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41. Obliviously Living
In ‘The Land of Estevan Gomez’

By Miguel Pérez

​
December 4, 2013 - It happens to all of us – including Hispanic Americans who should know better. When we think of Spanish conquistadors, we usually are drawn to their exploits in the Caribbean, Mexico and South America, seldom paying attention to those who came to the land now known as the United States.

Because their North American accomplishments are generally omitted from American history – only because they happened before the Mayflower – even U.S.-educated Hispanics are ignorant about the great achievements of their Spanish ancestors. Most have no access to "U.S. Hispanic History" courses, because they hardly exist!

Before the Pilgrims, Spanish explorers had celebrated other Thanksgiving ceremonies in North America. They had charted our entire Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and explored the territories that are now Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas.

Spanish explorers had been here for a whole century before the Mayflower arrived. And on those rare occasions we do recognize that many came north from the Caribbean and Mexico, we forget just how far north they came! We generally think of Florida, the Southwest and California, but should know better, especially Hispanics from the Northeast.

After all, even the Northeast of the United States was once known as “La Tierra de Estevan Gomez.”

That's right. The Northeast territory, where American history so often is tied to the British Isles and where that history so often is arbitrarily chosen to begin in the 17th century, was known in the 16th century as “The Land of Esteban Gomez.”
Surely, it is safe to assume an overwhelming majority of Northeastern Americans, including those with the last name Gomez, don't know they live on territory once bearing a Hispanic name. And when they cross the Hudson River, they have no clue that long before it became the Hudson, it was called "El Rio San Antonio."

Some historia: Estevan Gomez was a Portuguese ship captain and cartographer who sailed for Spain and explored North America's Atlantic coast – from Newfoundland to Florida – in 1524 and 1525.

He set out searching for the Northwest Passage – the water route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans – but did not find it. Though as a result of his expedition, Europe gained its most accurate map of North America.

It was because of Gomez's charts, discovery of major North American rivers and other landmarks that Diogo Ribeiro, another Portuguese cartographer living in Spain and working for Charles V, was able to draw an outstanding outline of the East Coast.

Published in 1529, Ribeiro's hand-drawn world map prominently identified America's northeastern region as "Tierra de Estevan Gomez," indicating that it belonged to Spain. And Europe followed this map for most of the 16th century and part of the 17th. It was eventually displaced by other maps created following the British conquest of New England.

Born Estevao Gomes in northern Portugal in 1483, Gomez was a sailor in his homeland during his youth. He moved to Spain as a young man and in 1518, was appointed an official Spanish ship pilot by the Casa de Contratacion, Spain's office of overseas affairs in Seville. Just one year later, he became the captain of the San Antonio, one the ships in Ferdinand Magellan's expedition to circumnavigate the world.

Europeans were searching for a faster route to the Indies than the Portuguese route around the Cape of Good Hope. Magellan's expedition held a lot of promise for reaching the Indies by going around South America. But Gomez refused to sail through the dangerous straits near the southern tip of South America (later known as the Straits of Magellan) and deserted the expedition, returning to Spain, where he was jailed for mutiny in 1521.

He remained in prison until he was able to convince Charles V that the Straits of Magellan were too distant, stormy, cold and perilous for a trade route, and that he could find a faster route, a passage somewhere between Florida and Newfoundland.

Magellan's voyage achieved its objective of circumnavigating the world – and gave Spain access to the East by conquering the Philippines – but it failed to find a faster route to the Indies. And because Gomez had been claiming, even from prison, that he could find a better water route across North America, the king, mindful that other European nations were also seeking such a passage, released Gomez from prison in 1523 to lead a new expedition.


John Cabot, an Italian who sailed for England, already had attempted such a journey from 1497 to 1498 and failed. And Giovanni da Verrazano, an Italian who sailed for France, already was trying, perhaps unbeknown to Spain, in 1524.

Nevertheless, a new 50-ton caravel, La Anunciada, was built for the Spanish expedition, and near the end of 1524, Gomez led a crew of 29 mostly Basque fishermen from La Coruña, in Galicia, Spain, to the northeastern shores of America. They traveled across the Atlantic until they were stopped by a sea of ice near Newfoundland in February 1525, and then southward along today's Canadian province of Nova Scotia and America's Atlantic shoreline.

