Dean, 
Thank you for reminding me of the Spanish settlements of Florida.  I
have visited St. Augustine though it was several years ago. I enjoying
it greatly.

Enjoy St. Paddy's Day,

Jean

-----Original Message-----
From: Dean Debolt [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2006 10:10 AM
To: Frantz, Jean M.; [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Teaching History


Along the lines of early settlements, whether you debate continuous or
interrupted,
we are planning the 450th anniversary of the settlement of Pensacola in
1559, which
is ostensibly Spanish.    In Florida, there are three settlements of
such
early vintage;
one at Charlotte in 1558, Pensacola in 1559, and St. Augustine in 1565.
Pensacola
claims "first settlement;"  historians point to Charlotte; and the
tourists
point to
St. Augustine as the "first" continuous European settlement in North
America.

I might note that after the defeat of the Spanish Armada by England, the
English
government turned their attention to questioning whether Spain did
indeed
have sole
right to America and all the gold, etc. it was plundering from the New
World.   North
America had been granted to Spain by a Papal Bull in the late 1490s, but
now
that
England under Henry had moved from Catholicism (and there was no
resulting 
lightning strike from heaven), questions arose.   Elizabeth's advisor,
John
Dee, drew
up a "title abstract" to North America that claimed the Welsh were the
first
Europeans
to arrive in the New World, using the legend of Madoc as told by Welsh
bards, who
sailed west around 900 A.D. to warm lands.   Elizabeth, using this as
her
authority,
commissioned Humphreys and later Raleigh to take expeditions and
settlements
to
the New World.    We have a local plaque put up by the D.A.R., though in
storage
now, that says Madoc sailed up Mobile Bay . . . and for several
centuries
there was
widespread interest in locating the remains of the Welsh in America,
though
most
agreed that they had disappeared and been assimilated into the Native
American
tribes.    Lewis and Clark were charged, as one of their orders, to
carefully look for
traces of Welsh language and culture in their exploration of the
Louisiana
Territory.
The closest they came was the Mandans on the Upper Missouri River;  this
tribe
engaged in agriculture, built leather covered boats (like Welsh
corbuckles),
stayed
in one place, and American painter George Catlin noted the striking
difference that
a number of the tribe had blue and green eyes.  

Perhaps I've strayed off the topic, so I'll just say, on this Irish Day:

As you slide down the banisters of life,
May the splinters always point the wrong way.


Dean


Dean DeBolt
University Librarian, Special Collections
John C. Pace Library, University of West Florida
11000 University Parkway
Pensacola, FL  32514-5750
850-474-2213
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