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Spanish Exploration During The discovery of the New World and the Americas is a topic that has elicited much discussion and debate for many years. Legends and folklore tales tell of adventuring Scandinavians that visited Newfoundland and New England. The pre-Incan Lambayeque culture of Peru believed that their supreme deity was brought to coastal Peru across the Pacific Ocean on the backs of turtles (see illustration i). Present day history books tell the story differently. In 1492 Christopher Columbus (Cristobal Colon), an Italian from Genoa, with Spanish funds provided by its King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, set sail from Portugal and discovered America without touching the mainland, rather Jamaica and other Caribbean islands. For the next ninety-six years Spain would rule the high seas and lay claim to more lands than any other Old World country. In rapid succession, first Hernan Cortes conquered Mexico and the Aztec in 1519-1520. Subsequently Pizarro conquered Peru and the entire Inca empire in 1533 with an army of only 500 men. The treasures of these lands and cultures - gold, silver, jade - were sent to Spain and upon first viewing were much admired by the King and Queen and their subjects (see Illustration ii). The discovery rights to the Seven Cities of Cibola, rumored to exist in the north and initially thought to contain the next treasure trove, became highly sought after by high-ranking officers and explorers - Cortes, Alvarado, Coronado, de Soto, to name a few. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado's authorized expedition (see Illustrations iii and iv) into the American Southwest in 1540-1542 discovered only adobe pueblos (see Illustration v) previously cast and reported as golden in the rich sunlight of the desert southwest. The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 brought to an end the unique majesty of one country and an empire that had previously had no equal or superior in world dominance during these years. The artifacts and treasures discovered in these lands, the New World, the Americas, are today still being discovered and studied for further understanding about the people who made them. In the same chronological order as the regions discovered, I present in this catalogue a brief description of this collection of prehistoric and historic objects from these cultures. One final aside, pre-Columbian by definition refers to that which predates Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World in 1492. By common sense application, pre-contact is a more accurate term in that different indigenous groups in the Americas were exposed to the newly arrived Europeans at different times. One thing that is paramount and unalterable is that the customs and lives of the original indigenous Americans in all locales changed forever upon first contact. Christopher Webster |
