Cabeza's written account of their experi ences, published after his return to Spain, falsely attributed great wealth to Florida. So when Hernando de Soto, fresh from the con quests in South America, which had given him riches and fame, obtained permission to con quer Florida, many flocked to join him. He sailed in nine ships with 620 men, maintaining great display. Landing at Tampa Bay in 1539, the procession wandered westward, ill-treating the natives, for three years in pursuit of gold through the wilderness of the present Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi to the banks of the Mississippi River. They crossed above the Arkansas, penetrated westward until frightened back by the roving prairie tribes, and returned to the Mississippi, where De Soto died and was buried in its waters at the mouth of the Red River (1542). His followers under Moscoso built seven brigantines, descended to the Gulf and reached the Spanish settlement on the river Panuco, 311 survivors all told. Thus it was De Soto who first attracted attention to the Mississippi. Alonso de Pineda had dis covered its mouth in 1519, and named it °Espiritu Santo,' and Caheza de Vaca crossed it about 1530; but neither of them recognized its importance.
The fate of this expedition discouraged coastal explorations for a time. But the Span iards in Mexico were already pushing their way up into the heart of the continent. In 1539 Marcos de Niza, a priest, penetrated New Mex ico and came back with reports of the wealth of Cibola, a name which he applied to seven cities somewhere to the north. These were long supposed to be mythical, but have since been identified as the seven Zuni villages in New Mexico.
The tale led Vasquez de Coronado to set out in 1540. Part of his expedition he sent by water up the Gulf of California under Her nando &Alarcon, who discovered the Colorado River and ascended it for 85 leagues. The other part he led overland in the direction of Cibola, which he found and conquered (about lat. 35°) ; and then on into Kansas to about lat The belt of country bounding Mexico on the north received the name °New Mexico' from Antonio Espejo, an explorer who started north in 1582 with Indian guides to the rescue of three missionaries who had been deserted the pre vious year. Following the Rio Grande del Norte, he came to Cibola and, after learning that the missionaries had been killed, con tinued to 'explore the region and returned by the river Pecos.
The colonizer of New Mexico was Juan de Ofiate. He entered the country in 1597 with 130 families and founded the first capital, San Gabriel (second oldest town in the United States), near Santa Fe. In succeeding years he
carried his explorations westward through Ari zona, in 1604 following the Gila River to the Gulf of California. The following year he founded Santa Fe.
While this was going on in the interior, other nations were interested in the coast. It must be remembered that Columbus was in search of a western passage to Asia when he came upon America. But the idea did not die. A similar quest brought the Cabots to the shores of North America; and later, as the vast extent of the new country began to be realized, one explorer after another searched the coast for a water route by which to pierce the continent. When at last the waters of the Saint Lawrence were found to lead no farther than the Great Lakes, explorers still pushed west ward along the tributaries of the Mississippi or attempted to round the continent on the north through the ice-blocked seas.
In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano, sent by Francis I of France, examined the shores from South Carolina to Newfoundland, and wrote to the king the first known description of them. He brought back a theory of an inland sea approaching the Atlantic coast about the mid dle of the continent • and it was to find this °Sea of Verrazzano,° as a possible route to Asia, that the king sent Jacques Cattier in 1534 to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (previously dis covered by Jean Denys of Honfleur). In the Course of three voyages he explored the Saint Lawrence as far as Montreal, believing that he had found the western passage.
Cartier attempted to plant a colony near the site of Quebec; but for many years France's efforts in that line were doomed to failure. Equally unsuccessful were Jean Ribaut, who in 1562 brought over a band of Huguenot colonists to the site of Beaufort, S. C.; and Rene de Lan donniere, who founded Fort Caroline two years later at the mouth of the Saint John's River, Florida. In 1565 Pedro Menendez de Aviles came to colonize Florida for Spain, and mas sacred the inhabitants of Fort Caroline. Lau donniere escaped to France, but Ribaut (who had just arrived from his second voyage with reinforcements for the colony) was killed while attempting to escape along the coast.
Menendez was the first to establish Spanish rule firmly in Florida. He founded Saint Augustine (oldest town in the United States) in 1565, sent a mission to the Rappahannock in 1570, and explored Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac.
England sent out her first colonists to James town, Va., in 1607. Among the number was Capt. John Smith, an indefatigable explorer of the neighboring rivers and Chesapeake Bay.