Some historians argue that they followed the south-to-north track of other explorers who sailed from the Caribbean, but most agree they did it in reverse – from north to south.

Traveling for about six months along the American Atlantic coast always looking for a westbound strait, Gomez and his crew entered the mouths of our biggest East Coast rivers, eventually reaching Florida in August 1525 without finding one.

In a foolish attempt to make up for his failure to find the passage, Gomez returned to Spain in the fall of 1525 with some 50 Native Americans his crew had abducted (somewhere around Narragansett Bay, R.I.) and held as slaves. But Charles V would not condone such behavior and forced Gomez to set the Native Americans free.

Yet, like many other Spanish conquistadors, who kept coming back to the New World even after suffering amazing setbacks, Gomez was not done exploring. In 1535, he joined Pedro de Mendoza's expedition to Rio de la Plata in South America, where he was killed by Indians on the Paraguay River in 1538.
But why don't Americans know more about Estevan Gomez? Why is he ignored by most modern historians? Why is his story either omitted or treated with contempt?

It surely can't be because Gomez held slaves; it was common practice for many 16th- and 17th-century European explorers. Not to mention American history flaunts the accomplishments of many prominent historical figures who were also slave owners and upheld the barbaric practice of slavery for more than 200 years after Gomez.

So has Gomez been vanished from American history because he sailed for Spain? Is he a victim of the Black Legend, the age-old campaign to demonize Spanish explorers while minimizing the atrocities of their British, Dutch and French counterparts? Is it because the Gomez story proves Spanish roots were planted in New England before even the British arrived?

Just asking!

Does Gomez not deserve to be recognized at a much higher level among North America's early explorers?

Some historians note that when Gomez entered New York Harbor and saw the wide river on the west side of Manhattan, he called it "El Rio San Antonio." Of course, that was some 84 years before Henry Hudson, a British sea captain who sailed for the Dutch, explored that river (still looking for the Northwest Passage), and many more years before that river was renamed after Hudson.

Go figure! Gomez sailed into New York Harbor only a few months after Verrazano and 40 years before Hudson was born. In the 16th century, the entire Northeast was named after Gomez. But somehow, the river ended up with Hudson's name, Verrazano got a bridge named after him, and Gomez got nada. "La Tierra de Estevan Gomez" became part of our hidden Hispanic heritage.
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En español
Viviendo Inconscientemente
En la ‘Tierra de Estevan Gómez'
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Gomez Memorial in Bangor, Maine. When they sailed up the Penobscot River in 1525, Gomez and his crew were the first Europeans to set foot in the Bangor area.
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KING CHARLES V
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FERDINAND MAGELLAN
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GIOVANNI DA VERRAZANO
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JOHN CABOT
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HENRY HUDSON
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DIOGO RIBEIRO'S 1529 WORLD MAP --to see an enlargement, click on the map!
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                   CHAPTERS/CAPITULOS

1. Our Pre-Mayflower Thanksgivings
Nuestros Días de Acción de Gracias Pre-Mayflower
               
2. A Tale of Two Cities
                 
3. Our Pre-Hispanic Heritage
              

4. The Black Legend Returns

4. La Leyenda Negra Regresa
                
5. Even on HBO, The Black Legend Lives
                   
6. Our Spanish Heritage
                     
7. Exalted or Offended?
                    
8. We are all 'Americanos'
                  
9. Latinos are Failing
                  
10. Hispanic, Columbus or Indigenous Day?
10. 
™Dia Hispano, De Colon o Indigena?
                   
11. Two Good Places to Rest
11. Dos buenos lugares para descansar
                  
12. Whitman's Prophetic Letter
12. La Carta Profética de Whitman
                  
13. America’s Cradle
13. La Cuna de America
                 
14. Our Quincentennial is Coming!

14. ´Nuestro Quinto Centenario Se Avecina!
                   
