THE EXPANSION OF NEW SPAIN (1543-1609)
OLD AND NEW SPAIN UNDER PHILIP II
Philip's inheritance.--Charles V's stormy reign came to a close in 1556,
when he abdicated in favor of his son, Philip II, who inherited Spain
with its colonies, Naples, Milan, Franche Comte, and the Netherlands.
The imperial office and the Hapsburg possessions went to Charles's
brother, Ferdinand I.
The Protestant movement.--The Protestant movement, which began in
Germany and Switzerland, spread into France, England, Scotland, the
Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries. The Catholic church saw
itself in danger of losing the religious supremacy in Europe, and put
forth all its power to check it. Its three great agencies in the
Counter-Reformation were the Council of Trent, the Jesuits, and Philip
II.
The Revolt of the Netherlands.--The Spanish king devoted all his
resources to stamping out Protestantism in the Netherlands, France, and
England. To the wealthy Dutch burghers Philip was a foreigner; they
resented the quartering of his soldiers and they objected to his regent,
the duchess of Parma, the king's half sister. The Inquisition had been
introduced into the Netherlands by Charles V. and it became more active
under his son. In 1566 the Dutch nobles headed a revolt, which was
furthered by the Protestant preachers. The Duke of Alva was sent with an
army to suppress it. William of Orange and other leaders fled the
country, as did many Flemish weavers. Alva established a special court
which became known as the Council of Blood; a reign of terror followed,
thousands being executed. William of Orange, known as the Silent, in
1568 collected a small army and began the struggle for independence.
After many years of warfare the Protestant provinces in the north gained
their autonomy.
The Defeat of the Armada.--In France the Protestant leader, Coligny,
attempted to unite both Catholics and Protestants in a national war
against Spain. This was frustrated by the Guises. Later, when they
intrigued to place Mary Queen of Scots upon the English throne, Philip
entered into their designs, but was prevented from giving much
assistance by the revolt in the Netherlands. The English retaliated by
raiding the Spanish Main. The culmination of the struggle was the defeat
of the Spanish Armada, in 1588, which freed England from the danger of
invasion. In Spain Philip carried out his policy of expelling the rest
of the Moors, the most industrious and enlightened of his subjects, and
by rigorously pushing the work of the Inquisition.
Spanish weakness.--The reign of Philip II had witnessed a vast change in
Europe. England had become a Protestant country. In France the wars of
religion had culminated by Henry IV ascending the throne. In the
Netherlands the northern half had risen into an independent state.
Portugal had become a Spanish province. In Spain the expulsion of the
Moors, the constant drain upon the country to carry on Philip's foreign
enterprises, and the commercial losses inflicted by the English, had
weakened the country to such an extent that it could no longer be looked
upon as preeminent in Europe. Nevertheless, the Spanish colonies
continued to develop and expand. The story of that expansion is the
subject of this chapter.
Luis de Velasco, second viceroy (1551-1564).--Viceroy Mendoza was
succeeded by Luis de Velasco, a member of a noble Castilian family, who
took possession in Mexico in 1551 and ruled till 1564. Velasco installed
his rule by releasing 160,000 natives from forced labor in the mines. To
put down disorder and protect the natives in 1552 he established in
Mexico the Tribunal de la Santa Hermandad. A year later the royal
University of Mexico was founded, the first in North America. During
Velasco's rule the great canal of Huehuetoca for draining the City of
Mexico was begun, 6000 Indians being employed in the work. Velasco was
an expansionist, and vigorously promoted the colonization of Florida,
the Philippines, and Nueva Vizcaya.
Martin Cortes, second Marquis of the Valley.--At the same time with
Velasco came Martin Cortes, son of the conqueror, and second Marquis of
the Valley of Oaxaca. He possessed city property in Mexico, Oaxaca,
Toluca, and Cuernavaca, and his estates were the richest in New Spain.
Other encomenderos looked to him as their protector against the royal
officials and induced him to conspire for an independent crown. He
yielded, but with six others was arrested in 1568. Two of the
conspirators were executed, Cortes and the rest being sent to Spain.
Expansion of the frontiers.--Having exploded for the time being some of
the notions of great wonders in the far distant interior, the Spanish
pioneers fell back on the established frontiers, and by a more gradual
and rational process extended them northward, much as the English a
century later slowly pushed their settlements from the Atlantic
shoreline across the Tidewater and up into the Piedmont.
On the Atlantic seaboard Spanish outposts were advanced from the West
Indies into what are now Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and,
momentarily, into Virginia. In Mexico, missions, mines, farms, and stock
ranches advanced northward in regular succession or side by side.
Between the return of Coronado and the end of the century the frontiers
of actual occupation moved forward, roughly speaking, from Guadalajara,
Queretaro, and Panuco, to a line drawn irregularly through the mouth of
the Rio Grande westward to the Pacific, with many large spaces, of
course, left vacant to be filled in by subsequent advances. The Spanish
pioneers, like those of England and France, recorded their home
attachments by the place names given their new abodes, and thus the
whole northern district of Mexico was comprised within the three
provinces of New Galicia, New Vizcaya, and New Leon. During the same
period the Philippine Islands had been occupied as an outpost of Mexico.
The Adelantados.--The latter sixteenth century was still within the age
of the _adelantados_, when the development of the Spanish frontiers was
left largely to men of means, obligated to bear most of the expense of
conquering and peopling the wilderness, in return for wide powers,
extravagant titles, and extensive economic privileges. As types of these
proprietary conquerors of the period there stand out Ibarra in Nueva
Vizcaya, Menendez in Florida, Legazpi in the Philippines, Carabajal in
Nuevo Leon, and Onate in New Mexico. The period likewise was still
within the age of the _encomienda_, when the right to parcel out the
natives was inherent in the privilege of conquest. With the turn of the
century the custom practically ceased, a fact which sharply
distinguishes Florida and New Mexico from the later frontier Spanish
provinces of Texas, California, and Louisiana.
