Karen Hill

Many Mexican Americans believe Curanderas can cure the sick. Curanderas are folk healers, usually women, who combine Catholic faith-healing with herbology and ancient Aztec and Mayan beliefs. Many people swear by their powers to cure illness, and some southwestern clinics keep them on staff. Some are also parteras, or midwives, who assist at births. Mexican … Read more

If you break a pinata you get candy and toys. A pinata is a decorated container of clay or Papier-mâché full of such objects. As it hangs from the ceiling, blindfolded children try to break it with long sticks. If they break it, the candies and toys spill out, and everybody grabs what they can. … Read more

There are Chicano communities all over the United States, but the majority of the nation’s 13.5 million Mexican Americans still live in California, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, the states that border, and once belonged to, Mexico. Their culture forms an important part of that area’s character. A posada is a Mexican American Christmas pageant … Read more

In the Aztec religion, Aztlan is the mythical homeland of the Aztecs. To Chicano activists in the 1960s, it was a name for the American Southwest. In 1969, Chicano boxer, poet, and movement leader Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez made it the focus of El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan, the “Spiritual Plan of Aztlan.” This plan, supported … Read more

A mariachi band is a Mexican or Mexican American band that walks around playing traditional Mexican songs on guitars, violins, and sometimes trumpets. The musicians wear brightly sequined Spanish costumes and large-brimmed sombreros, or hats. Evolving from rural Mexican origins, mariachi bands became internationally popular in the mid-twentieth century as a musical emblem of Mexico.

Some Chicanos activists did use armed force. Reies Lopez Tijerina, who founded the Alianza Federal de Mercedes (Federal Alliance of Grants) in 1963, believed that Chicanos should take back the “lost land” that had belonged to them before the Mexican War. When legal appeals failed, his group of 20,000 Alianza members, aliancistas–turned to direct action. … Read more

Founded in East Los Angeles in 1967, the Brown Berets were one of many Chicano groups in the 1960s who went even further than Chavez in demanding change. Such groups embraced the name “Chicano”, originally a derogatory term for Mexican Americans, as a badge of honor. They spoke of themselves as brown rather than black … Read more

The word in the title of Jose Villarreal’s novel Pocho is a derogatory term used by people in Mexico to describe Mexican Americans. It suggests a Mexican who has foolishly given up his ethnic heritage to seek his fortune among the Anglos, who look down on him. The term implies “stupid” or “small.” Chicanos often … Read more

The big, sweet fruits found on pizzas and salads and the long, skinny, mouth-burning peppers found in Mexican restaurants both belong to the genus Capsicum. Both are native to Latin America. Chili peppers are especially popular in Mexico, which is home to about two hundred varieties. Ground into powder or stirred into chili sauce, the … Read more

Painting on walls has a rich history in Mexico, whose world-famous mural painters include Diego Rivera (1886-1957) and Jose Clemente Orozco (1883-1949). Mural painting is seen as a form of public education and inspiration. Mexican American artists have carried on the tradition, often depicting images such as Our Lady of Guadalupe, Aztec symbols, and historical … Read more

In some places along the border there is a barrier that separates Mexico from the United States. At Tijuana, Mexico, a ten-foot-high steel wall separates the two countries, a wall that people climb over every day. There has been talk of building a barrier across the entire two-thousand-mile border, something like the Great Wall of … Read more

As of 1998, the World Almanac reported that 28 percent of Mexican Americans, more than one out of four, lived below the poverty level. Many of these are recent immigrants, and it is possible that education will help raise them from poverty. But the high school dropout rate among Mexican Americans is 50 percent, a … Read more

At some point in almost every police movie and TV show, the police read a suspect the “Miranda warnings.” Suspects are warned they have the right to remain silent, that anything they say can be used against them, that they have the right to an attorney, and that an attorney will be appointed if they … Read more

From 1900 to 1990 about 3.5 million Mexicans immigrated legally to the United States. Many more are believed to have come illegally. Because unemployment and destitution are perennial problems in Mexico, it is expected that Mexicans will continue to immigrate in large numbers. Some Mexicans migrate back and forth between the two countries, going wherever … Read more

