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Home , History of Florida, Spanish Florida, Uzita (Florida)

Social Education 77(1), pp 14–18 ©2013 National Council for the Social Studies Charting the Land of Flowers: Exploration and Mapmaking in Spanish

Rodney Kite-Powell

Produced by cartographers of many nations over the course of six centuries, maps the and south of the Great detailing Florida and the North American continent tell tales of exploration, conflict, Lakes would generally be referred to as and change. Before 1492, Europeans were unaware of what existed on the other La Florida.2 Ponce de León hoped that side of the Atlantic Ocean. That reality is illustrated quite well on two maps that the new land would be rich in gold and show the “known world” from the European perspective in the years preceding silver and offer a strategic foothold ’s voyages: Hartmann Schedel’s Liber Chronicarum (Nuremberg in eastern . Chronicle—Map of the World) published in 1493; and Martin Waldseemüller’s Other Europeans, likely slave hunters, Strassburg Ptolemy, published in 1513 as a refinement of Claudis Ptolemy’s world had probably already landed on Florida’s map, but without information regarding the New World. With our twenty-first cen- shores, and at least three maps that pre- tury hindsight, we see them as uninformed. However, the intellectuals of this period date Ponce de León’s first voyage may viewed themselves as extremely knowledgeable, and that knowledge is embodied in show the Florida coastline— de these two Old World maps. la Cosa’s world chart, created around 1500, the Cantino Chart, dated ca. 1502, By the turn of the sixteenth century, from the indigenous people of Puerto and Peter Martyr’s map from 1511. Spain and other powerful European Rico that in the land to the north there Additionally, when Ponce de León and countries were well aware of the New was abundant gold. In the spring of his crew made landfall, they encoun- World and the incredible potential 1513, he set out on a royally sanctioned tered at least one American Indian who across the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus exploration in an attempt to locate this understood Spanish.3 followed his initial 1492 expedition with northern land. On Easter Sunday, April Some historians believe that after cross-Atlantic voyages in 1493, 1498, 2, 1513, after traveling northwest from Ponce de León first landed near and 1502. There was still an incredible for almost a month, Ponce Melbourne Beach, he then sailed around amount to learn about this strange land, de León and his crew finally caught sight the peninsula and northward as far as and no shortage of people eager to explore of land. Known as Bimini by the native Charlotte Harbor, or possibly Tampa what lay outside the borders of Schedel’s islanders in , he gave the Bay. While repairing ships and gather- and Waldseemüller’s maps. The names landmass a new name. According to ing supplies, his party was attacked by Juan Ponce de León and Hernando de seventeenth-century historian Antonio Indians and forced to return to Soto are well known. Those men, plus de Herrera y Tordesillas, “thinking that Puerto Rico. These native people may Pánfilo de Narváez, Tristán de Luna, this land was an island, they called it well have remembered or been told of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Francisco La Florida, because it was very pretty Spanish slavers who had reached the west María Celi, and many others, struggled to behold with many and refreshing coast of Florida long before Ponce de to first explore, then dominate, and ulti- trees, and it was flat, and even: and also León. In 1521, Ponce de León returned mately understand what we now know because they discovered it in the time to Florida with a charter from the King as the of America and the of Flowery Passover (Pascua Florida), of Spain to establish a colony. Historians state of Florida. Juan Ponce wanted to agree in the name, estimate he landed near Sanibel Island A companion of Columbus on his sec- with these two reasons.”1 For the next in Charlotte Harbor, but was again ond voyage, Ponce de León had heard century, most of North America east of driven off by the Calusa. In the battle,

Social Education 14 Map 1 Hartmann Schedel’s Secunda etas Mundi, created in 1493, shows the world as it was known to Europeans before knowledge of Christopher Columbus’s voyage. Though his “discovery” of the New World occurred one year earlier, knowledge of his findings were still widely unknown.

Map 2 Among the oldest purported maps to include Florida is a 1513 map of the by Martin Waldseemüller. Scholars still disagree on whether Waldseemüller’s map shows Florida to the northwest of the island of Isabella () or part of China.

