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The Cost of a Voyage

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The Cost of a Voyage Spanish Exploration AND COLONIZATION GALLEONS OF WOOD AND GALLONS OF WATER SEVEN CITIES OF GOLD THE COST OF A VOYAGE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Spanish_Exploration_Cover.indd 1 2/3/17 4:23 PM 2 Why Did People Explore? Imagine setting out on a trip to a place the unknown with no way to be sure you where nobody you know has ever been. would make it back? By 1530, the king of You don’t have a map, a smartphone, or Spain already ruled over a large area of the the Internet. You don’t even know for sure Americas, including what is now Mexico. that there is land where you’re headed. But the Spanish wanted to explore the area There could be unknown dangers waiting to the north and lay claim to more land. for you. What could make you set out into Let’s look at some of the reasons why. u IN THE 1500S, the ships reached on the West Coast Spanish trading the coast of North of North America. ships carried goods America, they were In such harbors, from Mexico to often damaged. Spanish ships the Philippines Sometimes the could dock safely and back. The crew was out of for repairs and trip across the food and water. supplies. Pacific was long The Spanish want- and hard. When ed to find harbors l EUROPEAN Ocean. But nobody explorers had knew where the heard rumors Strait of Anían about a narrow was, or even if it body of water really existed. The called the Strait Spanish hoped of Anían. It was that by exploring thought to be a the Pacific coast gateway to the of North America, Northwest Passage they might find the from the Pacific strait. spanish_exploration_sp1.indd 16 2/3/17 4:24 PM 3 l IN THE 1500S, many rich Europeans deco- rated their homes with silk and por- celain, or china, from Asia. They also used spices from Asia for cook- d THE SPANISH ing. These products had taken a great came mainly by deal of gold and ship. To get to Asia, treasures from the European ship Aztecs in Mexico captains had to sail and the Inca in a long way around Peru. They hoped the tip of Africa to find even more or South America. treasure in unex- Europeans hoped plored parts of the that there was a Americas. Officials shortcut to Asia there heard rumors through North of a place called America. Many Cibola where there explorers tried to were seven cities find a Northwest of gold. This place Passage that linked was said to be the Atlantic and across the desert Pacific Oceans. to the north. r THE CATHOLIC that God wanted Church was very them to convert powerful in Spain. the native peo- Church leaders and ple in the places many Spaniards they explored to wanted to spread Christianity. their religion around the world. They believed spanish_exploration_sp1.indd 17 2/3/17 4:25 PM Chukchi Sea Norwegian Sea Bering ARCTIC Greenland Sea Sea Bering Strait OCEAN Beaufort Sea Denmark Strait Baffin Bay Gulf Davis Strait of Alaska Hudson Strait Ungava Bay Hudson Bay Labrador Sea Gulf of St. Lawrence 4 1 Early European Explorers to Alta California Early Cape Mendocino Point Reyes San Francisco Bay Explorers Monterey Bay ATLANTIC ALTA The early European explorers CALIFORNIA set out for what is now California Point Conception OCEAN Point Mugu with high hopes. They hoped u IN 1535, San Miguel they would find the Northwest Island Channel San Diego Bay Cortés sailed to Islands Passage and legendary cities what he believed filled with riches. At the very to be the island of California. He Tubac least, they hoped to find safe hoped to find BAJA CALIFORNIA ports where their ships could gold there. Cortés started a settle- Atlantic anchor. Gulf of California ment there, but it Ocean After facing great hardships did not last long. to reach the California coast, the There was no gold, and the land was Loreto explorers did not find most of very dry. The place what they were looking for. where he landed La Paz They never found the cities of is now called Baja Mazatlán Gulf of California. It is Mexico gold or the Strait of Anían. Their actually a penin- voyages were costly, and many sula, or land with crew members died. water on three Pacific Navidad sides. Baja is the Ocean Mexico Spanish word for City “lower,” meaning Acapulco “southern.” Caribbean Sea 2 d CABRILLO NEVER mation about the made it home from California coast. It his 1542 voyage. also provided the He died after he first written account fell and broke of the native people a bone. He had of Alta