Gaspar De Villagrá is considered to be the first published poet in the United States as he recounts his journey through epic poetry. The poem, Historia de la nveva Mexico, is divided into three separate parts and then into thirty-four various cantos. As Manuel M. Martín-Rodríguez comments in his passage describing the origins of Villagrá’s poetry and expedition, “Villagrá’s poem serves a utilitarian purpose: that of justifying actions and highlighting services in hopes of obtaining royal favor,” Villagrá composes his expedition in hopes of appeasing the king and validating his own actions towards the Natives of what is now New Mexico. Villagrá writes in such a way to convince the king and the readers that his actions were heroic and influential.…
Federico Villalba's Texas: A Mexican Pioneer's Life in the Big Bend is a biography and autobiography about Federico Villalba’s different milestones throughout his life. It also focuses on the lives of his children and wife. The author Juan Manuel Casas brings blissful births, weddings, and family gatherings but, it also touches sadness of illness and loss of life. The book starts off when he is a young man and decides to move away from San Geronimo, Chihuahua in the 1880s. He wanted to start his own life without his family’s name.…
The purpose of this paper is to examine the history of Spanish Colonial Missions in Texas in order to gain a better understanding of Mission San Lorenzo de la Santa Cruz. Spanish Colonial missions in Texas have a rich archaeological and ethnohistorical record that provide insight to daily lives of missions as well as the long-term processes of the Spanish government on the North American continent. The Spanish government funded mission projects in order to spread Catholicism as well as adopt the Native Americans into Spanish, tax-paying citizens of the crown. What makes Mission San Lorenzo unique to other missions is that it was not approved by the Spanish government nor was it funded. This unauthorized mission was mostly funded personally by Captain Felipe de Rábago y Terán, as well as receiving…
The mexican war started in 1945 when the annexation of Texas took place. After the annexation , Mexico and America had a disagreement on what the border of Texas was. The U.S. thought that the border was the Rio Grande , while Mexico thought it was the Nueces River. This quarrel then led to the war , the prize being the land. The United States was justified in going to war with Mexico because America believed in manifest destiny and that God gave them the land to overspread and also because 16 Americans were killed by Mexicans on American territory.…
The Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire in the early sixteenth century has been recounted by two primary documents. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain and The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico both share some similarities and differences pertaining to the author's perspective on what truly happened such as the way the Spaniards were welcomed, outlook on culture, and interpretation of the war. This paper will compare both accounts of the encounters between the Spanish and the Aztecs from different points of view. Although the events in both sources took place during a similar time period, the differences vary in the author's tone of voice, the purpose, and the circumstances from where it was told. Based on the collected findings, The True History…
When Mexico gained its independence from Spain, Mexico had a enormous amount of territory, spreading all the way from Texas to California. They owned a much larger territory than the United States. In 1836, Texas gained independence from Mexico, but the United States did not include Texas into the union for various reasons: the government not wanting to add a new slave state, and also that the Mexican government warning the United States than any attempt to annex Texas would lead to war. Even after these circumstances the process of annexation was quickly started by the United States after the 1844 election of Polk. James K. Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in the year 1795.…
state. While the railroad may be a relic of the past compared to our modern technology, it changed the world in ways never experienced before. The railroad connected the previously isolated New Mexico Territory with not only the rest of the U.S., but also the world, which helped to create New Mexico’s unique and distinct…
Mexican War At the end of the Mexican war in 1848, the United States gained an extreme amount of land. The land consisted of what is today California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Texas. The big issue was whether the states would be slave or free. Henry Clay created a plan in 1820 that would be used to decipher the way the land would be split.…
The Spanish invasion of Mesoamerica in the sixteenth century has been one of their most renowned victories. However, with a review of Restall’s work, as well as a closer look into the help that the Spanish had, reveals that the success of the Spanish was not merely their own. The Spaniards’ and natives’ common political goals, the natives’ army strength, knowledge of the land and the sharing of battle strategies and resources made the native allies a key asset to the conquest. The success of the Spanish conquest was largely dependent on the military support they received from their native allies; the Tlaxcalans especially, along with other native contributors, such as the Teocalhueycan and the Tepaneca.…
The early advent of the sixteenth century presents Loíza as a Taino Arawak Indian settlement, situated on the eastern area of the banks of the Cayrabon River (presently called Rio Grande de Loíza) at the time of the Spanish conquest of Puerto Rico in 1508, led by the leadership of Juan Ponce de Leon. First named Jaymanio by the Indians, the settlement was under the rule of the indigenous chieftess Yuiza when the Spaniards arrived. Believed to have married Pedro Mexia, a Spanish-born “mulatto” immigrant, baptized to Catholicism, Yuiza’s name is Christianized to “Luisa” thus becoming “Loíza” in later years. The discovery of gold in the river resulted in the “establishment of several colonies in the region.” The combination of Spanish avarice for gold, and the subjugation and exploitation of Taino natives toward the extraction of the metal soon generated Loíza into an area of economic importance.…
As one of the purposes of the conquistadors, Diego Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, he trusts in Hernan Cortes for the third expedition, since the first expedition led by Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, and the second expedition by Juan de Grijalva, they had returned with a quantity of gold, then Diego Velasquez knew that Yucatan and Mexico had many material goods that they should have it. The Conquest of New Spain have a huge information that can be divided in many points as political, social, religion, and economic, and different characters. So, in this case, I will talk about one of the character that called my attention, and this woman gives a value to feminism sex because she played an important role in the conquest of New Spain, and she…
Mexico originally permitted a few hundred Americans to move into its territories of which settled in some areas of Texas and New Mexico. It was the Austin Family who originally asked Mexico for permission to create…
Kassandra Hernandez History of the U.S. W 6:30 September 18,2016 The British, French, and the Spanish all had more or less the same goals coming into the New World for the first time. All three colonies wanted to discover a shorter route to Asia. But most importantly, they all wanted to be the dominant power in North America. Trade markets, religion, and property were the three biggest motivations in migrating. Although, the Spanish did not value the Native Americans like the French and English.…
While the idea that the arrival of Europeans to “The New World” brought upon the indigenous cultures of America no small amount of strife and misery, as well as fame and fortune upon the Spanish is widely accepted as fact, there is limitless dissention among historians about the true history of the conquest of “New Spain”. One event that exemplifies this dissention is that of the Siege of Tenochtitlan. In the following analysis I will describe and discuss two conflicting accounts that document this occasion (The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico and The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz). The accounts are conflicting in the way each author presents certain events of the siege and manipulates them to represent their…
The Spanish exploration of America brought many new foods, types of plants, and forms of wealth to the European world. The wealth brought to Spain from the Americas came at a cost that was paid for by the enslavement and the sufferings of Native Americans and eventually the Africans. The Spanish colonization from 1492 to 1700 was motivated by religious conversion of all peoples in America and the desire for wealth and profit that had a significant impact on the lives of Native Americans and Africans. First, colonization by the Spanish was motivated by religious conversion. Columbus first “discovered” America in 1492.…