A new spirit.--The age of wanton bloodshed, too, had largely passed. The
New Laws, promulgated in 1543, stood for a new spirit, and royal
authority had by now become somewhat established on the frontiers. In
proportion as the _encomenderos_ were discredited for their abuses and
as their power over the Indians was checked, a larger and larger place
was found on the frontier for the missionaries, to whom passed much of
the actual work of subduing and controlling the natives.
THE MINES OF NORTHERN MEXICO
Audiencia and diocese of Nueva Galicia.--In 1544 Compostela became the
seat of the new diocese of Nueva Galicia. Four years later the new
Audiencia of Nueva Galicia was established there. About 1550 Guadalajara
became the seat of both jurisdictions, and the judicial and
ecclesiastical capital of all the country to the north and northeast, a
position which it long occupied. The Audiencia district was subdivided
into _corregimientos_, each under an alcalde, subject to the Audiencia.
Within the _corregimientos_ were Indian _partidos_, each under a native
alcalde, subject to the encomenderos or the missionaries.
The Zacatecas mines.--In spite of the check caused by the Mixton War,
northward expansion in Mexico was soon stimulated by the discovery of
rich mines, and by the ambitions of the new viceroy. Mines developed in
southern Nueva Galicia were soon eclipsed by those of Zacatecas, which
were opened in 1548 by Juan de Tolosa, Cristobal de Onate, Diego de
Ibarra, and Baltasar Trevino. These men soon became the richest in
America, and Zacatecas the first mining town in New Spain. The fame of
the "diggins" spread, and other parts of the country were for a time
nearly depopulated by the rush of miners.
Francisco de Ibarra.--Inspired by the "boom" at Zacatecas, the Audiencia
of Nueva Galicia planned to subdue the districts of Sinaloa and Durango.
Gines Vazquez de Mercado, sent for this purpose in 1552, wasted his
energies in a fruitless search for a fabled mountain of pure silver, and
was defeated by the Indians near Sombrerete. Martin Perez, sent by the
Audiencia to the same district in 1558, came into conflict with
Francisco de Ibarra, agent of the viceroy. In 1554 Ibarra began a series
of explorations by means of which, in the course of eight years, he and
his men opened in northern Zacatecas the mines of San Martin, San Lucas,
Sombrerete, Chalchuites, Avino, Fresnillo, and other places. To make
these expeditions, he equipped himself at his own or his uncle's expense
with soldiers, horses, Negro slaves, Indian servants, and droves of
stock for food. He attracted miners and settlers by furnishing them with
outfits and by giving them free use of mineral deposits.
Nueva Vizcaya founded.--In 1558 Velasco planned to send Ibarra northward
to pacify a region called Copala, but his departure was delayed by the
sending of the De Luna expedition to Florida. In 1562 Ibarra was made
governor and captain-general of a new province called Nueva Vizcaya,
comprising the unconquered districts beyond Nueva Galicia, to which
Zacatecas remained attached. In the following year he founded Nombre de
Dios and Durango, the latter of which became and long remained the
military capital of all the northern country. In the same year Rodrigo
del Rio de Losa was sent with soldiers and miners to open the mines of
Inde, and of Santa Barbara and San Juan in southern Chihuahua. The
shortage of Indian labor in the mines there resulted by 1580 in slave
hunting raids down the Conchos River and across the Rio Grande into
modern Texas.
Ibarra on the Pacific slope.--Amid extreme hardships in 1564 Ibarra
crossed the mountains to the westward, and conquered Topia, which he had
hoped would prove to be "another Mexico." Disappointed in this, he spent
two or three years in developing Sinaloa. Beyond Culiacan, on the Rio
Fuerte (then called Rio Sinaloa) he founded the Villa of San Juan. From
here with new recruits from Mexico and Guadalajara, in June, 1567, he
set out northward. Ascending the Yaqui valley, at Zaguaripa he defeated
the very Indians who had destroyed Coronado's town of San Geronimo.
Crossing the sierra eastward, he emerged on the plains at the river and
ruined pueblo of Paquime (Casas Grandes) in northern Chihuahua. Turning
back along the eastern slope of the Sierras, he recrossed them, with
terrible hardship, into the lower Yaqui valley. Returning to Chiametla,
he died about 1570, after twenty years of exploring, mining,
colonizing, and administration. He was one, of the ablest of the second
generation of colonizers in New Spain.
[Illustration: The Advance into Northern Mexico, 1543-1590.]
Development of Nueva Vizcaya.--Shortly after Ibarra left Sinaloa the
Indians of San Juan revolted, drove out the encomenderos, and murdered
the friars; the settlement was therefore moved to the Petatlan (Sinaloa)
River, and named San Felipe. In the last decade of the century a
presidio and an Aztec-Tlascaltec colony were founded at San Felipe, and
Jesuit missions were planted in the vicinity. East of the mountains, in
Durango and southern Chihuahua, mining, stock raising, and agriculture
developed side by side. In 1586, for example, Diego de Ibarra branded
33,000 head of cattle, and Rodrigo del Rio, then governor, 42,000 head.
Several new mining districts were opened before the end of the century.
In 1574 Nueva Galicia and Nueva Vizcaya (including Zacatecas and
Sinaloa) had a population of 1500 Spanish families, perhaps 10,000
persons living in some thirty settlements, about half of which were
mining camps. Guadalajara had a population of one hundred and fifty
families and Culiacan about thirty. The Franciscan missionaries had
played an important part in the founding of Nueva Vizcaya. They
accompanied or went before the explorers and established themselves at
the principal mining camps and towns. In 1590 the custodia of San
Francisco de Zacatecas embraced ten monasteries east of the Sierras. In
1591 the Jesuits entered the province.
