The Voyage into the Unknown

The Search for Gold and Everlasting Life

Grade Level: 4

Extension Lesson

Sunshine State Standards FL Frameworks for K-12 Gifted Learners

Exploration and Settlement of Florida

SS.4.A.3.1 Identify explorers who

came to Florida and the motivations for

their expeditions. (e.g. Ponce de Leon)

Goal 2, Obj. 1: Identifying Significant Questions Trait: Management of Data for Research (Understand)

Sees potential for questions to explore

broader aspects of knowledge, moving

toward speculative and evaluate

aspects

Goal 3, Obj. 1: Research Tools and Methodologies Trait: Cooperative Research (Perform)

Works cooperatively with peers from a

variety of perspectives and abilities

while obtaining valid research and/or

products from research

Subject(s): (To be used during Week 7 on the CCPS Social Studies Curriculum Map)

Social Studies/History

Description:

Students usually do not realize the perils of early exploration. This activity acquaints students with some of the problems associated with the early Spanish Explorers, especially with environment and native people that they first encountered. This

activity will to shift the focus not only on the historical facts, but to acquaint students with the individual Spanish Explorers character traits like courage and perseverance.

Goal: A map as a representation of the routes taken by the Early Spanish Explorers

and a choice of further research of an Early Spanish Explorer by creating relief maps of Florida showing exploration routes, biographical sketches, timelines, or making a poster. Students will choose two ways to demonstrate new knowledge.

Early Spanish Explorers:

The Expedition of Juan Ponce de Leon (1513)

The Expedition of Panfilo de Narvaez (1527)

The Journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (1528-1536)

The Expedition of Hernando de Soto (1539-1543)

Objectives:

1. Students will research the lives of the Early Spanish Explorers Juan Ponce de Leon (1513), Panfilo de Narvaez (1527), Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (1528-1536), Hernando de Soto (1539-1543).

2. Students will highlight and make notes in the margins of important facts about the Spanish explorers.

3. The students will show their knowledge by making a map depicting the routes of the four Spanish explorers.

4. The students will also pick another way to display creating biographical

sketches, timelines, making a poster, writing a poem or a play.

Materials:

Several choices of different color sheet of construction paper, copy paper, markers, scissors, tape, glue and colored pencils.

Procedure:

1. Students will read the articles on the four Spanish Explorers. They can work in cooperative groups and read the articles orally.

2. Students should highlight and write notes of important facts. 3. Compare and contrast their notes to the notes of other students. 4. When their research has been completed students should select the Explorer

and draw their route from Spain to the Americas.

5. After completing the map students should pick another way to display their information by creating a biographical sketch, timeline, making a poster, writing a poem or a play.

The Voyage into the Unknown

The Search for Gold and Everlasting Life

Student Activity Sheet

Goal: A map as a representation of the routes taken by the Early Spanish Explorers

and a choice of further research of an Early Spanish Explorer by creating relief maps of Florida showing exploration routes, biographical sketches, timelines, or making a poster. You will choose two ways to demonstrate new knowledge.

Materials: Several choices of different color sheet of construction paper, copy

paper, markers, scissors, tape, glue and colored pencils.

Procedure:

1. Read the articles on the four Spanish Explorers. You can work in cooperative groups and read the articles orally.

2. Highlight and write notes of important facts. 3. Compare and contrast your notes to the notes of other students. 4. When your research has been completed, select the Explorer and draw the route

of your Explorer from Spain to the Americas. 5. After completing the map pick another way to display your information by

creating a biographical sketch, timeline, making a poster, writing a poem or a play.

The Expedition of Juan Ponce de Leon (1513)

Ponce de León : Florida's First Spanish Explorer

Juan Ponce de León was the first Spanish explorer to arrive in Florida. Early Spanish explorers

were known as conquistadors (kahn-KEYS-ta-dawrz) or "conquerors." While there are no official

records, historians believe that Ponce de León was born in 1460 in San Tervas de Campos, Spain.