15. 
This chapter was merged with Chapter 29
                
16. A Time To Welcome the Spirits
                  
17. A Hispanic Christmas
17. Una Navidad Hispana
                  
18. JOSE MARTI:
     His Legacy Lives Here
     Su Legado Vive Aquí 
                
19. Hyphenated and Proud!
                   
20. Politicizing Education

21. Speak Any Spanish Lately?
              
22. Happy Three Kings Day!
22. ​
´Feliz Día de Reyes!
               
23. 
This chapter was merged with Chapter 29

24. A Long-Overdue Museum
                 
25. America's First Christmas was celebrated in Spanish
25. La Primera Navidad Americana fue celebrada en español

26. The Grand Canyon
and the Bucket List
 Of Hispanic Heritage
26. El Gran Canyon
y la Lista de Lugares de la Herencia Hispana

                  
27. Now That Fiesta Month Is Here,
Can We Talk About Heritage?

27. Ahora que el mes de fiesta hispana esta aquí,

​™Podemos hablar de nuestra herencia?
                  
28. Our Hispanic Heritage: On Exhibit and Yet Hidden
28. Nuestra Herencia Hispana: En Exhibición y Sin Embargo Oculta

29. Florida's Birthday Should Be a National Holiday

             
30. A Local Celebration that Should be National               

31. 
This chapter was merged with Chapter 30               
​

32. The Conveniently 'Forgotten War'
32. La Guerra Convenientemente Olvidada

33. Guantanamo Has a History  June 4, 2013

34. Exposing the Social Media Bigots  June 18, 2013
34. Exponiendo a los Intolerantes
     de los Medios Sociales June 18, 2013

35. Thinking of Cusi On the Fourth of July
35. Pensando en Cusi en el Cuatro de Julio

36. The Discovery of White Hispanics
36.  El Descubrimiento de los Hispanos Blancos

37. Let's Build a Timeline Of Hispanic-American History
37. Vamos a Construir una Cronología
     De la Historia Hispanoamericana

38. In the Name of Heritage
38. En el Nombre de la Herencia

39. Hispanics or Latinos?
39. ™Hispanos o Latinos?

40.  Hollywood's Hidden Hispanic Heritage
40. La Herencia Hispana Oculta en Hollywood

41. Obliviously Living in ‘The Land of Estevan Gomez’
41. Viviendo Inconscientemente
       En la ‘Tierra de Estevan Gómez’

42. Marking America's Birthplace
42. Marcando el Lugar de Nacimiento De Estados Unidos

43. Hispanics in Denial Should Be Infamous
43. Los Hispanos en Rechazo Deben Ser Infames

44. 
Gay Marriage's Hidden American History
      Started in Spanish
 CABEZA DE VACA'S JOURNEY
44. La Historia Oculta del Matrimonio Gay
      En América Comenzó en Español
        EL VIAJE DE CABEZA DE VACA​

45. Super Bowl Coke Commercial
       Draws Out Ugly Americans

45. Comercial de Coke en Super Bowl
     Hace Relucir a los Americanos Feos


46. 
The 'Discovery' of Self-Loathing Hispanics
46. El ‘Descubrimiento' de los
     Hispanos que se Auto Desprecian


THE GREAT HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORY TOUR 
June 2014 - January 2015


