World and USA history

Romans of Spanish Heritage Christianized the Roman Empire

In one generation Hispanics explored and colonized over one-half of the earth and waters of the world.

Historians credit Spain for the total discovery, exploration and colonization of the Western Hemisphere. Nowhere in the history of the human race has this ever occurred.

Exploration and Colonization

1492 to 1542

During this period of exploration, in one generation, approximately
300,000 Spaniards had immigrated to the New World.

Spaniards established over 200 cities and towns throughout America.

Hispanics are attributed for exploring and colonizing the Western world from the southern tip of South America to vast portions of North America. Spaniards chartered the oceans and islands, crisscrossing America by foot, raft, ship, and by horse, and in one generation Hispanics acquired more new territory than Rome conquered in five centuries.

1493 - The Spanish Sovereigns grant the Admiral Cristóbal Colòn from Castile, the right to bear arms.

1499 - Ojeda explores Venezuelan coastline.

1500 - Férnandes explores Labrador.

1501 - Rodrígo de Bastidas explores Central America Coast and Caribbean

1502 - The Book of Priveleges: A collection of agreements between the Spanish Admiral of the Oceans Cristóbal Colón and the King and Queen of Spain, before his 4th and final voyage.

1508 - Velasquéz-Cortés-Pónce de León - conquest of Cúba

1508 - Juán Pónce de León explored Puérto Ricó

1508 - Vicénte Yanez Pinzon and Juán Diáz de Solís sailed along the coast of Yucatán.

1509 - Juán Poncé de León explored Jamaica.

1510 - Settlements in Jamaica.

1512 - Poncéde Leon explores both sides of the Florida Peninsula.

1512 - Hernan Cortés becomes mayor of Santiagó, Cubá

1512 - Velasquéz becomes Govenor of Cubá.

1513 -Vasco de Nuñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and became the first European to see the Pacific ocean.

1513 - Vasco de Nuñez de Balboa names body of water the "Pacific" ocean.

1513 - Poncé de León explores Florida coast.

1514 - Don Pànfilo de Narvàez appointed govenor of Florida.

1516 - Diáz de Solis locates mouth of Rio de la Pláta.

1517 -1518 - First Spanish effort to colonize mainland Mexico.

1517 - Hernandéz de Cordova begins extensive expedition begins along the Yucatán coast.

1518 - Juán de Grijalva sails along the Mexican coast, from Cozumel to Cabo Roxo, collecting the first European impression of Mesoamerica.

1519-1522 - Ferdinand Magellan, a Spanish subject with his ship and crew completes voyage of circumnavigation.

1519 - Alfonsó Alvaréz Pinéda reconnoiters the Gulf coast from Florida to Rio Panuco (Gulf Coast of México).

1519 - Diégo de Velazquéz (the Governo of Cuba), sends Hernan Cortés to the Yucatán Coast.

1519-1519 - During the month of April, Cortés founds the first Spanish settlement in México, La Villa Rica de la Vera Crúz. Begins inland exploration.

1519 - Hernan Cortés brings horses from Spain to the Americas.

1520 - Alvaréz de Pinéda sails across the Gulf of México from Texas to Florida.

1520 - Pànfilo de Narvàez arrives for orders for Cortés arrest. When Cortés leaves Tenóchtitlán to join Narvaez in battle, Pedró de Alvarado was left in charge of the city. De Alvarado allows a religious festival that turns into the Massacre of the Templó Máyor. The Spaniards are caught trying to escape are attacked and are killed in large numbers. This event is known as the "Noche Triste (“The Sad Night”).

1521 - May 1521 Spaniards begin the siege de Tenóchitlán and Mexacuteico that lasts 75 days.

1521 - Poncé de León in Florida effort to establish a colony.

1521 - Gordillo and Quexos explore Atlantic coast to Cape Hatteras (off North Carolina).

1519-1521 - Cortés conquers México. Ordaz, one of Cortés' Lieutenants, climbs to the 17,887-foot summit of Popocatepetl.

1522-1536 - Expeditions by Cortés to Panuco Gonzálo Sandovál to Coatzacoalcos Luis Main to Oaxáca and Chiápas Pedró de Alvaradó to Guatemalá Olid to Zacatula Michoacán to Northwest (later Reíno de Nuéva Galicia Nuno de Guzmán also to Northwest.

1523 - Estéban Gomés scouts North American coast from Nova Scotia (Nova Scotia is east of Main, the most northern part of the eastern North America), and to the most southern of North America in Florida.

1524 - Franciscan Monks arrive.

1525 - Estéban Gomés - Explores from Cape Charles to Cape Code and the Hudson, Delaware and the Connecticut rivers (most northern NE America and up into Canada).

1525 -Ayllon, went up the Atlantic Coast to Cape Fear.

1526 - Lucás Vasquéz de Ayllon settled on the Savannah River.

1526 - San Miguel de Gualdape, founded and settled the first European settlement in present day Georgia.

1527 - June 1527 Panifilo de Narvaez with a fleet of five ships left Spain, with 600 men, arrived in Hispanola in February 1528.

1528 - The same fleet entered near Tampa Bay, St Petersburg, Florida, (this trip had come from Cúba). Explores coastline from Tampa Bay to Galveston.

1528 - Alvar Nuñez Cabéz de Vacá and three others off the coast of Texas, at Galveston Island they were castaways of the Narvaez expedition.

1528 - King Carlós V establishes the first Audiecia in Nueva España-Tierra Nova, to handle judicial and executive matters.