Early Exploration

In 1493, Ponce de León sailed with Christopher Columbus on

Columbus' second voyage to the Americas. He and his family

settled on an island in the Caribbean named Hispaniola (Dominican

Republic). He became a military commander at this post and was

appointed deputy governor.

In 1506, Ponce de León discovered a nearby island named Borinquen.

While there, he found large deposits of gold. Soon after his

discovery, he left the island. He returned in 1508 on orders from

the king of Spain to explore and colonize the island. He renamed

the island Puerto Rico. He was the island's governor for two years

until the king replaced him with Columbus' son.

Discovery of Florida

Hurt by the King's action, Ponce de León sailed again, this time north through the Bahamas heading

towards Florida. He was in search of new lands and treasures. He had also heard of a mythical

fountain of youth. Indians spoke of a legendary, magical spring whose water was believed to make

older people young again. Ponce de León explored many areas, including the Bahamas and Bimini, for

both gold and the mythical fountain, but he never found either.

In late March of 1513, his ships landed on Florida's east coast near present-day St. Augustine. He

claimed this beautiful land for Spain. Since he had discovered this country of lavish landscape and

beautiful beaches, he was entitled to

name it. He named it La Florida (LAH

flow REE dah) or "place of flowers."

He decided to continue his exploration

of this land and sailed down the coast.

He encountered some rough currents at

one point and named the area Cape

Canaveral which means “Cape of

Currents”.

Ponce de León continued down the east

coast of Florida and along the keys until

he arrived at an island that had many

turtles. He named the island Dry

Tortugas because there was no fresh

water on the island and “tortugas”

means “turtle” in Spanish.

Ponce de León and the Calusa Indians

Continuing up the west coast of Florida,

Ponce de León entered the Charlotte

Harbor area. As he and his men explored inland for wood and fresh water, they saw the Calusa

tribal village at Mound Key. They discovered that the Calusa were an unfriendly tribe. The

explorers fled back to their ships and decided to leave the area. They sailed back to Puerto Rico.

Return to Florida

In 1521, Ponce de León returned to Florida again to build a colony. He landed on the gulf beaches

between Charlotte Harbor and Estero Bay with over 200 settlers, horses, tools, and seeds. The plan

was to set up a farming colony. As they went inland for fresh water, the Calusa ambushed them.

Ponce de León was shot in the thigh by an arrow and was seriously wounded. The settlers decided to

abandon the settlement and sail back to Cuba.

As a result of his wound, Ponce de León died at the age of 61 in Cuba. He will always be remembered

as the brave conquistador who first explored many parts of Florida and searched for the mythical

fountain of youth.

The Expedition of Panfilo de Narvaez (1527)

Pánfilo de Narváez was born to an upper class family in Vallenda, Spain. Although he was older than

most Spanish who sought their fortunes in the New World, he nevertheless was very active in early

conquest period. He was an important figure in the conquests of Jamaica and Cuba in the years

between 1509 and 1512. He acquired a reputation for ruthlessness: a young Bartolome de Las Casas,

who was a chaplain on the Cuba campaign, recounted horrible tales of massacres and chiefs being

burned alive.

In Pursuit of Cortés:

In 1518, the Governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez, had sent the young conquistador Hernan Cortes to

Mexico to begin the conquest of the mainland. Velázquez soon regretted his actions, however, and

decided to place someone else in charge. He sent Narváez, with a large force of over one thousand

Spanish soldiers to Mexico to take command of the expedition and send Cortés back to Cuba.

Cortés, who was in the process of defeating the Aztec Empire, had to leave the recently subdued

capital of Tenochtitlán to return to the coast to fight Narváez.

The Battle of Zempoala:

On May 24, 1520, the forces of the two conquistadores clashed at Zempoala, Near Veracruz, and

Cortés won. Many of Narváez’s soldiers deserted before and after the battle, joining Cortés.

Narváez himself was jailed in the port of Veracruz for the next two years, while Cortés retained

control of the expedition and the vast wealth that came with it.

