Question

spain in north america
spanish explorers made several important discoveries in north america. these explorers are listed below by their last name.

• ponce de leon heard that there was a fountain on the mainland that would make a person young again - a fountain of youth. he set out in 1513 to find the fountain. although he never found it, he did find the \land of flowers,\ florida.
• de soto explored the southeastern section of north america from florida to texas.
• coronado came up from new spain (mexico) to explore the southwest as far north as present - day kansas in the mid - 1500s.
• cabrillo explored the west coast as far north as what would become oregon.

throughout the spanish century, colonists and missionaries followed the explorers into these areas and settled in florida, the gulf coast, new mexico, and california.
as gold and silver began to flow out of the colonies to the spanish treasury, other european nations began to want what spain had. unable to find it for themselves, they decided to take it from the spanish. the other sea - going nations of europe started plundering spanish treasure ships. (plundering means that they attacked and took the gold.)
in 1565, spain built a fort at st. augustine, florida, to protect their ships in the caribbean. this fort became the first permanent european settlement in what was to become the united states.
question 2: why did the spanish need a fort at st. augustine, florida?
spains treasure ships from the colonies were being attacked by other european nations. to protect shipping and settlements in the caribbean, spain built the fort at st. augustine.
practice
match each description to the term that it describes. each term may be used more than once.

1. 100 years of spanish domination in the americas
2. an area controlled by a distant power
3. colony established by columbus in the caribbean
4. means \conquerors\ in spanish
5. another name for mexico
6. means \land of flowers\
7. their goal was god, glory, and gold
8. fort established to protect spanish shipping in the caribbean
9. traveler and writer whose name was used to name america
10. first permanent european settlement in the united states

a. florida
b. conquistadors
c. st. augustine
d. colony
e. new spain
f. spanish century
g. hispaniola
h. vespucci

Explanation:

1. The Spanish Century refers to 100 years of Spanish domination in the Americas.
2. A colony is an area controlled by a distant power.
3. Columbus established a colony in Hispaniola in the Caribbean.
4. Conquistadors means "conquerors" in Spanish.
5. New Spain is another name for Mexico.
6. Conquistadors' goal was God, glory, and gold.
7. St. Augustine is a fort established to protect Spanish shipping in the Caribbean.
8. St. Augustine is also the first permanent European settlement in the United States.
9. Vespucci was a traveler and writer whose name was used to name America.

Answer:

1. F
2. D
3. G
4. B
5. E
6. B
7. C
8. C
9. H
10. C