The History of the Americans

Queen Elizabeth I, who came to power at the impossibly young age of 25 in 1558, was of critical importance to the English project in North America, and therefore to the history of the Americans. She would prove to be an extraordinarily adept leader who would fend off enemies to English sovereignty and Protestantism, both at home and abroad, for the next 44 years. In this episode we talk about Elizabeth the person, and William Cecil, her most important advisor for most of her long reign. The two of them, along with John Dee, other intellectuals and courtiers, English merchant adventurers, and the more successful pirates and privateers, invented imperial England, and defended her against enormous geopolitical and religious threats from Europe, particularly Philip II's Spanish empire. Eventually, they underwrote the first English settlements in the lands now making up the United States. #VastEarlyAmerica https://subscribebyemail.com/thehistoryoftheamericans.com/?feed=podcast Reference for this episode Alison Weir, The Life of Elizabeth I

England was quite late to the North American party, yet ultimately established the most enduring and therefore consequential settlements.  An overview of England of the 1500s, economically, politically, and geopolitically, is useful, even essential, to understanding how English North America unfolded. By 1572, England was firmly in Protestant hands, had its own ambitions for overseas expansion, and was increasingly working to constrain Spanish power without starting a war it would probably lose. Elizabeth I was on the throne and had been for 13 years, and she had surrounded herself with a group of advisors who were very much concerned with extending English power into the world at large.  The question is, how did England get to that point?  This week’s episode, titled “England in the 1500s and the Rise of the Merchant Adventurers,” rolls us back in time to get to that very question.  #VastEarlyAmerica https://subscribebyemail.com/thehistoryoftheamericans.com/?feed=podcast References for this episode John Butman and Simon Targett, New World, Inc.: The Story of the British Empire’s Most Successful Start-Up Samuel Bawlf, The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake: 1577-1580

The year is 1566. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés has founded St. Augustine and ejected the French from Florida. In this episode, we are going to look at the next Spanish moves in the region, all of which were designed to secure Spain’s treasure fleets and interdict French and English incursions into North America. These include Pedro Menendez’s exploration of Florida proper, which we will only touch upon, the expeditions of Juan Pardo into the Carolinas and Tennessee from 1566 to 1568, and the catastrophic failure of a Jesuit mission to the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay, not far from the future site of Jamestown.  None of these succeeded, but they provoked England’s anxiety and fueled her ambitions, which in turn catalyzed Francis Drake’s almost unbelievable mission of 1577 to 1580, Walter Raleigh’s failed colony at Roanoke Island on the Outer Banks in 1587, and even the settlement at Jamestown in 1607.  It all ties together! #VastEarlyAmerica https://subscribebyemail.com/thehistoryoftheamericans.com/?feed=podcast References for this episode Gonzalo Solís de Merás (Author), David Arbesú (Translator), Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and the Conquest of Florida: A New Manuscript Anna Brickhouse, The Unsettlement of America: Translation, Interpretation, and the Story of Don Luis de Velasco Chester B. DePratter, Charles M. Hudson and Marvin T. Smith, "The Route of Juan Pardo's Explorations in the Interior Southeast, 1566-1568" Charlotte M. Gradie, "Spanish Jesuits in Virginia: The Mission That Failed"

This episode is a “sidebar,” in this case way, way, way, off the timeline. The title of the episode is also the title of a speech given by Woodrow Wilson on July 4, 1907.  The occasion was the Jamestown Exposition in Norfolk, Virginia that year, staged to recognize the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown Colony. Wilson's text in fact travels a long way from its title. The speech is actually about adopting the principles of the Declaration, as Wilson defines them, to regulating a new development, the multinational corporation. The speech is also a window into American politics just over half way between the signing of the Declaration and the present day, when we were fundamentally reconsidering the role of the federal government in our economic and civil lives. You will also see that more than a decade before the Russian Revolution even progressive American politicians were worried about socialism. https://subscribebyemail.com/thehistoryoftheamericans.com/?feed=podcast References and other resources for this episode Woodrow Wilson, "The Author and Signers of the Declaration of Independence" Woodrow Wilson (Wikipedia) Progressive Era (Wikipedia)

The title of today’s episode is Pedro Menendez, the Founding of St. Augustine and the Slaughter of the Huguenots:  The Other Side of the Story.  If you listened to last week’s episode, which involved the slaughter of hundreds of unarmed French people at the hands of the Spanish, you are probably thinking “wait, how could there be another side to that story?”  That would be a fair question.  In this episode, we take a look at a recently unearthed Spanish account of those ugly days in September 1565, layered like a fine lasagna with commentary and perhaps a little snark! #VastEarlyAmerica https://subscribebyemail.com/thehistoryoftheamericans.com/?feed=podcast Reference for this episode Gonzalo Solís de Merás (Author), David Arbesú (Translator), Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and the Conquest of Florida: A New Manuscript