A New Expedition:

Narváez returned to Spain after being released. Convinced that there were more wealthy empires

like the Aztecs to the north, he mounted an expedition that was doomed to become one of the most

monumental failures in history. Narváez got permission from Charles V to mount an expedition into

Florida. He set sail in April of 1527 with five ships and about 600 Spanish soldiers and adventurers.

Word of the riches earned by Cortés and his men made finding volunteers easy. In April, 1528, the

expedition landed in Florida, near present-day Tampa Bay (What Pre-Columbian tribe did they

meet?) By then, many of the soldiers had deserted, and only about 300 men remained.

Narváez in Florida:

Narváez and his men made their way clumsily inland, attacking every tribe they met. The expedition

had brought insufficient supplies and survived by pillaging meager native storehouses, which caused

violent retaliation. The conditions and lack of food caused many in the company to become ill, and

within a few weeks one-third of the expedition were severely incapacitated. The going was tough, as

Florida was then full of rivers, swamps and forests. The Spanish were killed, picked off by irate

natives, and Narváez made a series of tactical blunders, including frequently dividing his forces and

never seeking allies.

The Mission Fails:

The men were dying, picked off individually and in small groups by native attacks. Supplies had run

out, and the expedition had alienated every native tribe it had encountered. With no hope to

establish any sort of settlement and with no help coming, Narváez decided to abort the mission and

return to Cuba. He had lost touch with his ships, and so ordered the construction of four large

rafts.

The Death of Pánfilo de Narváez:

It is not known for certain where and when Narváez died. The last man to see Narváez alive and tell

of it was Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, a junior officer of the expedition. He recounts that in their

final conversation, he asked Narváez for help, as the men on Narváez’ raft were better fed and

stronger than those with Cabeza de Vaca. Narváez refused, basically saying “every man for

himself.” The rafts were wrecked in a storm. Only 80 men survived the sinking of the rafts, and

Narváez was not among them.

Aftermath of the Narváez Expedition:The first major incursion into present-day Florida was a

complete fiasco. Of the 300 men who landed with Narváez, only four survived. Among them was

Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, the junior officer who had asked for help, but received none. After

his raft sunk, Cabeza de Vaca was enslaved by a local tribe for several years somewhere along the

gulf coast. He managed to escape and meet up with three other survivors, and together the four of

them returned overland to Mexico, arriving some eight years after the expedition landed in Florida.

The animosity caused by the Narváez expedition was such that it took the Spanish years to

establish a settlement in Florida. Narváez has gone down in history as one of the most ruthless yet

incompetent conquistadors of the colonial era.

The Journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (1528-1536)

The Misadventures of

Pánfilo de Narváez and Nuñez de Cabeza de Vaca

Pánfilo de Narváez arrived near Tampa Bay with a large army

from Spain on April 14, 1528. The Spanish government had

given him permission to settle and rule the land along the

Gulf Coast from Northern Mexico to the Florida

peninsula* and as far inland as he was able to control.

When Narváez landed, he took three hundred soldiers and

forty horses with him to explore the interior of the state. The ships, which were carrying food and

supplies, were sent ahead to a harbor north of where they had originally landed.

This turned out to be a terrible mistake. Instead of landing at the harbor described by Narváez, the ships landed somewhere else. Narváez and his

men waited for the ships at the harbor where Narváez intended the ships to

have landed, but the ships could never find him and his men. The ships' captains searched up and down the coast for almost a year, then gave up

and returned to Spain.

Stranded, Narváez along with his treasurer and provost marshal, Nuñez de Cabeza de Vaca, led his men northward up the peninsula to the chiefdom of

the Apalachee. This would have been near present-day Tallahassee. The Spaniards met hostility and violence in the Apalachee territory. This was not

surprising since along their route the Spaniards had seized an Apalachee village, stolen maize and other crops, and even held a chief hostage.

After about a month, Narváez and the Spaniards gave up their hope of ever finding the ships and receiving their supplies. They were getting low on

rations and many of the men were weak from illnesses.

Narváez led his men to a bay on the Gulf (assumed to be present day St. Marks). There they built five barges. The barges were made using pine trees

and the pitch from longleaf pine mixed with palmetto fiber to fill in the

cracks. The men sewed their shirts together to make sails.