The U.S. Border Patrol catches about one million people each year without documents proving their legal status, sending most of them back to Mexico. Most are Mexicans, though some come from other parts of Latin America, particularly Central America. Those who are caught and sent back to Mexico often return to try another day. Although … Read more

After the Mexican American War was won, some Americans at the time thought it would be a good idea to take all of Mexico, but most were happy to only take half. The original goal had been to open a continental path from coast to coast, and that goal had been accomplished. Why drag out … Read more

The Mexican American War in 1846 was popular, especially in the South. As in the case of Texas, southerners hoped that slavery would expand into newly conquered territories, giving them more votes in Congress. But many Americans opposed the war, including then congressman Abraham Lincoln. Abolitionists, people who wanted to end slavery, were against the … Read more

The Mexican American War was not easy for the 13,000 Americans who died fighting it, most of them succumbing to disease in unhealthy camp conditions. Over a year’s worth of battles were fought, most of them American victories, but some won at a high cost in casualties. Mexican troops were usually poorly disciplined and poorly … Read more

During the Mexican War, American explorer John C. Fremont (1813-1890) led a revolt against Mexico in Sonoma, California. With no support from the rest of the province, Fremont and other American settlers declared California an independent republic on July 4, 1846. The republic, which flew a bear flag, was short-lived. A few days later, the … Read more

The Mexican American political party La Raza Unida was founded in 1970 by Jose Angel Gutierrez. Less radical than Gonzalez, Gutierrez wanted to work within the American political system to elect Chicano candidates to public office. To some extent, the efforts of La Raza Unida and similar organizations have succeeded. By now, hundreds of Mexican … Read more

Mexico claimed that the southern border of Texas was the Nueces River, but Texas claimed the true boundary was the Rio Grande, 150 miles further south. On hearing of Mexico’s refusal to negotiate, President Polk stationed U.S. troops as deep as possible inside the disputed area, right on the banks of the Rio Grande. If … Read more

The Mexican American War broke out eventually, but not right away. Months went by, and the issue might have been settled peacefully, but U.S. president James K. Polk had reason to heat up the conflict, even at the cost of war. He wanted to acquire Mexico’s entire Far North, the whole region from Texas to … Read more

Mexico’s congress never recognized Texan independence, arguing that General Santa Anna had granted it under duress. When the United States moved to annex Texas in 1845, Mexico cut off diplomatic relations, which is often a first step toward war. Mexican general and dictator Santa Anna led an eventful career. He gained power as leader of … Read more

In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, Mexico gave up its claim to Texas and accepted the Rio Grande boundary. It also ceded to the United States the vast region that included all of present-day California, Nevada, and Utah, along with most of Arizona and New Mexico. In return for this … Read more

Aided by rich Mexican Americans, Anglo settlers organized posses and vigilante groups to hunt down the bandits known as desperadoes. The effort was successful: by the 1870s, most of the bandits had been captured and executed. But the vigilantes were also indiscriminate, shooting and hanging people for no better reason than that they spoke Spanish. … Read more

The Texas Revolution is remembered as a blow for freedom. What is often forgotten is that many Texan Americans were southerners who owned slaves. In fact, Mexico’s antislavery policy was one of the irritants that provoked the revolution. When Mexico abolished slavery in 1829, an outcry from Texans forced Mexico to take back the decree. … Read more

Many Americans in Texas were not satisfied with independence. They wanted to be reunited with their native country, the United States. Slave-owning American southerners wanted to annex Texas because it would enter the Union as a slave state, lending support to their side in the growing congressional disputes over slavery. In 1845, the United States … Read more

You might think that the Mexican Cession would have been enough, but the United States wanted a little more. In 1853, the American minister to Mexico, James Gadsden (1788-1858), convinced Mexico to sell to the United States the Mesilla Valley, including what is now Arizona and New Mexico. The price tag for the 30,000 square … Read more

In 1848, about 80,000 Mexicans lived in what was now the American West and Southwest. Of that number, about 60,000 lived in New Mexico, 13,000 in California, and 7,000 in Texas. Most were farmers and ranchers, with a sharp separation between the rich, educated property owners and the peons, or poor laborers, who worked for … Read more

A few Mexicans returned to Mexico after the Mexican American War, but most did not. According to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which ended the Mexican War, Mexicans had one year to decide whether to move across the border to Mexico or stay in what was now a foreign land. Because they regarded … Read more

