Native and Spanish New Worlds by
Spanish-led entradas--expeditions bent on the exploration and control of new territories--took place throughout the sixteenth century in what is now the southern United States. Although their impact was profound, both locally and globally, detailed analyses of these encounters are notably scarce. Focusing on several major themes--social, economic, political, military, environmental, and demographic--the contributions gathered here explore not only the cultures and peoples involved in these unique engagements but also the wider connections and disparities between these borderlands and the colonial world in general during the first century of Native-European contact in North America. Bringing together research from both the southwestern and southeastern United States, this book offers a comparative synthesis of Native-European contacts and their consequences in both regions. The chapters also engage at different scales of analysis, from locally based research to macro-level evaluations, using documentary, paleoclimatic, and regional archaeological data. No other volume assembles such a wide variety of archaeological, ethnohistorical, environmental, and biological information to elucidate the experience of Natives and Europeans in the early colonial world of Northern New Spain, and the global implications of entradas during this formative period in borderlands history.
Juan Ponce de Leon and the Spanish Discovery of Puerto Rico and Florida by
Juan Ponce de Leon was an important figure in the history of the Spanish colonisation of what are today Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the south-eastern United States. While many people are familiar with the name Ponce de Leon, only a handful know the historical truth of what Ponce did -- and did not -- do! This is the most extensive biography to date of this important but misrepresented figure in the early colonial history of America. Written by one of America's foremost experts on 15th and 16th century exploration and discovery, this book dispels the myths about Ponce de Leon and credits him with discoveries for which he previously has not been credited. The author assembles the most extensive collection ever of facts, reasoned inference, translations of critical documents, original maps, historical illustrations, and photographs bearing upon the life and legacy of this important figure. Ponce's life and legacy are examined in the context of Spain's ambitions in the New World during the 16th century.