In September 1528, Narváez and approximately two hundred and forty men set sail towards a Spanish Settlement in Mexico on their fragile barges.

Unfortunately, a violent storm caused the barges to capsize and many men lost their lives. Fewer than one hundred men finally made it to an island off

the coast of Texas. Narváez did not survive, and by spring, de Vaca and the few men who were still alive set off to walk to Mexico City. Seven years

later, four of them, including de Vaca, eventually arrived there.

Cabeza de Vaca shared this information of Narváez's journey with the

Spanish Viceroy. This story was read by Hernando de Soto, who was about to make his first journey to Florida.

The Expedition of Hernando de Soto (1539-1543)

Reporter: I'm with a man named Hernando De Soto. He is an explorer for Spain. Hernando,

tell us about yourself.

De Soto: I was born in Extremadura, Spain in 1500. As a young boy, I began my life as an

adventurer.

Reporter: That is most interesting! I have heard you have explored North America. How did

you decide to do that?

De Soto: I had been drawn to the North American continent by stories of hidden cities that

contained vast amounts of gold and silver.

Reporter: Wow! How did you hear about this place?

De Soto: I heard from Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca. He had come back after many years from the

American continent. He told stories that he had heard about the great wealth that was to be found

in the "Seven Cities of Cibola." My mouth watered at the thought of the gold and silver that was to

be found.

Reporter: That makes my mouth water too just hearing you talk about it.

De Soto: Before I had gone for the gold, I was invited on an expedition to Peru with a fellow

Spaniard, Francisco Pizarro. When we landed in Peru in December 1531, we began the conquest of

the Inca Empire.

Reporter: Wow! You were trying to conquer an empire? Now that is what I like to call

adventure. Go on.

De Soto: In November 1532, we reached the city of Cajamarca, where Atahualpa, the ruler of the

Inca, was camped. Pizarro sent me into the city to meet Atahualpa. The next day Pizarro,

pretending to be friendly, invited Atahualpa to dinner, and then took him captive. Having imprisoned

Atahualpa, Pizarro became ruler of Peru. During one of the revolts, he ordered the execution of

Atahualpa. In spite of my protests the execution was carried out.

Reporter: Wow that Pizarro really did want to rule. Was that the end of your adventures?

De Soto: That's not all, in 1533, I joined Pizarro in taking Cuzco, the capital. In April 1537 the king

appointed me the governor of Cuba. As governor, I was granted the right to conquer and colonize

the territory north of Cuba on the mainland of North America. Juan Ponce De Leon visited this land

in 1513, and it was, at the time, a vast, unexplored wilderness. I sailed from Spain on April 7, 1538

with 600 men and 200 horses.

Reporter: Wow! You had 600 men with you.

De Soto: I landed on the western coast of Florida in May of 1539. My party and I crossed many

things including the Appalachian Mountains. I reached the Mississippi River in early May. I had

heard stories of the Ozark Mountains, so I headed in that direction with hopes of finding gold and

silver. By March of 1542, I decided to turn back and sail down the Mississippi to the sea.

Untimely Death- De Soto became ill with a fever and died the night of May 21, 1542. Of the

original 600 men in the De Soto expedition, only 311 survived. De Soto died without ever finding

treasure in his new territory.

Hernando de Soto Arrives and Explores Florida

Hernando de Soto was given the title Governor of Cuba by the king of Spain, Carlos V, in 1536. He was also given "La Florida," the area previously given

to Pánfilo de Narváez.

De Soto chose to use Cuba as a

home base for his supplies and for planning his expeditions. He

spent his fortune recruiting, arming, and transporting his own

army. When he left Spain in 1538, he was heavily in debt. He

believed, however, that he would regain his fortune by finding gold

in "La Florida."

The Expedition to La Florida

De Soto sent guides ahead to locate and chart a course for his army. The expedition set sail for Florida on the 18th of May 1539, with five large vessels and four smaller ones. On these vessels were de Soto's army as well

as priests, women, horses, mules, war dogs, and pigs. On May 25th, they made landfall in the Tampa Bay area. De Soto's expedition initially landed at

Piney Point. They made camp at Uzita, which was a native village on the northern shore of the Little Manatee River.