In 1835, Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (1794-1876) threw out the nation’s constitution and made himself dictator. Many Americans in Texas, as well as Tejanos (Mexicans in Texas), hated this blow to their liberty. While most Tejanos wanted to remain part of Mexico, Texan Americans demanded full independence. In the Texas Revolution (1835-1836), … Read more

American cotton farmers and cattle ranchers felt crowded as the population grew and cheap real estate became hard to find. They saw a promised land in the wide open spaces of Texas. As for Mexico, it did not so much desire Americans as it feared Europeans. Because Texas was thinly populated, Mexico worried that Britain … Read more

Mexico lost its northern provinces to the United States in a three-step process: the Texas Revolution, the Mexican War, and the Gadsden Purchase. The story begins with the first U.S. citizens in Texas. In 1822, Stephen E Austin (1793-1836) led a group of American families to settle in the fertile region between the Brazos and … Read more

Not until 1904 did the United States begin policing the border with Mexico. Even then, the aim of the patrol was not to keep out Mexicans but to keep out Asians who were trying to enter through Mexico. Because of anti-Asian sentiment, people from China and Japan were not allowed to make a home in … Read more

On Cinco de Mayo, or the Fifth of May, Mexican Americans celebrate their ethnic heritage with parades and parties. You might think it is the anniversary of Mexico’s independence, but it isn’t. That day is September 16, known as Diez y Seis, which commemorates the beginning of Mexico’s war of independence from Spain in 1810. … Read more

With an area of 762,000 square miles, present-day Mexico is about one-fifth the size of the United States. But in 1821, the young country of Mexico included not only its present-day holdings but nearly one million square miles more, in the region called the Far North. This region included the present-day American Southwest and part … Read more

Revolution soon drove Spain off the mainland of the Americas. By 1825, all of Spain’s colonies in South America and Central America had rebelled and won their independence. Mexico became independent in 1821. All that was left of Spanish America were the West Indian colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Both of these would be … Read more

Florida, with the Gulf Coast strip of land called West Florida, was the next chunk of Spanish America to be lost. In 1819, Spain ceded the Floridas to the United States, partly in return for American acknowledgment that Texas was part of New Spain. That acknowledgment was short-lived.

The turning point of the Texas Revolution came in 1836 at a fortified mission called the Alamo. An army of several thousand Mexicans, led by dictator Santa Anna, laid siege to the fort and its 180 Texan rebels. The rebels included Juan Seguin and a company of Tejanos, along with such American frontiersmen as Davy … Read more

In the last decade of the 1800s, fewer than 1,000 Mexicans are estimated to have come to the United States. In the first decade of the 1900s, the numbers jumped to about 50,000. From 1911 to 1920, the numbers increased to 219,000 and from 1921 to 1930, to 459,000. What happened? The most important change … Read more

Porfirio Diaz ruled Mexico as a dictator for thirty-five years, from 1876 to 1911. Under his politically repressive reign, Mexico was modernized and business boomed. Foreign investors, including many from the United States, bought up Mexico’s resources. But the vast majority of Mexicans remained poor, while the small circle of the rich got richer. In … Read more

Then and now, many Mexican Americans have found work picking crops on big commercial farms. Field workers migrate from farm to farm, harvesting the crops that stock grocery stores and wind up on dinner tables. The labor is hard and low-paying, but for those with no property, education, or skills, it is better than starving. … Read more

In the early twentieth century, commercial agriculture was booming in the West and Southwest. Small family farms were giving way to agribusiness, large, mechanized operations that could sell produce at low prices. New dams opened deserts to irrigation and planting. The invention of refrigerated train cars made it possible to ship fresh fruits and vegetables … Read more

Barrio is Spanish for “neighborhood.” In the United States, it refers to a section of a city where Mexican Americans and other Latinos live. In the early part of this century, segregation often forced Mexican immigrants to settle in the barrios, even though these ghettos were dirty and dangerous. The one benefit was that Mexican … Read more

Bandidos existed in the 1800s, but the modern caricature of these nineteenth-century southwestern bandits as mere criminals is not quite accurate. To some, the bandidos were heroes. Also known as desperadoes, from the Spanish word desesperado (“desperate man”) they began their outlaw careers in the 1850s. They included Juan Cortina in Texas and Joaquin Murieta, … Read more