Queretaro, Guanajuato, and Aguas Calientes.--For twenty years after the
battle at Queretaro (1531) the Chichimec border was left practically
unsettled, under the control of native leaders. But the need of
communication with the Zacatecas veins made its complete subjugation
necessary, and Viceroy Velasco undertook the task. In or about 1550 the
town of Queretaro was founded, and Silao three years later. The
marvelous Guanajuato mines were now opened; in 1554 the city of Santa Fe
de Guanajuato was founded; and shortly afterward rich veins were opened
at Aguas Calientes. These "strikes" caused "rushes," just as those in
Zacatecas had done, but they were offset by others in Durango, where
Ibarra was operating. To secure further the roads to the mines, new
towns and presidios were established along the way, and thus San Miguel
el Grande (Allende), San Felipe, Santa Maria de Lagos, Aguas Calientes,
Ojuelos, Portezuelos, Jerez, and Celaya came into being. To supplement
the presidios, strong houses (_casas fuertes_) were provided as camping
stations for travelers and silver trains, and parties were equipped with
fortified wagons or movable strong houses.
San Luis Potosi and Southern Coahuila.--For some time the region of
Charcas, now called San Luis Potosi, was a sort of No-man's-land between
the westward, eastward, and northward moving columns of frontiersmen. It
was the home of the powerful but savage Guachichiles. The definite
conquest of the region, already known to explorers and missionaries, was
begun about 1550 by Francisco de Urdinola, who operated under Velasco's
orders, and who is said to have reached the vicinity of Saltillo and
Monterey. The settlement of the district soon followed. Matehuala was
founded in 1550, San Geronimo in 1552, Charcas in 1564, and the San
Pedro mines about 1568. By 1576 San Luis Potosi, the site of rich ores,
had become a villa, and before long was the seat of an _alcaldia mayor_.
Mining developments spread northeastward from Zacatecas to Mazapil and
Saltillo. By 1568 Mazapil was the seat of an _alcaldia mayor_, under the
Audiencia of Nueva Galicia. In that year Francisco del Cano, sent by the
"very magnificent alcalde mayor," went north and discovered the "Lake of
New Mexico," perhaps Laguna de Parras. In 1575 Francisco de Urdinola,
son of the former conqueror, is said to have settled sixty families at
Saltillo, within the jurisdiction of Nueva Vizcaya. As early as 1582 a
Franciscan monastery was established there, and in 1592 Saltillo was
created a villa.
The Tlascaltecan colonies.--Queretaro had been the scene of one
interesting experiment in utilizing the natives as agents of control; in
San Luis Potosi another was now tried. As a means of reducing the great
central region, the plan was devised of planting in it colonies of
Tlascaltecan Indians, to defend the settlers and to teach the rude
tribes the elements of civilization. The Tlascaltecans had proved their
loyalty in the days of Cortes, and this loyalty was insured by their
exemption from tribute and by other privileges. The practice of using
them as colonists in San Luis Potosi seems to have been begun as early
as 1580. In 1591 four hundred families were sent northward, most of
them being distributed at various places in modern San Luis Potosi, but
eighty families were established at Saltillo in a separate pueblo called
San Esteban. Thence in later days little colonies were detached to all
parts of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Texas.
Parras; Urdinola the Younger.--In 1594 Jesuits from Durango founded the
mission of Santa Maria de Parras, and shortly afterward a colony of
Spaniards and Tlascaltecans was established there. Of this district
Urdinola the Younger, lieutenant-governor of Nueva Vizcaya, became the
magnate. He opened mines, subdued Indians, established immense ranches,
and was veritable feudal lord. His principal hacienda was at Patos, but
he had others, as at Parras and Bonanza. In 1594 he secured a commission
to conquer New Mexico which was subsequently rescinded. A female
descendant of his became the wife of the first Marquis of San Miguel de
Aguayo, a title created in 1682 and long held by the leading men of the
northeastern frontier.
Nuevo Leon.--A new jurisdiction was now carved out on the Gulf coast. In
1579 Luis de Carabajal, a Portuguese of Jewish extraction, secured a
patent naming him governor and captain-general of the Kingdom of Nuevo
Leon, a region extending two hundred leagues north and west from Panuco,
and delimiting Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Galicia on the north and east.
Carabajal's was the first conquistador's patent issued for New Spain
based on the general ordinance of 1573 regulating new conquests. He was
made governor and alguacil-mayor "for two lives," with a salary of
20,000 pesos and two encomiendas for himself. He had authority to grant
encomiendas, and was obligated to make new conquests and settlements.
Raising two hundred men in Spain and Mexico, he established headquarters
for a time at Panuco, whence he made exploring, gold hunting, and slave
hunting expeditions.
Leon and Monterey.--Discovering minerals in the Sierra de San Gregorio,
near the Rio Grande, in (or by) 1583, Carabajal founded there the city
of Leon (now Cerralvo). Securing other families from Saltillo, in 1584
he founded San Luis, near the later Monterey, and appointed Castano de
Sosa alcalde mayor. Slave hunting expeditions from Leon proved so
profitable that soon two hundred or more adventurers were attracted to
the place, for the slaves found ready market at the mines of the
interior. When the viceroy checked the abuse, Leon was gradually
abandoned. With another colony from Saltillo, Carabajal founded Nuevo
Almaden, near the present Monclova. While thus engaged he was charged
with heresy, arrested, and condemned by the Inquisition together with
almost his entire family. In 1596 Luis de Montemayor,
lieutenant-governor of the province, founded Monterey with families from
Leon and Saltillo. Three years later Montemayor was made governor,
directly under the viceroy. In 1603 a Franciscan monastery was founded
at Monterey, and became a new missionary center. Conflicts of
jurisdiction between Nuevo Leon and Nueva Vizcaya became chronic and a
serious hindrance to prosperity.
