Timeline
| 1440-60 | The Portuguese explore coast of Africa |
| 1492 | Moors defeated in Spain; Columbus lands in New World |
| 1497 | Vasco da Gama sails to India by way of Africa |
| 1513 | Ponce de León claims Florida for Spain |
| 1519-21 | Magellan’s fleet sails around the world |
| 1521 | Cortés conquers the Aztecs |
| 1528 | Narváez attempts a colony in Florida |
| 1529-36 | The wanderings of Cabeza de Vaca |
| 1532 | Pizarro overthrows the Incas of Peru |
| 1539-43 | De Soto expedition |
| 1540-42 | Coronado expedition |
| 1542-43 | Cabrillo’s voyage |
| 1562 | French Huguenots settle in Florida |
| 1565 | Menendez establishes St. Augustine |
| 1584 | Ralegh plants colony on North Carolina coast |
| 1598 | Oñate expedition into Southwest |
| 1607 | English settle at Jamestown |
| 1620 | Pilgrims settle at Plymouth |
First Expeditions North
| De Soto | Coronado | Cabrillo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1539 | Lands in Florida in late May; marches through upper Florida; major battle at Napituca; guerilla war with Apalachees; winter camp at Anhaica (Tallahassee) | ||
| 1540 | Following Indian trails, expedition swings in a wide arc through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Alabama, encountering major chiefdoms. Bloody battle at Mabila (central Alabama) in October | Departs from Compostela with an army of 300 cavalry and infantry, several hundred Indian allies, friars, and a long pack train. Alarcón sails up the Gulf of California with three vessels. Expedition penetrates American Southwest, reaches Háwikuh in July; engages the Zuñi in battle; Coronado wounded. Tovar explores Hopi villages in Arizona. Alarcón reaches mouth of Colorado River. Cárdenas sights the Grand Canyon. Alvarado marches to Acoma, Pecos, and beyond. | Accompanies an exploring expedition up the northwest coast as almirante (second in command). Expedition abandoned after its leader is killed fighting Indians. |
| 1541 | Winters among ancestral Chickasaw Indians of Mississippi and suffers attack by them; crosses Mississippi in May; travels in great loop through Arkansas; discovers buffalo hunters and a people who live in scattered houses and not in villages; endures severe winter at Autiamque | Journeys to Quivira (Kansas). Winters at Tiguex; puts down an Indian revolt. | Gathers a new exploring fleet for Mendoza. |
| 1542 | Reaches the rich chiefdom of Anilco; at nearby Guachoya, De Soto sends out scout parties who find nothing but wilderness; De Soto dies, is succeeded by Moscoso. After fruitless wandering in east Texas, Moscoso retraces route to Anilco | The army departs for home in April, arrives in Mexico City in mid-summer. Coronado reports to Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza on expedition, resumes his governorship of Nueva Galicia. Months later Coronado is tried for mismanagement of expedition but acquitted. | Dispatched by Mendoza to continue exploration of the northwest. June: Sails from Navidad, near Colima, Mexico. September 28: Sights “a sheltered port and a very good one.” This is San Diego Bay, which he names San Miguel. October: Sails through the Channel Islands, suffers fall and injury. November: Reaches the northernmost point of the voyage, perhaps Point Reyes, California, but turns back. |
| 1543 | Winter camp at Aminoya on Mississippi; survivors—half the original number—build boats to float downriver; in September, they reach Pánuco River, in Mexico | January 3: Dies on San Miguel Island (Channel Islands). February: The fleet sails north again, perhaps as far as Oregon before turning back. April: Fleet arrives back at Navidad, nine months after embarking. |
The Spanish Entradas
In 1493 on his second voyage Columbus stopped at St. Croix, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was then “a very beautiful and fertile” island cultivated by Carib Indians. A boat he sent ashore met with a canoe full of Caribs. In an ensuing fight, one Indian was killed and several captured—the first serious hostilities with New World natives. Salt River Bay National Historical Park preserves the scene of this fateful encounter.
The Ways of the Conquerors
An estimated 3,000 battles wracked the Iberian Peninsula between AD 711, when Moors from Africa invaded what became Spain, and 1492, when they were finally expelled. Nor were battles against the Moors the only ones. The Christian leaders of the peninsula’s several principalities fought each other and their recalcitrant nobles in a constant quest for power, until finally Ferdinand and Isabella welded together, by marriage, all the units except Portugal.