Large stretches of the railroads crisscrossing our nation were built or maintained by Mexican Americans. The Southern Pacific and Santa Fe lines hired Mexican Americans to build new desert lines in the 1880s. One reason the jobs were available was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This law, put in place by anti-Asian prejudice, halted … Read more

Although Mexican Americans were equal under the law to English-speaking Americans, they discovered that the law and reality were two different things. Laws were written only in English, with Spanish banned from the courtroom. Spanish and Mexican land grants were often not honored. Sometimes the owner could not prove the exact boundaries of his land; … Read more

A colonia was literally a colony of Mexican Americans, a Hispanic community founded close to the farms, mines, or railroads where the immigrants worked. A colonia of boxcars and shacks would spring up every so often along the tracks that Mexican Americans were laying down. These settlements became the basis for some modern communities of … Read more

An Indiana journalist named John Soule (1815-1891) was the first to print the phrase, “Go west, young man” in 1851. But New York newspaper editor Horace Greeley (1811-1872) popularized the expression until people came to think he invented it. The West, said Greeley, was the place to “build up a home and fortune.” After the … Read more

Just after the peace treaty was signed between the United States and Mexico in February 1848, startling news came from California. A mother lode, or large vein, of gold had been discovered at John Sutter’s mill in the Sacramento Valley. By 1849, people from all over the world were coming to California to seek their … Read more

The breed of dog called the Chihuahua was named for the Mexican state of Chihuahua, where the pint-sized animal was first identified around 1850. Some people think the Chihuahua descended from Native American breeds of dog, but it is more likely to have been imported from Asia by Spanish merchants.

The English word “buckaroo” for cowboy is a corrupt form of the Spanish word “vaquero.” The name fits, because Anglo cowboys learned a lot of their trade from Mexican Americans, who were experts in western-style ranching long before the Anglos arrived. Many of the cowboy techniques, equipment, and apparel we think of as distinctively American … Read more

Some of the Native Americans found by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in 1540 were the people whom the Spanish called Pueblo because of the pueblos (villages) in which they lived. Their flat-roofed, many-roomed houses were made of stone or adobe, a kind of clay brick. The Pueblos, who included groups like the Hopis and Tewas, … Read more

The image of the American Indian hunting buffalo on horseback may seem eternal, but it isn’t. There were no horses at all in the Americas until the Spanish conquistadors brought them. In 1540, Spanish explorer Francisco de Coronado, traveling through Kansas, let most of his 260 horses escape. The Great Plains Indians tamed the wild … Read more

Spanish explorer, Francisco de Coronado (c. 1510-1554) discovered the Grand Canyon. He too came in search of rumored treasure, in this case, the fabulously wealthy Seven Cities of Cibola and another legendary realm named Quivira. Leading an expedition overland from Mexico in 1540, he explored what are now Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. … Read more

Hernando de Soto (c. 1500-1542) was the Spanish explorer discovered the Mississippi River. Lured by false reports of gold and silver treasures in the wilderness, he landed in Florida in 1539 and slogged through much of what is now the American South. He passed through present-day North and South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. In … Read more

The first European explorer to see American buffalo was probably Spanish explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (c. 1490-c. 1560), who survived one of the most incredible adventures any Spaniard underwent. Cabeza de Vaca originally sailed to Tampa Bay, Florida, as treasurer for the expedition of conquistador Panfilo de Narvaez (c. 1480-1528) in 1528. The … Read more

In mining as in ranching, Mexican Americans knew more than the Anglo newcomers to the West and Southwest. Mexican Americans taught Anglos how to use a bates, a flat-bottomed pan, to extract gold from streams and rivers; how to pulverize gold-bearing rocks with a tool called an arrastra; and how to use mercury to refine … Read more

Florida had no gold or silver, and the Spanish did not find its soil good for farming. But it had strategic importance: Spanish ships carried treasure home to Spain through the Straits of Florida. Spain felt that it had to hold the colony to protect its sea lanes. In fact, the founder of Saint Augustine … Read more

