KN Simon

Spanish Settlement in the United States

Spanish were among the first Europeans to do exploration and expeditions in America. Spanish entered America as early as the 16th century. The first Spanish to land in America was Juan Ponce de León who reached the shores of La Florida as early as 1513. After three-decade, the Spanish became the first European to reach most of the spectacular places in the United States. Those places are like the Grand Canyon, Mississippi River, Appalachian Mountains, and Great Plains (Brading 54). At this time, the Spanish ships did not stop there; they continued with their expedition along the east coast, proceeding to Pacific Coast as far as Oregon (Brading 54). Hernando De Soto in 1540, did a major exploration in the United States where he could visit various states in the United States such as Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma among others. Coronado in the same year led more than two thousand Spanish people to the interior parts of o the Arizona-Mexican border. Coronado was the first European to reach Kansas and able to see Canyon´s, Colorado. Several years Spanish followed Coronado with the aim of doping exploration in America (55).

During the exploration, the Spanish established permanent settlement made of characteristic fantastic European houses. Pedro Menendez in 1566 he built Fort San Felipe in Parris Island South Carolina. The fort was used by Spanish to store their treasures when they were traveling back to Europe. The fort was part of the king of Spanish effort to help Spanish in expedition and exploration in America. In 1571, Spanish started engaging in economic activities such as farming in the United States. Pedro Menendez was able to buy farmers and artisans and settled them in his family settlement. Menendez becomes the governor of his Santa Elena. The settlement was active for more than two decades and ruined when it was merged to Spanish Florida colony at St. Augustine (Brading 59). Several Spanish settlements follow later in various places like the San Antonio, San Diego San Francisco, and Tucson among others.   

The number of the Spanish continued to increase after establishing various settlement scheme. They subsequently owned large tracks of lands where they acquired farmers from the community around and from the slave trade that was popular during that era. The Spanish settlements were much vibrant in Florida. St. Augustine served as headquarter of the Spanish colonies which later changed to headquarter of the British colonies. In Florida, Spanish maintained loyalty to the local leader. The Spanish in Florida they introduced the Roman Catholic to the local people and later spread to other states that were major controlled by the Spanish. The formation of the British settlements in the north and the French colonies in the West diminished the colonies of Spanish most notably in Florida. Spanish encourage the slave to flee from the English territory in North Carolina and come to Florida where they were granted freedom after converting to Roman Catholicism. Spain helped the American to defeat Britain in American Revolution war, which enabled it to regain Florida. In 1819, Spain receded Florida to the United States government (Greenberg 477). Since then the Spanish continue settling in the United States, and their population continued to increase currently there are more than 2 million Spanish in the United States. 

Works Cited

Brading, David Anthony. The First America: The Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots, and the Liberal State 1492-1866. Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Greenberg, Joseph H., et al. “The Settlement of the Americas: A Comparison of the Linguistic, Dental, And Genetic Evidence [and comments and reply].” Current Anthropology, vol. 27, no. 5, 1986, 477-497.

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