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE ATLANTIC SEABOARD
Fray Luis Cancer.--Meanwhile Florida and the Philippines had been
conquered and colonized. Shortly after Coronado returned from New
Mexico, the Moscoso party reached Panuco. Viceroy Mendoza, in spite of
previous failures, was willing to try his hand in ill-fated Florida, and
he offered to equip Moscoso and his men for another attempt, but they
declined. Florida had been "running with the blood of Indians," but Fray
Luis Cancer, a disciple of Las Casas, offered to try to subdue it by
peaceful methods. With a royal license he equipped a vessel at Vera
Cruz, and with a few companions went in 1549 to Florida to convert the
natives. He was murdered by them, however, and his companions returned.
De Luna and Villafane.--But Florida was thought to be rich, especially
at Coca, in northern Alabama, and new attempts at settlement were made.
In 1558 the new viceroy was ordered to colonize Santa Elena, the scene
of Ayllon's failure on the Carolina coast, and some other point not
specified, the missionary work to be entrusted to the Dominicans. In the
following year, therefore, Velasco sent Tristan de Luna, Coronado's
second in command, from Vera Cruz with thirteen vessels and 1500
soldiers and colonists. Of the six captains three had been with De Soto,
a fact which indicates the continuity of frontier interests.
The expedition landed at Pensacola Bay. Three vessels sent on to Santa
Elena were storm-driven and returned to Vera Cruz. Establishing a
garrison at Pensacola (Ichuse), De Luna moved about a thousand colonists
inland to Nanipacna on the Alabama River, whence an expedition was sent
north to Coca. In 1560 the colony returned to Pensacola, where De Luna
was replaced by Villafane, who had been sent with supplies from Mexico.
In the following year Villafane went with most of his colony to Santa
Elena, but failed to make a settlement, and the Pensacola garrison was
soon withdrawn. In view of these repeated disasters, in 1561 Philip II
declared that for the present no further attempt should be made to
colonize Florida.
The French in Florida.--Notwithstanding this decision, there were
reasons why Florida should be occupied. The route of the treasure and
merchant ships lay through the Bahama channel, and French and English
pirates had begun to attack them. To lessen the danger, vessels were
ordered to go in company, and as early as 1552 a fleet of war vessels
was sent to escort them to Havana. But a port was needed to give aid
against the pirates, as well as to provide refuge from the violent
storms on the Florida coast. Moreover, the French were operating on the
northern Atlantic, and it was feared that they would occupy this region.
This fear was realized in 1562 when Jean Ribaut led a French Huguenot
colony to Port Royal, South Carolina. The colony miserably failed, but
in 1564 another, led by Laudonniere, settled on St. John's River and
built Fort Caroline. Just as Laudonniere was about to abandon the place,
Ribaut arrived with a third colony, bearing instructions to fortify a
position that would enable him to command the route of the Spanish
treasure fleets.
Menendez de Aviles, and the expulsion of the French.--Philip decided now
to eject the French and colonize Florida, and entrusted the task to
Menendez de Aviles, a great naval officer. He was made adelantado of
Florida, and promised a private estate twenty-five leagues square, or
some 300,000 acres. In return he agreed to take a colony of five hundred
persons to Florida, build at least two fortified towns, and expel
foreign "settlers and corsairs." In September, 1565, Menendez reached
Florida and founded St. Augustine. Ten days later he marched overland
against Fort Caroline, surprised and captured it, and mercilessly slew
most of its defenders. On the spot the garrison of San Mateo was
established.
[Illustration: Spanish Florida.]
Menendez's relentless deed caused an outburst of indignation in France,
and perhaps only Catherine's reliance on Philip in her troubles with the
Huguenots prevented war. Vengeance was left to a private individual,
Dominique de Gourgues. Getting up an expedition ostensibly to trade, in
1567 he went to Florida, and slew the garrison at San Mateo. The
prisoners taken were hanged "not as Spaniards" but "as traitors,
robbers, and murderers."
New settlements in Florida.--Menendez planned great things. He would
fortify the Bahama Channel, occupy Santa Elena and Chesapeake Bay, and
in the latter seek the northern strait. As a base for expanding toward
Panuco, he would occupy the Bay of Juan Ponce, and he had great hopes of
agricultural prosperity.
To carry out these plans, active steps were taken. Before Menendez
returned to Spain in 1567, several new Spanish posts were founded
between the point of the peninsula and South Carolina. San Mateo was
reoccupied. At Charlotte Bay Menendez made an alliance with the
much-feared Chief Carlos by marrying his sister, and founded there the
presidio of San Antonio. Other garrisons were established on the
peninsula at Ays, Santa Lucia, Tocobaga, and Tegesta. At Santa Elena, in
South Carolina, Menendez founded the colony of San Felipe, and in Guale
(northern Georgia) he founded a presidio.
Explorations in the Alleghanies.--In November, 1566, Menendez sent Juan
Pardo from Santa Elena "to discover and conquer the interior country
from there to Mexico," to join the two frontiers. Going northwest, he
reached the snow covered Alleghanies in western North Carolina,
established two garrisons on the way, and returned. Boyano, left at one
of the garrisons, made expeditions into the mountains, and in 1567
marched southwest to Chiaha near Rome, Georgia. Being joined there by
Pardo, they set out "in the direction of Zacatecas and the mines of San
Martin," in Mexico, but were turned back by Indian hostility. On his way
to San Felipe Pardo left two garrisons, which were soon massacred by
Indians.
The Jesuit missions in Florida.--In 1566 Menendez secured three Jesuit
missionaries for Florida. Another band arrived in 1568, and went to
Santa Elena, Orista, and Guale, where they founded missions. At first
they were successful, but in 1570 they were driven out by native
opposition. By this time the garrison at Tocobaga had been massacred and
those at San Antonio and Tegesta withdrawn on account of Indian
hostility.
