1567 atempt at Appalachian trail to Mexico?

[WingedMonkey]

An interesting read for those interested in history other than “beginnings” emphasized in the standard colonial history taught in American schools.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/sc...fb-share&_r=2&


Fort Tells of Spain’s Early Ambitions

One of Pardo’s first acts of possession, in early 1567, was building Fort San Juan in an Indian town almost 300 miles in the interior, near what is known today as the Great Smoky Mountains. It was the first and largest of six forts the expedition erected on a trail blazed through North and South Carolina and across the mountains into eastern Tennessee. At times Pardo was following in the footsteps of Hernando de Soto in the 1540s.

Pardo’s orders were to establish an overland road to the silver mines in Mexico, on the mistaken assumption that the Appalachians were the same mountain chain that ran through central Mexico. No one then had a sure handle on the near and far of New World geography. Even the written records of the de Soto expedition beyond the Mississippi River did not seem to clarify matters; they did not come with maps.

[Tuckahoe]

Jaun Pardo's expiditions, the Spanish settlement of Santa Elena on Parris Island SC, and the Spanish attempt at settlement in 1570 on the York River in Virginia are things that I (we) discuss at work on a daily basis. The 16th century Spanish experience is certainly covered, its what puts the English settlement into context.

The Journals of the Jaun Pardo Expiditions 1566-1567, was publishedmin 1965.

And in 2005 there was a book published about the expidition as well.

http://www.bibliovault.org/BV.book.e...=9780817351908

Just because most folks do not learn what is set in front of them, does not mean its not part of the educational narrative.

[Tuckahoe]

Another Spanish expidition of the early 16th century is the Narvaez expidition, 1527/8 to 1536. Six hundred men begin the exploration of the Gulf coast and march into the interior. Four survivors march out of the wilderness at Mexico City 8 years later. Thats one hell of a thru-hike.