EXPLORATION IN AMERICA. As the routes followed by explorers of North America were determined by its physical con tour, a brief geographical survey is necessary to understand the progress of its exploration. Thus considered, the continent divides itself into four geographic provinces : the Atlantic coast region, the eastern mountains, the central region and the western mountains. The first embraces the coastal plain and Piedmont pla teau lying east of the Appalachians ; the second the Appalachian Mountains and their northern extension to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence; the third the whole Mississippi Basin, the Great Lake region and the Hudson Bay drainage. The last province is the great cordillera of western North America, which lies west of the Mis sissippi Basin and includes the Rocky Moun tain system, Pacific Mountain system and the Great Basin region lying in between.
The Atlantic seaboard, which was the scene of the earliest exploration and settlement, is separated from the central region by the Appa lachian barrier. Hence the Saint Lawrence, lying beyond the northern terminus of this bar rier, is the only easterly flowing river which drains any part of the central province; and' as in an unexplored wilderness watercourses nat urally offer the easiest routes of travel, it was by its valley that explorers first penetrated the continent. A way through the barrier was found by following the Hudson and its westerly tributary, the Mohawk, which is connected with Lake Ontario by a lowland area.
The central province is covered by a network of waterways extending nearly two-thirds of the distance across the continent, from the in land margin of the Appalachians on the east to the front of the Rocky Mountains on the west. It is separated by low divides into three. distinct drainage systems : the rivers emptying into the Gulf of Mexico through the Missis sippi; the waters which feed the Saint Law rence; and the rivers tributary to Hudson Bay.
The western mountain belt stretches north ward from Mexico through the United States and Canada to the Arctic Ocean. Its southern section is interlaced by a series of rivers tribu tary in part to the Rio Grande, flowing into the Gulf of Mexico; and part to the Colorado River, flowing into the Gulf of California.
The easiest route across the continent lay near the present northern boundary of the United States, where the head waters of the Missouri reach far into the western mountains, only 500 miles from the Pacific, and separated by but one divide from the Columbia River Basin, which leads directly to the Pacific.
Geographically, then, the explorations of our country fall into four groups : (1) those along the Atlantic seaboard, made by colonists of various nationalities; (2) those along the Mis sissippi, made by the Spaniards from the south, the French from the north and pioneers break ing through the passes of the Appalachians from the the Atlantic seaboard; (3) those made by the Spaniards northward from the Mexican border; and (4) those of the western mountains, made by Americans and of comparatively recent date.
Though the Cabots discovered North America in 1497 and claimed it for England, it was Spain who first attempted its exploration. Ponce de Leon, who had sailed with Columbus on his second voyage and subsequently become governor of Porto Rico, set out in 1513 in search of the °Fountain of Youth .° Sighting an unknown coast at lat. 30° 8', he named the land °Florida,° and turn ing south explored both sides of the peninsula. When he attempted nine years later to plant a colony on these shores, he was driven off by Indians.
But Spanish interest was aroused. In 1519 Cortes achieved his infamous conquest of Mex ico, and the fame of its wealth inspired others to seek the New World. Panfilo de Narvaez ob tained a grant to conquer and govern Florida, by which was meant all the rest of the con tinent, stretching indefinitely northward from the Gulf of Mexico. With 300 men he landed at Tampa Bay in 1528 and marched northward, suffering terrible hardships. Disappointed at not finding the gold they sought, they returned to the coast near Appalachee Bay and set out for Mexico in improvised boats, but were wrecked by the way. Of the whole party, Cabeza de Vaca and three others were the only survivors. For six years they wandered: up through Mis sissippi, across the Mississippi River near Mem phis, along the Arkansas and Red rivers to New Mexico and Chihuahua; at last reaching Sinaloa on the Gulf of California, where they were found by Spaniards and taken to Mexico (1536).