California failed to find the meeting Europeans: Northwest Passage Cabrillo met the or any cities filled Chumash people with riches. But when he landed in Cabrillo’s effort the Channel Islands gave the Spanish – just off the valuable infor- California coast. u BY THE EARLY and his soldiers 1500s, Spanish defeated the Aztec conquistadors, or empire in Mexico u IN 1542, discovered San conquerors, had in 1521. The Juan Rodríguez Diego harbor and claimed large areas Spanish destroyed Cabrillo sailed from claimed California of the Americas. the Aztec capital Mexico to explore for Spain. He These lands city of Tenochtitlán. what the Spanish continued up the became known as In its place, they later called Alta coast and probably New Spain. A con- built Mexico City, California. Alta is reached what is quistador named the capital of New the Spanish word today Northern Hernando Cortés Spain. for “upper.” Cabrillo California. spanish_exploration_sp2_v4.indd 16 2/3/17 4:29 PM Chukchi Sea Norwegian Sea Bering ARCTIC Greenland Sea Sea Bering Strait OCEAN Beaufort Sea Denmark Strait Baffin Bay Gulf Davis Strait of Alaska Hudson Strait Ungava Bay Hudson Bay Labrador Sea Gulf of St. Lawrence 5 l IN 1595, Early European Explorers to Alta California 4 Sebastián Rodríguez Cermeño Cape Mendocino 1 Cortés, 1535 sailed from the Philippines. He was Point Reyes looking for safe San Francisco Bay 2 Cabrillo, 1542 harbors on the Monterey Bay ATLANTICCalifornia coast. 3 ALTA Drake, 1579 After reaching the CALIFORNIA coast of California, Point Conception 4 Cermeño, 1595 OCEANCermeño’s ship Point Mugu was destroyed in San Miguel 5 Vizcaíno, 1602 a storm. The sur- Island Channel San Diego Bay Islands viving crew had to New Spain, build a small boat about 1650 to sail to Mexico. Tubac They would not BAJA CALIFORNIA have survived without help from Atlantic native people along Gulf of California Ocean the way. r SEBASTIÁN port that could be 5 Loreto Vizcaíno sailed desired.”* north from *Sebastián Vizcaíno. From La Paz Mexico in 1602, Diary of Sebastian Vizcaíno, Mazatlán Gulf of also looking for 1602–1603. American Journeys Collection, Document Mexico safe harbors. No. AJ-002. Wisconsin He made good Historical Society, 2003. charts, or maps, Pacific Navidad of the California Ocean Mexico coast. Vizcaíno City described Monterey Bay Acapulco as “the best Caribbean Sea 3 r MANY OF THE people in the Spanish exploration parties were not Spanish. Less than half of the sailors on most Spanish ships were from Spain. The early explorers of California includ- ed many native people from Mexico. People from Africa, the Philippines, and other parts of Asia also took part. Historians believe that most of the u THE SPANISH raid the Spanish Spanish exploration were not the only settlements in the parties included ones exploring Americas. He was African servants or the coast of also looking for the enslaved people. California. In 1577, Northwest Passage. Cortés brought 300 Queen Elizabeth Drake explored the Africans with him I of England sent coast and landed in to Baja California in Francis Drake to Northern California. 1535. spanish_exploration_sp2_v4.indd 17 2/3/17 4:29 PM 6 Pacific Trade Routes Pacific Routes of the Spanish Galleons Think about the clothes you’re wearing right now. Do Arctic you know where in the world they were made? Today, N Circle the things we buy, eat, and use every day come from W E all over the world. But back in the 1500s, most people 90˚W only used things that were made close to where they S 60˚N lived. Products from far away were rare and expensive. We ASIA ster Travel by sea was the fastest way to go long distanc- W lies es Nor ter th Pac lies ific Drift es, but it could be very dangerous. It could take a ship t fic Drif Paci NORTH orth up to a year to travel to Asia and back. This made prod- N AMERICA C a ent l ucts from Asia, such as silk and spices, very valuable. rr i Gulf of u f n C o pa r Ja n California 30˚N ia The Spanish began shipping goods back and forth C t u en rr ico rr en Mex between New Spain and Asia in the middle 1500s. u t Mexico f of Tropic of C ul n ds s City G Cancer a in s s d p W d nd in a de in i J ra W W W T e de e NE rad ra d T T a Acapulco r NE NE Tr THE SPANISH E Manila N N orth Equator North Equatorial Current used large trading ial Current Philippine ships called galle- Islands ds S S in E E ons to carry goods W Tra Tr e d ad Equator 0˚ d e W e W SOUTH from the Americas ra ind ind T s s E AMERICA to Asia.
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