Lesson 3: The Spanish Empire

Ponce de Leon

• Governor of Puerto Rico

• Explored Florida (1513)

Florida

• Location of Ponce de Leon’s exploration

• Later site of Spanish settlements

Narvaez

• Spanish explorer landed at Tampa Bay (1528)

• Expedition failed; survivors included Cabeza de Vaca and Estevanico

de Vaca

• Survivor of Narvaez expedition

• Traveled across the Southwest and Gulf Coast

• Provided early reports on Native peoples

Estevanico

• African explorer

• Traveled with de Vaca across the Southwest

de Soto

• Landed in Florida (1539)

• Explored the Mississippi River region

• Searched for wealth and resources

Coronado

• Searched for “Seven Cities of Gold”

Seven Cities of Gold

• Mythical cities rumored to contain vast riches

• Motivated Spanish exploration of the American Southwest

Catholicism

• Central to Spanish colonization

• Spread through missions and conversion efforts

St. Augustine

• Founded 1565 in Florida

• Oldest European settlement in present-day U.S.

• Established to defend Spanish claims against rivals

Fort Caroline

• French fort in Florida (1562)

• Attacked and captured by Spanish (1565)

• Site of religious and colonial conflict (French Huguenots killed by Spanish Catholics)

Encomienda System

• Spanish labor system using Native Americans

• Natives “protected” in exchange for labor

• Often led to exploitation and abuse

Las Casas

• Spanish priest and advocate for Native American rights

• Criticized abuses under the encomienda system

California Missions

• Religious settlements to convert Native Americans to Catholicism

• Spread Spanish influence along California coast

Mestizo

• Person of mixed Spanish and Native American heritage

• Result of colonial interactions

Pueblo Revolt

• 1680 uprising of Pueblo people against Spanish colonists

• Expelled Spanish from New Mexico for 12 years

Spanish Armada

• English raids on Spanish ships

• Spanish armada wanted to invade England

• Spanish armada defeated

Results:

• confirmed england’s naval supremacy

• England and colonization of east coast

Roanoke

• English colony in present-day North Carolina

• Known as the “Lost Colony”

Virginia Dare

First English child born in the Americas (Roanoke, 1587)

Lost Colony

• Roanoke settlement disappeared

• Cause unknown; “CROATOAN” carved into a tree

Croatoan

• Only clue left by the Roanoke colonists

• Name of a nearby Native American group