The Virginia mission.--Father Segura, the Jesuit superior, now
transferred his efforts to Chesapeake Bay, whither he went in 1570 with
six missionaries. They founded a mission, perhaps on the Rappahannock,
but soon all were slain. In 1571 Menendez went in person to avenge the
outrage. Two years later his nephew explored the entire coast from the
Florida Keys to Chesapeake Bay. In 1573, the year before his death,
Menendez's grant was extended west to Panuco.
Franciscans on the Georgia coast.--The martyrdom of Father Segura and
his band caused the Jesuits to abandon the field for Mexico, but in 1573
Franciscans began work in the province. Twenty years later (1593) twelve
more arrived under Father Juan de Silva. From the central monastery at
St. Augustine they set forth and founded island missions all up the
Florida and Georgia coast, on Amelia, Cumberland, St. Simon, San Pedro
and Ossabua islands. Fray Pedro Chozas made inland explorations, and
Father Pareja began his famous work on the Indian languages. Owing to an
Indian uprising in 1597 the missions were abandoned for a time, but were
soon restored as a check against the English, who now entered Virginia.
FOREIGN INTRUSIONS IN THE ATLANTIC
The Spanish trade monopoly.--The French had been expelled from Florida,
and the coast occupied up to Port Royal Sound, but freebooters continued
to prey on treasure and merchant vessels. Spain undertook to preserve
the trade and wealth of the Indies as an absolute monopoly. All trade
must be conducted by Spaniards in Spanish vessels, from specified
Spanish ports to specified American ports. This monopoly was
objectionable not only to the traders of other nations but to the
Spanish colonists as well. To this economic grievance was added the
bitter hatred felt by Protestant Frenchmen, Englishmen and Dutchmen for
Catholic Spain, whose subjects were regarded as lawful prey.
The merchant fleets.--To prevent the plundering of commerce in the
Indies, by French, English, and Dutch, Spain was forced to adopt a
system of fleets sailing periodically and protected by convoys of armed
galleons. After 1561 it became unlawful for vessels to sail alone to the
Indies, except under special circumstances. Two fleets left Spain each
year, one for Tierra Firme and Nombre de Dios (later Porto Bello) and
the other for Vera Cruz. In the later sixteenth century the Nombre de
Dios fleet comprised as many as forty armed galleons, but thereafter the
number was much smaller, as foreigners cut into Spanish trade. The Vera
Cruz fleet comprised fifteen or twenty merchantmen convoyed by two
galleons. At Nombre de Dios goods and treasure from Peru and Chile were
taken on. At Vera Cruz were gathered the exports from New Spain, the
cargo from the Manila galleon brought overland from Acapulco, and the
ten or twelve million dollars of royal revenues from the mines and
taxes.
The freebooters.--This arrangement was an improvement, but French,
Dutch, and English freebooters hung in the wake of the fleets to plunder
any vessel which fell behind the galleons, while smuggling and
town-sacking grew in frequency with the growing jealousy and hatred of
Spain. The prototype of the English freebooters was John Hawkins, whose
fleet was destroyed by the Spaniards at Vera Cruz in 1567. More famous
was Francis Drake, who in 1585, during his third marauding expedition,
went to the West Indies with twenty-five vessels, captured Santo
Domingo, held Cartagena for ransom, and in May, 1586, sacked and burned
St. Augustine, Florida. Hawkins and Drake were only two of a score of
English freebooters who in the later sixteenth century harried Spanish
commerce and plundered the coast towns. In the list are the names of
Oxenham. Raleigh. Grenville. Clifford, Knollys, Winter, and Barker. The
last exploit of the century was Clifford's capture of San Juan, Porto
Rico, in 1598.
The English in the north Atlantic.--The voyages of Frobisher. Davis, and
Gilbert in the northern Atlantic between 1576 and 1587, in search of the
northwest passage, caused uneasiness for the security of Florida and of
the northern strait. Equally disturbing were the efforts of Raleigh and
his associates to colonize Roanoke Island and Guiana.
Decline of the West Indies.---The raids of the freebooters, the
restrictions placed on commerce, the decline of mining and of the native
population, and the superior attractions of Peru, Central America, and
Mexico, had greatly reduced the prosperity of the West Indies. In 1574
Espanola had ten towns with 1000 Spanish families, and 12,000 negro
slaves. The native population had dwindled to two villages. Santo
Domingo, seat of the Audiencia and of the archdiocese, had seven hundred
families. Cuba was less prosperous than Espanola, and population was
still declining. The island had eight Spanish towns with a total
population of some three hundred families and about an equal number of
Indians. Santiago, once with a population of one thousand families, now
had thirty. Havana, somewhat larger, was the residence of governor and
bishop. Jamaica had three Spanish settlements and no Indians. Porto
Rico, with three Spanish towns, had a population of some two hundred and
eighty families, of whom two hundred lived at San Juan. The principal
industries in all of the islands were sugar and cattle raising. There
being no Indians in the West Indies now, there were no encomiendas.
THE PHILIPPINES AND CALIFORNIA
A new attempt in the East.--At the same time that Menendez was
establishing the province of Florida, the right wing of the Indies,
Legazpi was conquering the Philippines, the left wing. The principal
result of the Villalobos expedition (1542) had been to give the name of
the Philippines to the Lazarus, or Western Islands. For nearly two
decades thereafter nothing was done to advance the interests of Spain in
the Far East, but Portuguese profits in the spice trade were tempting to
both sovereign and subject, and the king set about making a new effort
to share in these advantages.
