Overview

By the end of the first third of the sixteenth century, Spanish conquistadors and explorers had already claimed substantial lands in the New World. These ventures had yielded the "discovery" of new fruits, exotic spices, and whole civilizations. In Spain both the Crown and some individuals had already begun to profit from plundering gold and luxury trade items from newly claimed lands. However, vast tracts of land claimed under the banner of Spain had yet to be fully explored. One such region was Spanish Florida and the American Southeast. Both tactical advantage, namely the conquest of more territory than rival European nations, and the widely spun legend of "cities of gold" pushed Spain to invest in the exploration of its claims in this region. Following...