Tiburcio Vasquez was born in 1835 in Monterey, California, Mexico. In 1848, when he was twelve, his part of Mexico became part of the United States. As he grew older, he realized that Anglo Americans did not respect him or his people. When he went to parties hosted by Californios (Californians of Mexican descent), Anglos … Read more

Florida was the first region of present day United States that the Spanish claimed during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Now a favorite spot for vacationers and retirees, this region was claimed for Spain in 1513. The discoverer was Juan Ponce de Leon, conqueror of Puerto Rico. Discovering it in the Easter season, he … Read more

The border between Texas and Mexico follows the course of the Rio Grande, or “Big River.” West of Texas, the border is an artificial line drawn in the deserts of New Mexico, Arizona, and California. To Spanish conquistadors, the border did not exist. They felt entitled to as much land as they could explore and … Read more

Who first settled the land that is now the United States? The Pilgrims of New England and John Smith of Jamestown get all the publicity. But the Spanish were the first Europeans to set foot in almost half of the nation’s states, or 24 out of 50. The states included the following: Alabama Alaska (not … Read more

Both Eurasian and Native American legends told of a spring or river that could restore youth and vitality to aging conquistadors. Since Juan Ponce de León was in his fifties, this sounded pretty good. He landed in Florida near present-day Daytona Beach in 1513 and searched high and low for the magic waters, but they … Read more

The oldest surviving town founded by Europeans in the mainland United States is Saint Augustine, Florida, settled in 1565. The founder was Spanish colonizer Pedro Menendez de Aviles (1519-1574), who brought five hundred colonists with him. The city contains the oldest public square and oldest church in the United States. Off the mainland, the United … Read more

Had Spain kept its empire in the 1800s, North America would be a very different place. If you vacationed on the beaches of Florida, you would be on Spanish land. If you lived in San Francisco, California, or Santa Fe, New Mexico, you would be a resident of New Spain. Texas cowboys would be Spanish-speaking … Read more

In the sixteenth century, Spain was the most powerful nation in the world. It had a strong monarchy and a fearsome military, funded by gold and silver from the American colonies. Then, like empires throughout history, Spain began to decline. England defeated the Spanish Armada, or naval fleet, in 1588. Endless wars and civil turmoil … Read more

American colonists were all alone when they began their rebellion against Great Britain in 1775. But they did not stay alone for long. France joined the war against Britain in 1778 and Spain in 1779. Soon the Netherlands and the ruler of Mysore in India were also firing on English troops. France was the most … Read more

A few Hispanics live in the thirteen English colonies. Hispanics made up a small percentage of the colonial population. For example, New York contained a number of Jews descended from people who fled persecution in Spain and Portugal in the fifteenth century. New York’s first Hispanic Jews had settled there in 1654, when it was … Read more

Even before Spain entered the American War of Independence, one Spanish official was an amigo, or friend, to the rebels: Bernardo de Galvez (1746-1786), who became governor of Louisiana in 1777. While Spain was still officially neutral, Galvez saw to it that arms and supplies were sent to the rebels from New Orleans. After Spain … Read more

The first colony to go was the first permanent colony Spain had founded: Santo Domingo, on the island of Hispaniola. In 1795, Spain ceded Santo Domingo to France. It would eventually become the Dominican Republic. The second colony to be lost was Spain’s most recent prize: Louisiana, acquired from France in 1763. In 1800, the … Read more

The thirteen colonies that later became the United States began with the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, England’s first permanent settlement in North America. By that time, Juan de Ofiate had already been living in New Mexico for nine years. However, Spanish colonization was slow. By the time San Francisco, California, was founded in … Read more

The first colony in the American Southwest was founded in present-day New Mexico in 1598 by Juan de (Mate (c. 1550, c. 1630). He is considered the founder of New Mexico, called Nuevo Mexico by the Spanish and treated as a northern province of New Spain. Santa Fe, New Mexico’s capital, was founded in 1609. … Read more

Central America and southern Mexico were inhabited from ancient times by several Native American peoples, most notably the Maya. The Maya had a long history of advanced civilization. They developed their own forms of writing, mathematics, and astronomy. They carved cities and farms out of jungle wilderness. In the classic Mayan period, from 300 to … Read more

Spanish conquistador Vasco Nunez de Balboa is credited with the European discovery of the Pacific Ocean, but he didn’t give it its name. In 1513, guided by Native Americans, he crossed Panama at a point where the isthmus is only forty-five miles from sea to sea. On September 25, he laid eyes for the first … Read more

