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Manual of United States history from 1492 to 1850
Manual of United States history from 1492 to 1850 Author:Samuel Eliot Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. Spanish Settlements. s nish From almost every point hitherto gained in adven- America, as well as from the shores of Spain, adventures, some g... more »reat, some small, some national, some individual, were urged by the Spaniards in all directions. The West Indies, at first the whole, soon became the mere centre of the Spanish possessions. The first to reach the territory of the present Ponce de L Leon in United States was Ponce de Leon, a companion of Columbus. Long visited by dreams of riches, and latterly, in his .advancing age, excited by rumors of a fountain in which youth might be renewed, Ponco set sail from Porto Rico in search of the treasures in the north. On Easter Sunday, — in the Spanish calendar Pascua Florida, — he descried a land to which, in hia mingled visions of resurrection and of abundance, he gave the name of Florida or Flower-land, (1512.) Nine years later, with a commission from the Spanish crown, as governor of Florida, Ponce returned to conquer and to colonize his discovery. But driven off by the natives of the coast, the old adventurer left Florida to return no more, (1521.) Various series of expeditions had already begun to expedi- scour the Atlantic coast. The Portuguese Cor- ons' tereal had led the way, twenty years before, in a cruise towards the north, (1501.) A line of Spanish adventurers, intent upon treasure and conquest, succeeded. Vasquez de Ayllon twice made descents upon Chicora, the later Carolina, (1520-24.) Gomez sailed farther to the north in quest of a western passage to richer lands, (1525.) Pamphilo de Narvaez tried his fortune in Florida, (1528,) whither also De Soto directed his greater expedition, and pursued his wanderings northward and westward (1539-43) with no greater reward than the discovery of the Mississi...« less