The obvious base for such a trade was Mexico, and in 1559 Philip ordered
Velasco to equip two vessels for discovery in the western islands, to
test the chance for profits and the possibility of a return voyage
across the Pacific. This order was issued just at the time when Spain
was attempting to occupy the Carolina coasts, with a view, in part, to
finding a northern strait leading to the Spice Islands. Thus were all
these widely separated enterprises unified.
The Legazpi expedition.--To lead the expedition, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi
was chosen, with Fray Andres de Urdaneta as chief navigator. The
spiritual work was entrusted to Urdaneta and a band of Augustinians.
Owing to many delays it was November, 1564, when the fleet left Navidad.
In February, 1565, seven months before Menendez reached Florida, Legazpi
reached the Philippines. Three of the vessels were sent back with
Urdaneta on board to discover a return route to New Spain. Instead of
sailing east against wind and current, he turned northward beyond the
trade belt, and entered that of the westerly winds. After a long and
hard voyage he reached the American continent off the northern
California coast, which he descended to Mexico. At last the Spaniards
had discovered a way to return from the East safe from the Portuguese
attacks.
Meanwhile Legazpi had occupied Cebu. Portuguese resistance caused a
removal to Panay, but in 1571 Cebu was reoccupied and Manila founded. In
the previous year Legazpi had received a commission as adelantado of the
Islands, subject to the viceroy of Mexico. When Legazpi died in 1572 the
conquest of the principal islands had been effected and with little
bloodshed. In 1583 the Audiencia of Manila was established, subordinate
to Mexico.
The Manila galleon.--In 1580 Portugal was united with Spain, and, until
1640, when Portugal regained her independence, Manila was an important
center for the commerce of the combined Spanish and Portuguese colonies.
A regular trade was established from Manila to Mexico and Spain, but was
restricted to one or two annual galleons each way between Manila and
Acapulco.
New interest in the California coast.--The development of the Philippine
trade, the necessity of protecting it from other nations, continued
interest in the Northern Mystery, and the opening of pearl fisheries in
the Gulf of California, led to renewed exploration of the northern
Pacific coasts and to renewed attempts to settle and develop California.
The regular course of the east-bound Manila galleon lay along the path
marked out by Urdaneta northeastward from Manila to about latitude 42, deg.
thence across the Pacific to the American continent off Cape
Mendocino, and down the coast to Acapulco. The voyage was arduous. By
the time the vessels reached the American coast half of the
scurvy-afflicted crew and passengers were dead, and the vessels needed
repairs. Hence a port of call was gravely needed for the Manila
galleons.
The Strait of Anian.--Moreover, Spanish interests in the Pacific, were
insecure. The Portuguese were no longer rivals, but French and English
freebooters were active on the Atlantic and might venture upon the
Pacific. Besides, there was the fear that the French, English, or Dutch,
operating in the northern Atlantic, would discover the Strait of Anian
and secure control of the direct route to the Spice Islands, just as
Portugal had monopolized the African route.
Drake and Cavendish.--These fears were made realities in 1579 when Drake
appeared on the California coast. In 1577 he had passed through the
Straits of Magellan. Reaching the Pacific with only one vessel of the
five with which he had started, he proceeded up the coast of South
America, plundering as he went. In the harbour now known as Drake's Bay,
just north of San Francisco, he refitted, claiming the country for
England and calling it New Albion. Drake then sailed to the East Indies,
obtained a cargo of spices, crossed the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape
of Good Hope, and reached Plymouth in November, 1580. He claimed to have
discovered the Strait of Anian, and this further disturbed the minds of
the Spaniards. For his daring voyage he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.
In 1586 Thomas Cavendish followed Drake's course. Reaching the point of
California, he plundered the Manila galleon, the Santa Ana, and burned
it to the water's edge. The voyages of Drake and Cavendish were soon
followed by the formation of the British East India Company (1600) and
by conflicts with the Spanish merchants in the Orient. In the wake of
the English came the Dutch, who had passed the Straits of Magellan
before the end of the sixteenth century.
Gali and Cermeno.--With the needs of the Pacific coast in, view. Viceroy
Moya Contreras (1584-1585) instructed Francisco de Gali to explore the
northwestern coasts of America on his return from Manila in the galleon.
Nothing came of Gali's orders, and Moya's successor discouraged further
exploration. The second Viceroy Velasco (1590-1595), however, took up
Moya's plan, and in 1595 Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeno undertook to carry
out the project on his return from Manila. He was wrecked at Drake's
Bay, however, and his crew made their way to Mexico in an improvised
craft. The plan of reconnoitering the coast with laden Manila galleons
was now given up for one of exploring in light vessels sent out from the
ports of Mexico.
Vizcaino's colony.--Royal interest in the protection of California was
now combined with private interest in the pearl-fisheries of the Gulf of
California. Occasional expeditions had been made for this purpose since
the days of Cortes and Alarcon. In 1595 Sebastian Vizcaino, who had been
engaged in the Manila trade, and, indeed, had been on the _Santa Ana_
when it was captured by Cavendish, secured a contract authorizing him to
gather pearls, in return for subduing and colonizing California. Leaving
Acapulco late in 1596 with three vessels and a good-sized company, he
established a colony at La Paz and explored some distance up the Gulf.
But disaster soon followed, and early in 1597 the survivors returned to
Mexico.
Vizcaino's exploring expedition.--Vizcaino attributed his failure to
ignorance of the seasons, and proposed making another attempt at
settlement and pearl fishing. While this question was being discussed,
the king in 1599 ordered the outer coast of California explored again,
with a view to finding a port for the Manila galleons. To conduct the
expedition Vizcaino was chosen. Leaving Acapulco in May, 1602, with
three vessels, he ran all the coasts covered by Cabrillo and Ferrelo
sixty years before. At Magdalena Bay, Cerros Island, San Diego Bay, and
Santa Catalina Island extensive explorations were made. The capital
event of the expedition, however, was the exploration of the Bay of
Monterey (probably entered by Cermeno) and its designation as the
desired port. One of the vessels reached Cape Blanco, but San Francisco
Bay was missed, as before.