The Spanish conquered Central America around the same time they were conquering South America. Spanish conquistador Vasco Nutiez de Balboa (1475-1519) founded the first lasting Spanish colony in Central America at Darien, in what is now Panama, in 1510. Later that century, the Spanish pushed north from Panama and south from Mexico. They conquered most … Read more

In the game of colonization, the rule was “use it or lose it.” Getting there first allowed you to claim possession, but if you didn’t establish a colony, other countries could take it away from you. In 1579, English navigator Francis Drake (c. 1540-1596) explored North America’s Pacific Coast, reaching the vicinity of present-day San … Read more

Belize is a tiny country on Central America’s east coast and was founded by English buccaneers in the early seventeenth century. These pirates lurked on its cays, or small islands, waiting to pounce on Spanish ships bearing gold and silver bound for Spain. Britain kept possession of Belize until 1981, when the colony became independent. … Read more

“Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” is one of the best-known battle cries in American history. It was uttered by a Hispanic American of Minorcan descent: U.S. naval officer David Farragut (1801-1870). His Spanish father, Jorge Farragut, immigrated from Minorca in 1772 and fought in the Revolutionary War. David exclaimed his famous line in 1864, … Read more

The word presidio is Spanish for “fort.” Spanish settlements in the Far North during the Spanish colonization of the Americas usually centered on a mission church protected by soldiers in a presidio. The priests of the mission would try to convert the local Native Americans. One of the best-known mission priests was Junipero Serra (1713-1784), … Read more

Although they came from New Spain, most were not of pure Spanish descent. Many were Native Americans of the Nahua group; others were mestizos. Most were poor people enticed to relocate in the Far North by offers of land. They eked out a difficult living farming and ranching, often in arid places that required irrigation. … Read more

It was a medicine man named Pope, who refused to abandon his people’s traditional religion and preached independence from Spain, and led the Pueblo revolt. Tired of exploitation by the Spanish, the Pueblo people did what he suggested. In 1680, the Pueblos revolted, killing more than four hundred New Mexico settlers and forcing the rest … Read more

Nine U.S. states have Spanish names: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Texas. Spanish place names can be found in North American localities from El Paso, Texas, to Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada. But perhaps the most intimate sign of the Spanish presence in early American history can be found in … Read more

Some Spanish Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity actually did continue to practice Judaism in private. In other cases, families lost all memory of their Jewish roots. Only in modern times has there been a movement in Latin America among people who think they may come from Jewish stock and want to reclaim … Read more

What language people speak in the West Indies has to do with who was the final winner in colonizing their land. The same holds true on the American mainland. That is why people in the United States, a former British colony, speak English. Spain was all alone at first in the game of colonizing America, … Read more

The Canary Islands and Balearic Islands, both owned by Spain, contributed colonists to the New World. In the eighteenth century, the Canary Islands, located off northwest Africa, sent colonists to San Antonio and San Saba, Texas; Louisiana; and Florida. When Florida was held by the British (1763-1783), the British recruited colonists for Florida from the … Read more

Now the largest city in California, Los Angeles was once a sleepy village on the Mexican frontier. It was founded in 1781 by provincial governor Filipe de Neve. Like many Latinos to the present day, he revered the Virgin Mary, so he named the place El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles, … Read more

Two men who had sailed with Columbus conquered the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico soon after Columbus’s death. In 1511, Spanish soldier Diego de Velazquez (c. 1465, c. 1524) began his conquest of Cuba by founding Baracoa, the first Spanish colony on the island. Appointed governor of Cuba, he founded Havana, the present-day capital … Read more

Although Louisiana was named for French king Louis XIV, this colony once belonged to Spain. The territory was first claimed for France in 1682. The French colony was vast, comprising the entire valley of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. It stretched from Montana to Ohio to Alabama to the present-day state of Louisiana. However, … Read more

Christopher Columbus’s geography was wrong, but his basic idea was right. It was possible to reach Asia by sailing west from Spain. Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480-1521) provided the proof with his final expedition. Working for the Spanish crown, Magellan set sail from Spain in 1519. His fleet traveled to the southern tip of … Read more