Lent started (40 days before

Easter). To hear a performance of Encina’s “Oy

comamos,” click on this link.

http://goo.gl/8g9hd

http://goo.gl/ESMzO

http://goo.gl/ESMzO

http://goo.gl/8g9hd



51

in on a chorus line. And areitos come from

America, not from Spain. (In fact, areito is a

Native American word that Spanish speakers

picked up in America, as they learned to

sing Native American songs.)

So the music in this scene makes two

worlds meet for the rst time, right in yourears. Let’s listen to the grand nale of the

areito from Nuevo mundo, in its most recent

published translation.

Here’s how Kenneth A. Stackhouse,

from Virginia Commonwealth University,

translated Lope’s lyrics in 2003. (Hint

imagine a wedding march, just as the bride

comes down the aisle toward her groom, asyou read these lyrics aloud. Try setting these

words to music in your head.)

For such a handsome Indian chief, Now that the sun has risen,

A goodly wife for a great man.Now that the sun has risen,

Our glorious wedding songs ring out,

Now that the sun has risen, And consecrate their union in song,Now that the holy sun arises,

Now that the sun has risen.(Stackhouse 72)

Can you hear the rhythm of the areito– one person calling out and everybody

calling back – in these words? (Hint: have

one person read the lines that change as a

solo, then everybody else read the repeated

line as the chorus.)

And do you notice something particularly

interesting about this song for Floridians

today, when the world thinks of Florida as

the Sunshine State? (Hint: Count how many

play that anyone ever wrote with scenes set

in America. This play is named El Nuevomundo descubierto por Cristóbal Colón, and

it was written by Lope de Vega in Spain

around 1599. It’s a particularly great play

for people living in Florida today to explore,

since it names some of its Indian charactersafter real-life Natives from Florida’s history.

In fact, the rst time you see Americans

in the play is when cacique Dulcanquellín (a

character named for a historic chief from La

Florida) and Tacuana (an Indian princess

from a neighboring island) come onstage

in a wedding march. That’s also a place

where you can hear Columbian exchangehappening, since Lope asks the actors to

combine Spanish musical instruments with

Native American musical forms.

Here’s how American scholar Robert

Shannon translates Lope’s instructions to

the actors for this scene:

“Enter Indians with little drums and

tambourines, two braves and two squawsand behind them, two more Indians as

sweethearts with their entourage. They sitdown. Their names are Tecué, Auté, Palca,

Mareama, Dulcanquellín and Tacuana. Asquaw sings and the others respond in therefrain: “Today the divine sun rises. Todaythe sun rises.” (Shannon 151-53)

Professor Shannon states that the

tambourines ( panderos in Spanish) which the

script tells the actors to play are instruments

that come from Spain, not from America. But

the song that the script gives the actors to

sing is an areito, a song where a soloist calls

out one line and then everybody chimes



52

times “sun” comes up in this song! And then

think about this: in Spanish, the verb salir ,which Professor Stackhouse translates as

“(a)rise,” can also mean “make an entrance

onto the stage.” So at this point in the play,

the Sun makes its own star entrance!)

Theater with a Mission is currentlyworking on a new translation of this song

for the 500th anniversary of rst contact

between Spain and La Florida. How do you

think the areito from Nuevo mundo should

salute the sun in 2013? You can help Theater

with a Mission to solve this mystery, and

read more scholars’ translations of the song,

by clicking on this clue:


http://goo.gl/zKkS1

PLAYS – from Spainand from America

Clues from songs and games can helpyou build a picture of playtime in Spanish

colonial Florida, and set the picture to

music. Then clues from plays can help you

put your musical picture in motion, like a

slice of history come to life.

During the time that people from Spain

were pouring into La Florida, the greatest

outpouring of plays in history was comingout of Spanish-speaking people, in Europe

and in the Americas. Thousands of world-

class plays in a tremendous variety of

lengths and avors were performed during

this Spanish Golden Age [the Siglo de Oro],

in settings that ranged from specially-built

theaters with all the latest equipment for

making special effects, downtown in big

cities, to places where actors set up playing

spaces in town squares or courtyards or out

in the open elds, and all the theatrical magic

happened in the audience’s imagination.

There were plays for every occasion– including Pascua orida [Easter], the

festival that was in progress in 1513 when

Juan Ponce de León made the rst ofcial

recorded contact between Europe and North

America, along the east coast of Florida.