Plans to Occupy Monterey Bay.--Plans were now made for occupying the
port of Monterey, but delays ensued and a new viceroy concluded that a
port in the mid-Pacific was more needed than one on the California
coast. Accordingly, in 1611 Vizcaino was sent to explore certain islands
called Rica de Oro and Rica de Plata, but the expedition failed.
THE FOUNDING OF NEW MEXICO
Renewed exploration of New Mexico.--The expansion of Nueva Vizcaya and
renewed activities on the Pacific coast in the later sixteenth century
stimulated a new advance into New Mexico. Coronado's expedition had
proved disappointing, and for four decades no further explorations had
been made in the region. Nevertheless, the tales of great cities had not
been forgotten, and in the meantime a new line of approach to New Mexico
had been opened by way of the central plateau. By 1580 mines and
missions had reached Santa Barbara, while slave hunting expeditions had
descended the Conchos to the Rio Grande. Through reports given by the
outlying tribes, a new interest in the Pueblo region was aroused.
Rodriguez and Espejo.--To follow up these reports, with a view to
missionary work, trade, and exploration, an expedition was organized at
Santa Barbara in 1580 by Fray Augustin Rodriguez, a Franciscan lay
brother, and Francisco Sanchez Chamuscado. In the next year the party of
three friars and nine soldiers and traders descended the Conchos River,
ascended the Rio Grande to the Pueblo region, visited the buffalo
plains, Acoma, and Zuni, and returned, leaving two friars at Puaray, one
having been killed. In the following year a rescue and trading party was
led to New Mexico over the same trail by Fray Bernaldino Beltran and
Antonio de Espejo. The friars had already been slain by the natives, but
before returning Espejo went to Zuni, Moqui, and western Arizona, where
he discovered mines, returning to Santa Barbara by way of the Pecos
River.
Plans to colonize New Mexico.--The expeditions of Rodriguez and Espejo
aroused new zeal for northern exploration and settlement, and there were
dreams now, not only of conquering New Mexico, but of going beyond to
colonize Quivira and the shores of the Strait of Anian. The king ordered
a contract made for the purpose, and soon there was a crowd of
applicants for the honor. While these men were competing for the desired
contract, Castano de Sosa in 1590 led a colony from Nuevo Leon up the
Pecos to the Pueblos and began their conquest, but was soon arrested and
taken back. Some three years later two men named Leyva and Gutierrez de
Humana led an unlicensed expedition from Nueva Vizcaya to New Mexico,
whence Gutierrez went to northeastern Kansas, and apparently reached the
Platte River.
Onate and the founding of New Mexico.--The contract to colonize New
Mexico was finally assigned in 1595 to Juan de Onate, son of Cristobal,
one of the founders of Zacatecas. In accordance with the ordinances of
1573 he was made governor, adelantado, and captain-general, granted
extensive privileges, lands, and encomiendas, while his colonists were
given the usual privileges of first settlers (_primeros pobladores_). It
was February, 1598, when Onate left northern Nueva Vizcaya with his
colony. It included one hundred and thirty soldiers, some with their
families, a band of Franciscans under Father Martinez, and more than
seven thousand head of stock. Previous expeditions had followed the
Conchos, but Onate opened a more direct route through El Paso. Without
difficulty he secured the submission of the tribes, settled his colony
at San Juan, and distributed the friars among the pueblos.
Onate's explorations.--Having established his colony, Onate turned to
exploration in the east and the west. In the fall of 1598 Vicente
Zaldivar was sent to the Buffalo Plains, while the governor set out for
the South Sea. At Moqui he turned back, but Marcos Farfan continued west
with a party, and staked out mining claims on Bill Williams Fork. Acoma
rebelled at this time and as a punishment was razed. In 1599 Zaldivar
was sent to the South Sea and seems to have reached the lower Colorado.
Early in 1601 Onate, with seventy men, descended the Canadian River and
crossed the Arkansas to an Indian settlement called Quivira, apparently
at Wichita, Kansas. During Onate's absence most of the colonists
deserted, but they were brought back, with reinforcements. Still bent on
reaching the South Sea, in 1604 Onate descended Bill Williams Fork and
the Colorado to the Gulf of California, where he got the idea that
California was an island. He had reexplored most of the ground covered
by Coronado and had opened new trails. But he had lost the confidence
and support of the authorities, and in 1608 resigned and was displaced
by a royal governor.
Santa Fe founded.--In 1609 Santa Fe was founded and became the new
capital. This event, which occurred just a hundred years after the
occupation of Darien, may be regarded as the culmination of a century of
northward expansion.
[Illustration: New Mexico in Onate's Time (From Bancroft, _Arizona and
New Mexico_, p. 137).]
SPANISH ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
Population and industries.--The heroic age of Spanish colonization had
now passed. The surprising results achieved in the New World during the
first eighty years, not counting the work of exploration, are set forth
in a description of the colonies in 1574 written by Lopez de Velasco,
official geographer. At that time there were in North and South America
about two hundred Spanish towns and cities, besides numerous mining
camps, haciendas, and stock ranches. The Spanish population was 32,000
families, or perhaps from 160,000 to 200,000 persons. Of these about
five-eighths lived in North America. In the two Americas there were 4000
encomenderos, the rest being mainly miners, merchants, ranchers, and
soldiers, with their families. The population included 40,000 negro
slaves, and a large element of mulattoes and mestizos. About 1,500,000
male Indians paid tribute, representing a population of 5,000,000. In
many parts occupied by Spaniards there were no encomiendas, for the
Indians had died out. Mining, commerce, cattle ranching, grain and sugar
raising had been established on a considerable scale.
