New World Exploration
Pardo led two expeditions from Santa Elena into the interior of the southeast United States. The first, from December 1, 1566 to March 7, 1567, numbered 125 men and was to seek food and to establish bases among the region's indigenous people. He established Fort San Juan at Joara, a Mississippian culture center (near present-day Morganton, North Carolina) and left a garrison behind. Claiming the settlement for Spain, he renamed it Cuenca in honor of the Spanish city Cuenca.
Pardo led a second expedition from September 1, 1567 to March 2, 1568 and explored the Piedmont interior and south along the Appalachian Mountains. He established additional forts that aimed to supply a land route to Zacatecas in present-day Mexico, where the Spanish had silver mines they wanted to protect. Pardo returned to Santa Elena when he learned of a French raid there.
Later in 1568, the Native Americans turned against Pardo's garrisons in the interior, killing all but one of the 120 men and burning down all six forts. The Spanish did not return to the North Carolina interior.
A stone believed to have been inscribed by Pardo or one of his men is in the collection of the Spartanburg Regional Museum of History. It is inscribed with an arrow and the year 1567. The stone (#454865) was found by a farmer in Inman, South Carolina.
Read more about this topic: Juan Pardo (explorer)
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or exploration:
“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest—whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories—comes afterwards. These are games; one must first answer.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“For women who do not love us, as for the “disappeared”, knowing that we no longer have any hope does not prevent us form continuing to wait. We live on our guard, on watch; women whose son has gone asea on a dangerous exploration imagine at any minute, although it has long been certain that he has perished, that he will enter, miraculously saved, and healthy.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)