NHC+1492+Contact


 * NHC 1492-1690 CONTACT **

[]

The items on this wiki page are taken from the following website and are only intended for the use of my students:

National Humanities Center Toolbox Library: Primary Resources in U.S. History and Literature Toolbox: American Beginnings: The European Presence in North America, 1492-1690 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/index.htm

**1. First Impressions**

Spanish: Letter on Columbus's first voyage, 1493 English: Letters on the voyage of John Cabot, 1497

2. Europe's Literary Response [Skip this section]

3. Illustrating the New World [Skip this section]


 * 4. Atlantic Coast **

Norse: Account of meeting the "Skrælingar" of Vinland, ca. 1005 French: Verrazzano, Report to King Francis I, 1524, excerpts

After the peopling of North America at least 11,000 years ago, the continent was probably "discovered" by numerous explorers before Columbus. But who? Did the Chinese monk Hwui Shan reach the west coast of North America around A.D. 500? Did Japanese sailors follow the Northwest Pacific Current down the west coast before A.D. 1000? What about adventurers who sailed west from Europe and Africa and were never heard from again, such as Ugolino and Vadino Vivaldi from Genoa (1291) and a king whose flotilla left Mali in 1311? Intriguing grounds for speculation.


 * 5. Pacific Coast **

English: Account of Drake's landing in California in 1579, excerpts

6. Indians' Accounts [Skip this section]


 * 7. Spanish Conquest **

Council of Castille, Requerimiento to be read to the Indians, 1510

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Cortés, Letter to King Charles I of Spain, 1521, excerpt

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Bartolomé de las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, 1542, excerpts