John Wesley Powell

John Wesley Powell was one of the most daring explorers of the American West. In 1869, he personally financed and launched a bold expedition to study the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. Powell’s four-boat flotilla completed the perilous 900-mile journey down the Green and Colorado rivers in 14 days.

The expedition was so successful that the U.S. government financed a second trip in 1871. This time, the party included photographers, and the images they captured gave most Americans their first look at the splendors of the West. Later, as a member of the U.S. Geological Survey, Powell made more than 30 trips through Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. His detailed reports and precise maps set the standard for generations of geographers.

In 1878, Powell had turned his attention to preserving the land he knew so well. He sought government protection for natural resources and lobbied against irrigation, which he predicted would disrupt the fragile ecology. Powell also worked to preserve the culture of vanishing Native American tribes. He created the first classification system for Indian languages and, in 1878, became the first director of the Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution.

While Powell is remembered for his exploration and preservation exploits it is not as well known that during the Civil War he served in the Union army and lost an arm at Shiloh.

The Founding of St. Augustine

Some Americans believe that the first permanent European settlement in the present-day United States was the English village at Jamestown, Virginia.  But 42 years before the founding of Jamestown, the Spanish established a permanent settlement at St. Augustine in Florida.  It is now the oldest city in the U.S.

The Spanish began exploring Florida in 1513, when Juan Ponce de Leon first landed there.  But Ponce de Leon and the Spanish who followed him were searching for gold, and did not remain.  Then in the 1560s, the French claimed control of the region.   They built a wooden fortress, Fort Caroline, on the northeast coast.  King Philip II of Spain quickly sent a fleet, commanded by Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, to destroy the French fort.  Menendez drove away the French in 1565, and built a Spanish outpost on a nearby inlet.   He named it St. Augustine, after the saint whose feast day was August 28, the day Menendez first saw the site of the settlement.

St. Augustine was attacked several times in its long history, but the residents stayed on.  In 1586, St. Augustine was looted and burned by an English force led by Sir Francis Drake.  Today, a few ruins still stand from St. Augustine’s earliest days.  And many reconstructions show what the settlement must have been like in the 1500s.

California

California: An Interpretive History

Exploring for Spain in 1542, Juan Cabrillo was probably the first European to see California. He was followed in 1579 by England’s Sir Francis Drake. Although each explorer laid claim to the territory for his country, only Spain established settlements. Mexico annexed California in 1822, but thereafter showed little interest in the region.

On July 7, 1846, California was claimed for the United States by Commodore John D. Sloat, who raised the US flag over Monterey. This was followed by the defeat of Mexican troops in California by US forces.

California was officially transferred to the United States in 1848. The following year, when gold was discovered in a creek at Sutter’s Mill, California’s famous Gold Rush began.

The majority of today’s Californians live in urban areas, most notably San Francisco in the north and Los Angeles in the south. California is widely known for superb natural beauty – mountains, shore, and desert. The state’s two leading economic activities are agriculture and manufacturing. California’s most glamorous locale is Hollywood, headquarters of the movie industry.

California contains the highest and lowest points in the country (excluding Alaska): 15,000 foot-high Mount Whitney and Death Valley which is 282 feet below sea level.

The Cabeza de Vaca Expedition

Cities of Gold! Early Spanish explorers believed that North America contained fabulous riches. Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was one of those who spread stories of this wealth – but failed to find it.

Cabeza de Vaca came to the New World in 1527. He was second in command of an unsuccessful expedition that tried to conquer Florida. Abandoned by the ships that had brought them to America, the Spanish attempted to sail to Mexico in makeshift rafts. Instead, they landed in present-day Texas, where the surviviors were taken prisoner by Native Americans. From their captors they heard about the seven cities of Cibola – the cities made of gold.

In 1534, after several years of captivity, Cabeza de Vaca, an African named Estevanico, and two other Spaniards escaped. In an incredible two year journey, they wandered on foot through present-day Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. They did not find the golden cities. But eventually they made their way to Mexico. Cabeza de Vaca’s reports inspired several expeditions in search of Cibola. But the fabled cities turned out to be zuni pueblos. Built of mud, they shone somewhat like gold in the bright sunlight.

Later, in 1539, Estevanico guided an expedition in search of Cibola, but he was killed by Native Americans.

1682

The year 1682 was an important one for two adventurous Europeans – French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, and William Penn, an English Quaker.

La Salle had set out from Canada in 1689, searching for a great river described by the Indians. In 1682-1682, he traveled down the full length of the Mississippi. When he reached the Gulf of Mexico in April, 1682, he claimed all the land that the Mississippi flowed through for France. La Salle named the vast territory Louisiana, in honor of his king, Louis XIV.

As a Quaker, William Penn was persecuted and jailed in England for his religious beliefs. In 1681, he received a grant of land in America from the English king in settlement of a debt owed to his father. Penn immediately sent agents to the New World to begin building a settlement. The next year, he went to America himself and issued the colony’s frame of government. Penn’s guarantee of religious freedom and his easy terms for buying land attracted many settlers to his colony – “Penn’s Woods,” or Pennsylvania.

Also in 1682 – One of America’s first best-sellers was published in 1682. The Sovereignty and Goodness of God was Mary Rowlandson’s account of her capture by Wampanoag Indians in Massachusetts in 1676.

The painting with this post is titled LaSalle at the Mouth of the Mississippi. The artist is George Catlin. It was painted sometime in the 1840s.

1492

On August 3, 1492, three small ships – the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria – set sail from Palos, Spain. Christopher Columbus, the daring captain of the expedition, was convinced that he could reach Asia by sailing westward across the Atlantic. Up to that time, the only way for European traders to reach Asia was by ship to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and then by caravan across treacherous deserts and mountains. Columbus hoped to find an easier route to Asia and to the jewels, silks, and spices that Europeans valued so highly.

As Columbus’ ships sailed day after day across the choppy ocean, his men grew discontented and fearful. But on October 12th, they sighted land. Columbus went ashore on a small island and claimed it for Queen Isabella of Spain, who had financed his voyage. He named the island San Salvador, or Holy Savior. He believed the island was one of the Indies off the coast of Asia, so he called the natives Indians.

In reality, Columbus had landed in the Caribbean Sea, in the group of islands now known as the Bahamas. A huge continent, now called North America, was just 50 miles to the northwest. Instead of finding a sea route to Asia, Columbus had discovered the New World.

Christopher Columbus made three more trips to the New World before his death in 1506, but he died believing that he had discovered an unknown region of Asia.

Use this link to find logs, letters, and journals written by Christopher Columbus.

For an extensive listing of Christopher Columbus images check this Library of Congress page.