Did people traveling with Ponce de León

bring Easter plays with them? It’s certainly

possible. Juan del Encina – the author of theÉgloga de las grandes lluvias [Wet Christmas]

and the composer of Oy Comamos y Bebamos

[Today Let’s Stuff and Swill] – had published

two short musical Easter plays in 1496, 17

years before Spanish ships sailed for Florida

By 1513, Encina was world-famous; he’d even

been hired to put together musical plays for

the Pope in Rome. Even more importantly,by 1513 Spanish people had come to expect

plays to play a major part in important public

occasions like Easter.

To track down clues from Encina’s Easter

plays – and to hear more about plays playing

big roles in La Florida’s special occasions –

click on this link:


http://goo.gl/lT8Ig

There’s evidence that Native Americans

used plays to commemorate important

occasions, too. Spanish ethnographers

http://goo.gl/zKkS1

http://goo.gl/lT8Ig

http://goo.gl/lT8Ig

http://goo.gl/zKkS1



53

(people who write down and study the

customs practiced by different ethnic

groups) recorded at least three ceremonies

from Natives in America that read like

dramatic events. You can track down more

clues about those mysterious documents by

clicking on these clues:


http://goo.gl/6YZps

http://goo.gl/WKrVz

http://goo.gl/c7qyn

Did Florida Natives act out plays to

welcome, or to warn, newcomers fromSpain? Exciting answers to that mystery

may well lie hidden in the Archivo General

de las Indias, where clues about hundreds

of years of contact between cultures lie

waiting for people to rediscover them. You

could become the next sleuth to unlock

mysteries about life in Spanish Florida, and

change the way peoplewrite history.

Natives ActingEuropean

We don’t have a

primary source – yet

– to show you that

Native Floridiansperformed plays, but

we can show you

a striking picture

of Florida Indians

responding to French

culture in a highly

dramatic way. One of the rst things French

people did when they got to Florida in 1564

was to put up a stone column, showing that

Florida had been visited by representatives

of the King of France. When they came back

to visit the column a year later, they found

Native Floridians performing a momentof high drama all around it. Jacques le

Moyne’s picture of that dramatic moment

is below (with hints about how to comb the

picture for clues).

On the right-hand side of the picture, you

see Chief Athore (son of Saturioua), setting

the scene for the Frenchmen. (See how

tall Chief Athore is? Le Moyne describeshim as:

“... very handsome, prudent, honorable,strong, and of very great stature, beingmore than half a foot taller than the tallestof our men; and his bearing was marked bya modest gravity, which had a strikinglymajestic effect.” Bennett 18)

http://goo.gl/6YZps

http://goo.gl/WKrVz

http://goo.gl/c7qyn

http://goo.gl/c7qyn

http://goo.gl/WKrVz

http://goo.gl/6YZps



54

In the middle of the picture stands the

column, “ornamented” (as Le Moyne reports)

“with the arms of the king of France.” (See

the gold eurs de lis in the blue shields

under the crowns on the column? Those are

symbols of the King of France.) All around

the column are Native Floridian people andpresents – and they’re all present to act out

an extraordinary scene of friendship and

welcome. To quote Le Moyne,

“On approaching, [we] found that these

Indians were worshipping this stone as

an idol; and the chief himself, having

saluted it with signs of reverence such as

his subjects were in the habit of showing

to himself, kissed it. His men followed

his example, and we were invited to do

the same. Before the monument there lay

various offerings of the fruits, and edible

or medicinal roots, growing thereabouts;

vessels of perfumed oils; a bow, and

arrows; and it was wreathed around from

top to bottom with owers of all sorts, and

boughs of the trees esteemed choicest.”

(Bennett 18)

How many of the stage props mentioned

in Le Moyne’s description – from the fruits

and roots to the arrows and wreaths – can

you nd in the picture?

Acting Out Contactbetween Natives and newcomers

In his play Nuevo mundo, Lope de Vega

paints word-pictures of dramatic exchanges

between Natives from America and

newcomers from Spain – word-pictures that

you can set in motion by acting them out

Theater with a Mission has started a wiki

where you can step inside a whole series of

great scenes from Lope’s play. Here, we’ll

give you a sneak preview from just one

scene. But this scene gives you an awesome

mystery to solve as you play the scene.Theater with a Mission calls this scene

“The MONSTER from ANOTHER

WORLD.” The speaker is a Native American

named Tecué, and he’s telling his chief (and

his tribe) about something too weird to put

into words. Tecué has sneaked up right next

to one of those big scary ships that have

just arrived from Spain – alien ships sobig they look like Council Houses, oating

on the water. Unseen, Tecué has seen the

newcomers unload a whole army of men

Then comes a creature so horribly huge and

incredibly lethal that it could completely

wipe out Native civilization.