Cities and towns.--Before the end of the sixteenth century most of the
present-day state capitals and other large cities in Spanish North
America had been founded. Mexico City had a population of over 2000
Spanish families (perhaps 15,000 persons), Santo Domingo, Puebla, and
Guatemala 500 families each, Trinidad (in Guatemala) and Panama 400
each, Oaxaca 350, Zacatecas 300, Toluca, Zultepec, Vera Cruz, Granada,
Chiapas, and Nombre de Dios 200 each, Guadalajara and San Salvador 150
each, and many others lesser numbers.
Administrative divisions.--Spanish America was now divided into two
viceroyalties, New Spain and Peru. New Spain included all of the
American mainland north of Panama, the West Indies, part of the northern
coast of South America, the Islas del Poniente, and the Philippines. It
comprised the four audiencias of Espanola, Mexico, Guatemala, and Nueva
Galicia, the Audiencia of Panama being a part of the viceroyalty of
Peru. The four northern audiencia districts were subdivided into
seventeen or eighteen gobiernos or provinces, corresponding closely to
the modern states. The provinces were divided into _corregimientos_
embracing Indian _partidos_. North America embraced twelve dioceses and
the two archdioceses of Santo Domingo and Mexico.
Churches and monasteries.--Many fine churches, some of them still
standing, had been built in the larger towns. The Franciscans,
Dominicans, and Augustinians were well established in New Spain, and the
Jesuits had just begun their work. The friars were subject to their
chapters and the Jesuits to their general in Spain. The Franciscans
already had four provinces in New Spain, the Dominicans and Augustinians
only one each. Hundreds of monasteries had been established, especially
wherever there were Indians in encomienda. The expense of erecting them
was borne jointly by king, encomenderos, and Indians.
The Universities.--"Enthusiasm for education characterizes the earliest
establishment of the Spanish colonies in America. Wherever the priests
went, a school was soon established for the instruction of the natives
or a college for its clericals who were already at work as well as for
those who were soon to take holy orders. From the colleges sprang the
universities which, in all the Spanish dominions, were founded at a very
early date for the pursuit of the 'general studies' which were at that
time taught in the great peninsular universities of Alcala and
Salamanca. Half a century before Jamestown was founded by the English,
the University of Mexico was conferring degrees upon graduates in law
and theology. Before the seventeenth century closed, no less that seven
universities had been erected in Spanish America, and their graduates
were accepted on an equality with those of Spanish institutions of like
grade." (Priestley.)
READINGS
THE REIGN OF PHILIP II
Chapman, Charles E., _A History of Spain_, Chapter XXXIII; Gayarre,
C.E.A., _Philip II of Spain_; Hume, M.A.S., _Philip II of Spain_; Hume,
M.A.S., _Spain, Its Greatness and Decay_; Hume, M.A.S., _The Spanish
People_; Lea, H.C., _A History of the Inquisition of Spain_; Merriman,
R.B., _The Rise of the Spanish Empire_; Prescott, W.H., _History of the
Reign of Philip the Second_; Cheyney, E.P., _European Background of
American History_, Chapter X.
ADVANCE INTO NORTHERN MEXICO
Bancroft, H.H., _History of Mexico_, II, chs. 22, 24, 34; _North Mexican
States and Texas_, I, ch. 5; Cavo, Andres, _Tres Siglos de Mexico_;
Coroleu, Jose, _America, Historia de su Colonizacion_; Frejes, Fr. F.,
_Conquista de los Estados_; Gonzales, J.E., _Collecion de Noticias_;
_Historia de Nuevo Leon_; Leon, A., _Historia de Nuevo Leon_; Mota
Padilla, M., _Historia de Nueva Galicia_, ch. 23; Ortega, Fr. Joseph,
_Apostolica Afanes_.
SETTLEMENT OF FLORIDA
Hamilton, P.J., _The Colonization of the South_, chs. 1-2; Lowery,
Woodbury, _Spanish Settlements_, I, ch. 8, II; Shea, J.G., _The Catholic
Church in Colonial Days_, pp. 100-183.
SETTLEMENT OF NEW MEXICO
Bancroft, H.H., _Arizona and New Mexico_, 74-146; Bandelier, A.D.F.,
_Final Report of Investigations among the Indians of the Southwestern
United States_ (Papers of the Archaeological Institute of America,
III-IV); Benavides, Memorial on New Mexico (Mrs. E.E. Ayer, trans.);
Bolton, H.E., ed., _Spanish Exploration in the Southwest_, 135-278;
Davis, W.H.H., _Spanish Conquest in New Mexico_, 234-407; Farrand,
Livingston, _The Basis of American History_, 176-187; Lummis, C.F.,
_Spanish Pioneers in the Southwest_, 125-143; Prince, L.B., _Historical
Sketches of New Mexico_, 149-166; Twitchell, R.E., _Leading Facts of New
Mexican History_, I, 7-45, 252-333; Vulagra, Gaspar de, _Historia de
Nuevo Mexico_.
THE PHILIPPINES AND CALIFORNIA
Barrows, D.P., _A History of the Philippines_; Blair and Robertson,
_Philippine Islands_, II, 23-330; Bolton, H.E., _Spanish Exploration in
the Southwest_, 41-133; Carrasco y Guisasola, Francisco, _Documentos
Referentes al Reconocimiento de las Costas de las Californias_; Hittell,
T.H., _History of California_, I, 79-111; Richman, L.B., _California
under Spain and Mexico_, 12-24; Robertson, J.A., "Legazpi and Philippine
Island Colonization," in American Historical Association, _Rpt., 1907_,
I, 145-165; Zarate, Salmeron, "Relation," in _Land of Sunshine_, XI,
336-346, XII, 39-48, 104-114, 180-187.