January/February 2 013 15 he received a leg wound that became a congressional committee chose Shaw’s on shore. A hurricane struck the Florida infected, leading to his death in Point in Bradenton; others now favor panhandle a month after the colonists in July 1521. the area between the Manatee and Little arrived. Aside from the loss of human Seven years later, a red-bearded, one- Manatee River or even farther south in life, the colony also suffered the destruc- eyed fleet commander named Pánfilo the area around Charlotte Harbor. The tion of 10 of the 13 ships (including the de Narváez led the first known explora- Uzita chief refused to meet with the ship where most of the colony’s food was tion of . In 1527, he received , saying he would rather stored). About half of the group’s supplies permission from Emperor Charles V to receive their severed heads. Captured were washed out into the Gulf of . conquer and colonize the lands between Indians, when asked where gold could be Lack of food and tense relations among the Cape of Florida and the Río de Las found, consistently directed the Spanish the colonists led to the eventual failure Palmas in Mexico. Launching his expedi- explorers north, toward a land where of this effort by the Spanish to establish tion from Cuba in 1528, he landed on the the shine of gold was said to rival the a permanent settlement. Pinellas peninsula, marched overland sun’s glow. Other nations also showed an interest to Old Tampa Bay and gave it the name De Soto and his men found more than in Florida. French , uneasy Bahía de la Cruz (Bay of the Cross, later just unhappy American Indians when in their Catholic-dominated homeland, changed to Bahía de Espíritu Santo or they arrived on the shore just south of made an attempt to settle in Florida in Bay of the Holy Spirit). Soon after land- Tampa Bay. They also encountered Juan 1564. Led by Rene de Laudonniere and ing, Narváez led a violent confrontation Ortiz, a crewmember on one of Narváez’s Jean Ribuat, the colony of , against the over the perceived ships that went back to Cuba but returned located near present-day Jacksonville, treatment of the remains of several to Tampa Bay in 1529 looking for any lasted about a year. During that time, Spaniards from a wrecked Spanish ves- trace of the lost expedition. Captured an artist named de sel. To rid themselves of the Spanish, the almost immediately, he lived as a cap- Morgues documented the people, flora, Tocobaga told Narváez that gold could tive among Florida’s native people for and (dubbed New be found to the north, in the land of 11 years. That knowledge would prove France by the settlers). He also created Apalachen. Narváez started overland helpful to de Soto: Ortiz would serve as a map of Florida—all of which were with 400 Spaniards and ordered his translator for the expedition. engraved and published by Theodor ships north in search of a good harbor. The de Soto expedition strengthened de Bry in 1591. The ships did not find a harbor north the Spanish claim to Florida and pro- The French colony came to a bloody of Tampa Bay and returned to Cuba. The vided an enormous amount of new infor- end at the hands of Spaniard Pedro marchers were not so fortunate. Only mation about the interior of the continent Menéndez de Avilés and his armada of four survivors reached Mexico after an and the diversity of the native peoples. 10 ships and over 1,000 soldiers and sail- eight-year ordeal. One of the survivors, Indeed, a new map of the continent was ors. Menéndez’s fleet arrived in Florida Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, wrote an created around 1544 by Alonso de Santa on September 8, 1565, and founded what account of the expedition. Another survi- Cruz. Unfortunately, the expedition also is the oldest European settlement in the vor, Estéban or Estevanico, was born in left a trail of destruction. The Spaniards United States: St. Augustine. Menéndez Morocco and enslaved by the Portuguese routinely entered towns, captured the attacked the French at Fort Caroline, before being sold, in 1520, to Spaniard tribal leader, and demanded tribute from then fought and killed all but a hand- Andrés Dorantes de Carranza. He was the people. ful of survivors at an inlet just south of probably the first person of African Tristán de Luna followed closely on St. Augustine that bears the name of descent to travel across North America. the heels of de Soto and attempted to the action there (Matanzas, or “place Estéban traveled with Cabeza de Vaca, establish a colony on Florida’s north- of slaughter”). Dorantes de Carranza, and Alonso ern gulf coast. The de Luna expedition The French would later renew their Castillo Maldonado on their winding was comprised of 13 ships, 500 Spanish efforts at settling a part of Florida, near journey. military men and craftsmen, 900 settlers, Mobile Bay, and the English, who had Inspired by the writings of Cabeza de over 250 horses, Mexican and Florida begun to colonize the lands north of Vaca, obtained a royal Indian guides and warriors, plus several Florida, sent occasional excursions patent to explore Florida. In April 1538, native interpreters. The flotilla arrived in south into the Spanish territory. This de Soto’s armada set sail from Spain to present-day on August 14, increased interest in Florida by a variety the New World. After a stay in Cuba, de 1559. De Luna’s colony was doomed from of countries is reflected in map-making Soto embarked for Florida on May 18, the start, with problems that occurred during this era. 1539. Historians disagree about where during the long voyage from On the heels of the sixteenth-century Hernando de Soto first landed. In 1939, (Mexico) soon compounded by problems urge to set out and discover new lands,

Social Education 16 Map 3 Mapa del Golfo y costa de la Nueva Espana, a manuscript map created by Alonso de Santa Cruz around 1544, is likely the only map that exists today that dates from, and shows the expedition of, Hernando de Soto. The original is held by the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain.

