1. Age of Exploration
Part I – Coming to
the New World
Do you remember what happened
when the Europeans heard of the
riches Marco Polo found in Asia?

2. European Exploration: Part I
Cause
Result
•Europeans needed spices from East Asia quickly & safely
•Tried to find a way to reach Asia faster than the Silk Road
•Whichever country found the way first would dominate spice
trade and be wealthiest. (How would being wealthy help these countries?)
•After Columbus “discovered” America & rumors abound, the new
race began between France, Spain, & England to see who could
claim the most land for their country.
(Why did these countries want the most land?)

3. France
• 1562, Exploring North America for gold, religion,
& spices, especially international prestige (3 G’s)
• Huguenots (religious group) were looking for a
place to worship freely
• Founded South Carolina colony: Charlesfort
• Explorers ran out of food & supplies
• Returned in 1565 but settlers had vacated (life
was too hard there)
• Founded colony, 1564, Florida-Ft. Caroline

4. England
• Queen Elizabeth I (ruled 1558-1603) leader during
exploration period.
• England was a Protestant country (enemy of Spain who was
Catholic
• 1588 British Navy defeated the Spanish Armada
• British naval dominance allowed for American explorations
• Hoped to find gold & discovered making money with copper
& furs
• Wanted to spread their Protestant religion.
• Also came for overpopulation in cities/mercantile system
• Traded Native American slaves (resulting in Native
American deaths)
• Native Americans also became involved in selling slaves
• Few records exist to verify what actually happened

5. Spanish
•Looking for wealth in North America (God, Gold, & Glory)
•Destroyed French Fort Caroline in competition over land.
•1568, built first missions in Florida where Fort Caroline
had been.
•Missions were built to spread Catholicism and to convert
Native Americans to a new form of society
•Missions were ruled by Spanish colonial governments
•Indian Chiefs were under Spanish rule-local leaders
•Missions were communication points for Spanish with the
Indians
•Natives & Europeans traded at the missions
•Hernando DeSoto one of best know Spanish Explorers for
Spain. (Spanish explorer to explore what would become Georgia)

6. Age of Exploration
Part II – European
Impact on Native
Americnas
What happened to the
Indians due to all the
exploration?

7. Spanish Explorations: Part II
Explorers
•Ponce de Leon, Cortez, Pizarro, Allyon, & De Soto
Lost
Colony
•Lucas Vazquez de Allyon, 1526, brought 600 settlers to Georgia
•Some from Africa- (first Africans in America)
•Settlement: San Miguel de Guadalupe on the Sapelo Sound
•First European in GA & first formed settlement in N. America
•Settle doomed to fail; settlers were unprepared for the winter.
•Did not discover any means of wealth.
Early
Spanish
•Most explorations of the new world were done by the Spanish
•Many Spanish colonies were based in the Caribbean
•Missions were built on the barrier islands for easy access to the
mainland
•Missions were built to convert to Catholism and ”civilize” the Native
Americans
•Natives used the missions to integrate/assimilate with the Europeans

8. Spanish Explorations: Part II
Spanish
Missions
•Spain considered the French a threat to the efforts in the New World.
•Sent Pedro Mendez de Avilles (soldier/sailor) to retain territory in the
Americas.
•Traveled from St. Augustine, FL, went to St. Catherines Island
•Established Guale (Wallie) (named after an indian friend) with 30 men
•First mission was Santa Catalina
•Many missions failed; King Phillip II set up additonal missions on barrier
islands; established 70 mission & 40 missionaries in GA
•Friars (catholic priests) wanted to civilize the Natives who “ruled over
them”
•Juanillo Revolt-local disagreement resulting in killings and abandoned
missions
•Missions lasted over 100 years
•Ended with British aiding Natives in driving out the Spaniards from Georgia.

9. Juanillo Revolt
• In the late fall of 1597, Guale Indians murdered five
Franciscan friars stationed in their territory and razed
their missions to the ground. The 1597 Guale Uprising,
or Juanillo's Revolt as it is often called, brought the
missionization of Guale to an abrupt end and
threatened Florida's new governor with the most
significant crisis of his term. To date, interpretations of
the uprising emphasize the primacy of a young Indian
from Tolomato named Juanillo, the heir to Guale's
paramount chieftaincy. According to most versions of
the uprising story, Tolomato's resident friar publicly
reprimanded Juanillo. In his anger, Juanillo gathered
his forces and launched a series of violent assaults on
all five of Guale territory's Franciscan missions,
leaving all but one of the province's friars dead.

10. Friar (Catholic Priests) - Missionaries
Missionaries were sent to work at the
many Missions established on the barrier
islands by the Spanish. They were
responsible for converting the Native
Americans to Catholicism (Christianity).
They were also sent to assimilate the
Natives to European lifestyle.

11. Example of Spanish Mission

12. Spanish
Missions

14. Spanish Explorations: Part II
Hernando
De Soto
•First European to search the interior of Southeast United States.
•Looking for gold; landed in Florida first, went through GA, SC, NC, TN, & AL
•Brought 600 men, 200 horses, mules, and dogs
•Traveled up Mississippi; landed close to Albany, GA, 1540
•Introduced natives to white men and horses for first time
•Better weaponry; guns, horses, crossbows, and body armor
•He took advantage of the Native Americans and many Indians died
•He died somewhere along the Mississippi without ever finding gold
•Left notes/writings about his exploration

15. Spanish Explorations: Part II
Outcome
from De
Soto
•Europeans robbed & killed approx. 11,000 Native Americans
•Many Europeans died on the explorations; most of De Sotos
army was lost to starvation and disease
•Native Americans died from killings & diseases
•Measles, smallpox, influenza, & whooping cough
•Many European nations established settlements
•European settlements competed with each other as well as
Native Americans

16. Hernando de Soto

17. Hernando De Soto
• Hernando de Soto is widely known for his expiditions, and his
discoveries and is considered the first white man to see the
Mississippi River. However in my research and reading the
stories of his many conquest, I found that he was a vicious
fighter, frequently raiding Native villages, killing or enslaving
all in the way of his quest to discover riches. He would have the
elders of the villages shot in open fields in execution lines, he
made examples out of the warriors, placing them in chains, he
also took many as slaves and guides on his expeditions. Most
history books and educators will tell you of his brave struggles
to explore. But in my reading and researching the subject of
Hernando de Soto, I was quite surprised to see what a gold
greedy and pitiless conqueror he was and his blatant
mistreatment of the Native American Tribal People. Sometimes,
he never even attempted to talk to them first, he would scout
out their villages and attack without warning, pillaging for
treasure.

18. • After many years of intimidation and ill treatment
of the Native American tribes he encountered on
his quest, Hernando de Soto died on May 21, 1542
of a fever. His body was wrapped in skins
weighted with sand and dumped into the
Mississippi River, in order to prevent the
desecration of his body by the Indians, whom he
had intimidated and ill-used . There is a cross
marker commemorating the explorer and his
discovery on the banks of the Mississippi, in the
city of Memphis TN.

19. Painting of DeSoto burial in Mississippi

21. • Although the expedition of deSoto ended
drastically and with little success in the venture
for riches, it was one of the most elaborate and
persistent efforts made by the Spaniards to
explore the interior of North America. It was the
first extensive exploration of at least six of the
Southern states: South Carolina, Georgia, Florida,
Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas, and their
written history often begins with narratives which
tell the story of de Soto's expedition. From these
same narratives we also get our first description of
the Cherokees, Seminoles, Creeks, Appalachians,
Choctaws, and other famous tribes of southern
Indians.