1528 - Don Panfilo and troops went north, encountered a indigenous village. Continued north and encountered the "Apalachee" tribe.

1530 - Tampico (Modern day Texas), established by Fray Andrés de Olmos

1531 - The Appearance of the Virgin Mary to Juán Diégo, in the city of Guadalúpe. Our Lady of Guadalupe becomes Méxicos' patron Saint.

1531 - Pizzaro the conquest of Perú: Perú colonized by Spain

1534-1536 - Cabéza de Vacá (and three others from the Narvaez expedition), walk from Galveston (Texas), New méxico, and Arizona and to the west coast of México.

1535 - Nuñez Cabez de Vacá preforms the first surgical operation in the North American Continent near Pecos, Texas.

1535 - Cárlos V, appointed António de Méndoza as New Spains' 1st Viceroy. Nueva España is divided into provinces ruled by a govenor-general (António de Mendóza cousin of Cárlos I Rey de España and also know as Cárlos (Charles) V the Holy Roman Emperor.)

1535-1565 - Poncé de León and Hernan de Soto's Expeditions

1536 - Nuñez Cabéza de Vacá, Estéban and the two others wander into New México and later spread rumors of Cibola.

1536 - Melchor Diáz (under Coronado) welcomes the Castaways -Nuñez Cabeza de Vacá & his men back to civilization.

1536 - Pedró de Mendóza founds Buenos Aires.

1536 - Quesada, conquest of Colombía.

1536 - Almagro begins conquest of Chilé.

1537 - Irala founds Asuncion.

1538 - Quesada founds Bogata.

1539 - The first press is introduced in the North American Continent by the Spanish.

1539 - Fray Márcos de Niza lead expedition into New México.

1539-1542 - Hernando de Sóto explores the lower south of the present day United States of America, leaves Cubá, travels inland across ten states, discovers the Mississippi River.

1540 - Francisco Vasquéz de Coronado Fráncisco Vasquéz de Coronado explores California, Kansas, Arizona, New México, Texas, Oklahoma. Francisco Vasquéz de Coronado with 1000 soldiers leaves México City in search of Cibolo, ventures into New México- Zuni. (Note: Hernan Cortés had also volunteered for the expedition, but he was needed elsewhere) and went near Santa Fé, New México. Vasquéz de Coronado crisscrossed where Cabéza de Vacá had been.

1540 - Captain General Trístan de Luna y Arrelláno Commander of a territory (and later Govenor). The second in command was Lope de Samaniego (was the first to die in the expedition.). Included in the expedition were three women Franciscá de Hozes (wife of the shoemaker), María Maldonado (expeditions nurse), and natural wife of Lope Caballéro.

1540 - A soldier in Coronado's army, García Lopéz de Cardénas was the first European to see the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

1540 - Valdivia founds Santiágo, Chilé.

1540 - Melchor Diáz discovers California (under Vasquéz de Coronado). Melchor Diáz blazed more trails, saw more unexplored country, and rode more miles than any other conquistador during the entrada, and America’s first frontiersman.

1541 - De Sotó explores the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast.

1542 - Juán Rodríguéz Cabrillo and Bartolome Ferrelo, explore and reconnaissance up the west coast of North America up to Oregon and including the area of San Diégo.

1542 - Villalobos pioneers mid-Pacific route to the Philippines.

1542 - Alvar Nuñez Cabéza de Vaca's 1,000-mile walk across southern Brazil to Asuncion.

1542 - Francisco de Orellana completes two-year (raft) trip in the jungles of the Amazon.

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The first university on the North American continent was established in 1551. The Real y Pontificia Universidad de Mexico, had the same privileges as the Universidad de Salamanca, had five facultades (schools). (The University of Salamanca, Spain, was the leading University in Europe of its time and still a leading University).

Galileo Born February 15, 1564

Italian physicist and astronomer Galileo maintained that the earth revolved around the sun, disputing the belief held by the Roman Catholic church that the earth was the center of the universe. He refused to obey orders from Rome to cease discussions of his theories and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Galileo's work influenced other Renaissance scientists and encouraged the development of the scientific method.

Galileo died in 1642, while under house arrest imposed upon him by the Roman Catholic Church. In 1992, the Church acknowledged that its condemnation of Galileo was a mistake. Galileo helped develop the scientific method by using experimentation to test physical theories. Galileo constructed the first thermometer.

William Shakespeare Baptized April 26, 1564

English author William Shakespeare ranks as perhaps the most famous writer in the history of English literature. Shakespeare employed poet verse within his dramatic comedies, tragedies, and histories, and he also composed notable individual poems. His poetic efforts include a series of 154 sonnets, in which he developed the Shakespearian sonnet as a new poetic form, arranged with three quatrains and a couplet. Sonnet 18 (recited by an actor) comes from The Sonnets of Shakespeare (printed in 1609).

The works of Shakspeare were originated by the "infante" (prince) "Don Juán Manuel," a Hispanic, 300 years before Shakespeare was born. He was Son of a King of Castile and León, in the XIII-XIV centuries. Don Juán Manuel wrote short tales named "El Conde Lucanor."

St. Augustine, established in 1565 by the Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, is the oldest permanent European settlement in the U.S. The community was burned and sacked by the English navigator Sir Francis Drake in 1586. In 1821 the Spanish ceded St. Augustine to the United States. During the American Civil War, the city was captured by Union forces in 1862. In the late 19th century St. Augustine was developed as a resort by the financier Henry M. Flagler.

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