Map 4 Another manuscript map held in the Archivo General de Indias is Plano de la Gran Bahia de Tampa by Francisco María Celi. Celi’s survey of Tampa Bay, which he undertook in the spring of 1757, was the first extensive survey of the bay on Florida’s gulf coast.

Europeans began to establish settlements, guarded their possession tightly. They Augustine westward toward Pensacola. towns, and cities in the New World. also began to study and explore Florida Still, the pursuit of gold, silver, and Immense treasures of gold, silver, and with an eye toward converting the indig- glory continued to thrive in Florida copper were found in Mexico, Peru, and enous people to Catholicism. This led to and throughout the Caribbean. This is other locations. Though Florida lacked the establishment of a series of missions illustrated beautifully in Pierre Mortier’s these precious metals, the Spanish still stretching across , from St. richly hand-colored 1703 map of the

January/February 2 013 17 Map 5 Pierre Mortier’s 1703 map of the Caribbean and

Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico (above). portation with his ship anchored nearby. performed several surveys of the gulf In addition to its practical use as a very Celi’s accomplishments, as a surveyor, and Atlantic coasts, but despite this competent map of the time, it tells an mapmaker, and artist, are evident in his apparent interest in Florida, Spain was exciting adventure story about galleons 1757 map of Tampa Bay. Though it is quickly losing its grip on the peninsula. and sea battles, with the routes of Spain’s possible that a fellow member of his The Second Spanish Period would last treasure fleets off the Florida coast crew, Don Juan Franco, added some until the Adams-Onis Treaty was ratified clearly marked, and a colorful picture of the more decorative elements to the between Spain and the United States in of a treasure chest in case anyone should chart, the piece as a whole still stands as 1821. American survey crews built on miss the point. a testament to the abilities of Celi and the the knowledge gained by their Spanish In addition to general maps of Florida perseverance of he and his crew. predecessors, but it would take several and its place in the Caribbean and North Events in Europe and the Caribbean more decades before most of Florida’s America, the Spanish were interested in during this era had a profound effect on interior could be surveyed. However, specific locations within their colony. Florida. During the French and Indian evidence of Florida’s long Spanish his- This is well illustrated by the 1757 expe- War (1756–1763), Great Britain captured tory can still be seen in its architecture, dition of Francisco María Celi. Celi’s Havana, Cuba, from the Spanish, who its place names, and its oldest city—St. chart of Tampa Bay represents the cul- were allied with the French against their Augustine. mination of his survey work along the Protestant enemy. The Spanish govern- west coast of Florida. His work was the ment desperately wanted Havana back, Notes most detailed up to that point. In fact, it so they traded the (Florida was 1. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, translated by James E. Kelley, Jr., in “Juan Ponce de León’s Discovery of was among the first to focus on Tampa divided into peninsular and Florida: Herrera’s Narrative Revisited,” Revista de Bay, occurring just one year after Spanish the panhandle during this Historia de America 111 (January–June 1991): 42. 2. Some interesting examples showing Florida as the naval draftsman Juan Baptista Franco’s time) to Great Britain for the Cuban city. dominant, and sometimes only, name attached to what brief survey of the bay area’s timber The British Floridas remained loyal to the is now the United States, see Sebastian Munster’s resources. Crown during the American Revolution, 154 0 map, Novae Insulae, XVII - Nova Tabula and Girolamo Ruscelli’s Nueva Hispania Tabula Nova Celi’s expedition arrived at the and possession of them returned to the from 1561. Other maps, such as Abraham Ortelius’s entrance to Tampa Bay in the morning Spanish with the signing of the Treaty La Florida (1584) and Cornelius van Wytfliet’s Florida et Apalche (1597) show the name Florida as on April 13. At 9:00 a.m., the ship’s crew of Paris in 1783. covering the southeastern United States. dropped the anchor on the east side of The maps from this era reflect the 3. Michael Gannon, ed., The New Egmont Key, which Celi named La Isla change in ownership of Florida, as well (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1996), 16. de San Blas y Barreda. He and the other as a better understanding of the topog- members of the surveying team spent the raphy and overall shape of the penin- All maps were provided by the J. Thomas and Lavinia Witt Touchton Collection. next five days examining Egmont Key sula. Spanish mapmakers, plus cartog- and the opening into Tampa Bay. From raphers from other European powers, Rodney Kite-Powell is the Saunders Founda- there they moved around the coast, using surveyed Florida’s coastline, bays, and tion Curator of History at the Tampa Bay History Center in Tampa, Florida. a longboat as their main mode of trans- inlets. The Spanish hydrographic office

Social Education 18