Tecué can hardly talk after seeing such a

monster up close and personal – what wordscould a kid put together to describe something

so unthinkable? But he has to pass on the news,

so speak he does. Here’s one of Theater with

a Mission’s translations of Tecué’s report. Can

you solve the riddle of Tecué’s monster?

Tecué :

Those things that brought them here –things as big as houses, big-bellied as a pregnant woman –have spewed out more men marchingon the beachthan this world has ever seen.



55

I saw one amongst them, Chief

Dulcanquellín,so tall that I solemnly state he’d outstrip the towering pines thatcrownthis mound you govern from.

His marching’s remarkable, since he takes2 heads with him on the warpath,… one of them worn half-mast, at hisbody’s halfway mark.

From where I stood,

the higher of the two heads lookedsmaller –

about yea big.

But it was the head in the middle, xed at hiscorporal center,that made my blood run cold as acorpse …

Gigantic, with aring nostrils; framed in curly warlocks from

forehead to neck.Frothing at its mouth, with a voice that’sclear and

carrying,it grunts, bellows, sprints, and springsinto the air,all nightmarish agility and speed.

Its ears are superhuman – wide open, pricked up like

swiveling antennas.

Barrel chest. Skinny legs, but well-equipped for

covering ground,since he’s a Quadruped.

Dreadful sight!Scared me silly,right down to the conquistadores’beard he wears …… behind him.

What is Tecué’s monster? Guesses from

people watching Theater with a Mission

perform have included “a giraffe,” “a

kangaroo,” “an alien from outer space,”

and “a horse,” but none of these answers

use every single one of Tecué’s clues to

solve the mystery completely. Can you

fully unravel this riddle?

Tecué’s scene is so full of clues about how

people in Spanish colonial Florida might

have played out moments of high drama as

they got to know each other, that Theater with

a Mission has translated it several different

ways. To see Tecué as a 10-year-old boy who

loves to scout, or as a 12-year-old girl who

loves the movies (and Universal Orlando),

click on the clues collected for you here.


http://goo.gl/QH7Pp

http://goo.gl/FhhhD

http://goo.gl/QH7Pp

http://goo.gl/FhhhD

http://goo.gl/FhhhD

http://goo.gl/QH7Pp



If you like mysteries, you’ll know that a

lot of great mystery stories have a scene near

the end where the chief detective sums up all

the clues, just before cracking the code andsolving the case. So let’s start the wind-up of

this chapter with a general summing-up.

We started out this journey into the

mysteries of playtime in Spanish colonial

Florida by looking at clues about games that

newcomers and Natives played. We found

clues in Jacques le Moyne’s pictures and

Juan del Encina’s Christmas play Égloga delas grandes lluvias [Wet Christmas].

Then we examined clues about songs that

Native Floridians and Spanish newcomers

to La Florida sang. Again, we found great

clues to look at in Le Moyne’s pictures and

great clues to listen to in Juan del Encina –

this time, in a play written to commemorate

Carnestolendas [Mardi Gras]. We alsodiscovered an example of New World music

mixing with sounds from the Old World, in

the wedding scene that introduces America

in Lope de Vega’s El nuevo mundo descubierto por Cristóbal Colón [Christopher ColumbusEncounters the New World].

Finally, we dug up drama-charged

clues about plays that people used tomark important occasions – occasions like

Easter, for example, or a royal wedding,

of French visitors as our backdrop, and

then we dove into one key scene from

Lope de Vega’s Nuevo mundo, chock full

of dramatic clues about how people fromSpain and Natives in Florida played out

historic encounters with each other.

Unlike a mystery novel, a thriller movie, or

a cop show on TV, this examination of real-life

mysteries from Florida’s past doesn’t end with

a neat solution presented by an all-knowing

detective. Instead, it ends with a cliff-hanger

– and a personal challenge to you.Right now, history-making clues about

Spanish colonial Florida lie buried – in

archives, in archaeological sites, and in plays

and pictures and music and memoirs from

the Spanish Golden Age. You could become

the detective who digs up those clues and

shows the world what life was like, long ago

in La Florida.You can start your journey toward

making history come to life by clicking on

the clues scattered all the way through this

chapter. To take a look at the sources we’ve

used, click here:


http://goo.gl/LqKVO

SUM-UP: More Clues to Click On

http://goo.gl/LqKVO

http://goo.gl/LqKVO

Documents

LA FLORIDA First Encounters