This episode looks at the first Protestant attempt to settle the lands now encompassed by the United States, the French expeditions to Parris Island, South Carolina, and the coast near Jacksonville, Florida. Philip II of Spain was determined to secure the Atlantic coast of La Florida to prevent privateers lurking there from attacking his treasure fleets, and to stop the Protestants from spreading their apostasy in the New World, so he sent an expedition to massacre them. Along the way we consider the very earliest glimmer of republican government, at least in the European intellectual tradition, in the New World. #VastEarlyAmerica https://subscribebyemail.com/thehistoryoftheamericans.com/?feed=podcast Selected references for this episode Lucy L. Wenhold, "Translation of Manrique de Rojas' Report on French Settlement in Florida, 1564" Charles E. Bennett, "Fort Caroline, Cradle of American Freedom," The Florida Historical Quarterly, July 1956. T. Frederick Davis, "Fort Caroline," The Florida Historical Society Quarterly, October 1933. Theodor de Bry, Images of North America Charlesfort-Santa Elena Site (Wikipedia)

In this eclectic episode we round up various minor Spanish incursions into today's United States, including the "discovery" of San Diego, the origin of the name "California," the murder of some friars at -- this is no surprise -- Tampa Bay, and Tristan de Luna's failed expedition to establish a colony at Pensacola. We also wonder why the Spanish were always launching these big expeditions in the Gulf of Mexico during hurricane season, and get a taste of marine archeology. Enjoy! https://subscribebyemail.com/thehistoryoftheamericans.com/?feed=podcast Selected references for this episode Caleb Curren, "Archeological Data Indicates that the University of West Florida’s “Luna Colony” is Actually a Native Village" Pensacola New Journal, "Luna's colony unearthed in Pensacola" Roger C. Smith, "The Emanuel Point Ship: a 16th-century Vessel of Spanish Colonization" Della A. Scott-Ireton, "An Examination of the Luna Colonization Fleet" Charles W. Arnade, "Tristan de Luna and Ochuse (Pensacola Bay) 1559" Luis Cáncer (Wikipedia) Harry Kelsey, Discovering Cabrillo

Our 25th episode is a Sidebar, "Taking Stock." I talk about the origins of the podcast, and how its approach to history fits in with today's trends in scholarship, including the "Atlantic World" and #VastEarlyAmerica. Oh, and I rant about the weaponization of history for partisan political purposes, and the many reasons why we should all avoid doing that. I hope you find it interesting! Selected references for this episode Karin Wulff, "Vast Early America" Thomas Benjamin, The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians and their Shared History, 1400–1900

In this episode we conclude the story of the Coronado Entrada into the American Southwest. By the spring of 1540, a few hundred Spaniards, a few free and enslaved Blacks, perhaps a thousand Indios Amigos – literally, friendly and free Indians – hundreds of horses, and herds of cattle, sheep, and pigs, were making their way up the west coast of Mexico aiming for supposed riches of Arizona and New Mexico, all on the basis of a massive intelligence failure. There were no Seven Cities of Gold, but Coronado and his men would be the first Europeans to see the Grand Canyon and they would name Texas, which ain't nothing.  Selected references for this episode Stan Hoig, Came Men on Horses: The Conquistador Expeditions of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and Don Juan de Oñate George Parker Winship, The Journey of Coronado, 1540-1542 F. S. Dellenbaugh, “The True Route of Coronado’s March” Tiguex War Coronado's Expedition, Legends of America Hawikuh and the Zuni-Cibola Complex New Mexico

We are now in late May 1539, almost exactly 482 years ago as I write this. Friar Marcos is alone with a bunch of Indios Amigos – literally, friendly Indians who had not been enslaved -- somewhere in Arizona, possibly in the Salt River Valley east of modern Phoenix.   He has just learned that his guide and advance man Esteban, has died rather gruesomely along with a bunch of his Indian escorts at the hands of the angry chief of Cibola, the “city” purported to be the gateway to the Seven Cities of Gold.  By his own somewhat suspect account, Fray Marcos has a decision to make – does he soldier on to lay eyes on Cibola himself, knowing that if he dies his mission will have been a complete failure, insofar as there will be no European to report on the territory?  Or does he head back to Culiacan, on the west coast of Mexico, where Coronado is waiting for him, and base his report on the tales told by Indians, either at Esteban’s direction or otherwise?  Selected references for this episode Robert Goodwin, Crossing the Continent 1527-1540: The Story of the First African-American Explorer of the American South Stan Hoig, Came Men on Horses: The Conquistador Expeditions of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and Don Juan de Oñate George Parker Winship, The Journey of Coronado, 1540-1542 F. S. Dellenbaugh, "The True Route of Coronado's March" George J. Undreiner, "Fray Marcos de Niza and His Journey to Cibola"