Amazingly, a cavalry patrol found a Spanish survivor from an earlier expedition. He had been searching for gold along with Narváez eleven years

earlier. The Spanish survivor's name was Juan Ortiz and he had been living as an Indian. Ortiz's rescue was a great find for de Soto since Ortiz could

communicate in Spanish and many of the native languages. He could also function as a guide for the area. As de Soto's expedition moved inland,

however, they met different native groups whose languages were unfamiliar to Ortiz.

The March Inland

The march inland began July 15, 1539, and entered previously unexplored areas of Florida's forests, rivers, bogs, and sand hills. In the vicinity of

Zephyrhills and Lumberton, they found no water and several people on the journey almost died of thirst. When they finally came to the Alafia River,

they constructed a bridge and crossed successfully.

Hernando de Soto and his men trudged through the wetland areas at the

Cove of the Withlacoochee River. One of de Soto's challenges was crossing the Withlacoochee River because it had such strong currents. The army

stretched a rope from one side to the other and managed to cross successfully.

On July 29th, de Soto occupied the Timucuan Indian province of Ocali (near

present-day Ocala). There, de Soto left the main part of his army and led a smaller group through present-day Levy and Alachua counties. When they

reached the Santa Fe River, they crossed it and camped at a village named

Aguacaleyquen. Hernando de Soto then sent a small group of men back to lead his main group northward to be reunited with them.

At War with the Natives

De Soto violated the king's ordinance to treat the natives well and convert them to Catholicism. He let it be known that he would not let anyone stand

in his way. De Soto enslaved, mutilated, and executed the natives, often

without provocation.

De Soto had one open-field battle at Napituca near Live Oak. De Soto and his men were positioned in the surrounding woods in anticipation of an

ambush. When the natives arrived, they charged. Some of the Indians were captured as slaves. Others were shot. De Soto held some chiefs as prisoners

for a short time.

After this encounter, the Spaniards traveled west and came to the River of

Deer (now known as the Suwannee River). In the beginning of October, de Soto and his men crossed the Aucilla River with difficulty. Upon crossing it,

they entered the Apalachee's main area. The natives destroyed their crops and burned their villages as they drew back, so that de Soto and his men

could not use them.

The Spaniards were now under constant attack by the natives, who

would kill the Spanish dispatch

riders. In addition, brave native hostages used as guides often led

army troops directly into ambushes, even though it most

certainly meant death for them as well as the Spaniards.

As de Soto continued to head west,

he came upon Anhaica, the main town of the Apalachee. It was here

that he made camp for the winter.

He also sent a small group of men southward to Tampa Bay to lead his ships and remaining supplies to him at Anhaica. The remains of iron crossbows,

iron nails, and dated copper coins have been found at this site.

De Soto Heads North

De Soto and his army decided to head north out of Florida into Georgia.

Later, he explored areas of North and South Carolina, as well as Tennessee and Alabama. By the early 1540s, he headed across the Mississippi River to

look for gold and silver in what is now Arkansas. In 1542, he became ill and died of a fever.

Grading Rubric

NAME:_____________________________

KNOWLEDGE: 4 3 2 1 0

Shows an understanding of the material

Able to answer questions

PARTICIPATION: 4 3 2 1 0

Does their “fair share” in presenting the material

Participates in each part of the presentation

LENGTH: 4 3 2 1 0

Long enough to adequately cover assigned material

CONTENT: 4 3 2 1 0

Topic covered thoroughly

Enough information given to understand topic

Did not exclude any important information or include

any unnecessary information

DESIGN: 4 3 2 1 0

Very creative

Easy to see and follow

Did not include any unnecessary graphics

HANDS-ON ACTIVITY: 4 3 2 1 0

Included class in the learning process

Did more than lecture to the class

TOTAL ________

23-24 A

21-22 B

18-20 C

16-17 D

0-15 F