47. My Pilgrimage to San Xavier
47. Mi Peregrinaje a San Xavier

48. The Great Hispanic American History Tour
48. La Gran Gira por la Historia Hispanoamericana

49. On the Trail of Conquistadors
49. En el Camino de los Conquistadores

50. Beyond St. Augustine
50. Más Allá de San Agustín

51. A Hidden Hispanic Role Model
51. Un Modelo Hispano Oculto

52. The Hispanic Flank of the American Revolution
52. El Flanco Hispano de la Revolucion Americana
​

53. New Orleans Has a Spanish ‘Ne Sais Quoi’
53. Nueva Orleans Tiene Un ‘Ne Sais Quoi’ Español

54. Galveston: Still the Isle of Misfortune?

55. Extracting Compacted History
     Unveils Hidden Hispanic Heritage

56. 'Remember The Alamo' Was a Spanish Mission

57. San Antonio: The Showcase Of Our Hispanic Heritage

58. There Was Compassion On the Spanish Mission Trail

59. A Hidden Latina Role Model

60. Time Portals on the Road

61. The First Thanksgiving
     In the (Southwest) United States

62. The World's Biggest Statue
of a Nameless Horseback Rider


63. A River Runs Through Our Hispanic Heritage

64. A Beacon of Hope On a Border Mountaintop

65. A Mexican-American Town
65. Un Pueblo Mexico-Americano

66. The Crossroads of Conquistadors

67. Hiking In Search of Coronado's Trail

68. The Real American Pioneers

69. Keeping My Pledge to San Xavier

70. If They Knew Arizona's History,
     They Wouldn't Be So Xenophobic

71. 'Tucson' is a Spanish Adaptation

72. Under a Utah Lake, Hispanic Heritage Lives

73. A Hilltop View Of Hispanic Heritage

74. Searching for Coronado's Quivira

75. The Spanish Savior of St. Louis

76. 
Jefferson's Spanish Library

WASHINGTON, D.C.
February-June 2015

77. When Galvez Came to Congress
77. Cuando Gálvez Vino al Congreso


78. A Tour of Our Extraordinarily Hispanic U.S. Capitol

79. Searching for Not-S0-Hidden
Hispanic Heritage in Washington, DC


80. Smithsonian Omits Hispanics In U.S. History Exhibit
80. Smithsonian Omite a los Hispanos
     en Exhibición de Historia de EE.UU.
MIAMI - August 2015
​
81. Finding Dad in a Museum
81. Encontre a Mi Padre en un Museo


​CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP - 2018
82. International Friendship Park ​at U.S.-Mexico Border
​- A Jagged Corner of the World


83. Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
​
84. Cabrillo National Monument

85. ​It took more than 2 centuries

86. Presidio Park: The Birthplace
of the Spanish Colonization of California


87. Junípero Serra Museum Transcends the Story of a Great Man

88. Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá:
California's First Spanish Mission


89. Old Mission (Padre) Dam: California's First Aqueduct

90. Even at the beach in San Diego, you can't avoid Spanish history

91. Chicano Park: Mexican-American ​painted under highway ramps

92. Balboa Park: Candy for your eyes amid a painful controversy!

93. San Diego: An American Town
Named After the Saint from Alcalá

93. San Diego: Un Pueblo Americano
Lleva el Nombre del Santo de Alcalá


94. San Luis Rey de Francia: The King of the California Missions
94. San Luis Rey de Francia: ​El Rey de las Misiones de California

95. San Antonio de Pala:
A Sub-Mission to Reach
 the Natives of the Interior
95. San Antonio de Pala:
Una Asistencia para Alcanzar los Nativos del Interior

96. San Juan Capistrano:
The Home of the Mission Swallows
 from Argentina
96. San Juan Capistrano:
El Hogar de las Golondrinas Desaparecidas ​de Argentina

97. San Gabriel Arcángel: A Mission that Launched Cities
97. San Gabriel Arcángel: Una Misión Que Lanzó Ciudades

98. El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Ángeles:
Hispanics had to be imported

98. El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Ángeles:
Hispanos tuvieron que sen importados


99. La Plaza de Cultura y Artes:
A Walk through Mexican-American History

99. La Plaza de Cultura y Artes:
Un Paseo por la historia 
​mexicoamericana


100. Strolling the Hispanic Walk of Fame
​100. Caminando por el Paseo Hispano de la Fama

101. San Fernando Rey de España Teaches
California's Colonial History

101. ​​San Fernando Rey de España Enseña
la historia colonial de California


​102. Mission San Buenaventura Survived Earthquakes and Pirates
102. Misión San Buenaventura Sobrevivió Terremotos y Piratas

​103. Father Serra Cross: On a hill,
​overlooking ​the land he shepherded

​103. La Cruz del Padre Serra: En una colina,
​con vistas a la tierra que pastoreaba


104. The Birthplace of Santa Barbara
104. El Lugar de Nacimiento de Santa Barbara

105. The Queen of the Spanish Missions
105. La Reina de las Misiones Españolas

106. Mission Santa Ines: Built to relieve other overcrowded missions
106. Misión Santa Inés: Construida para aliviar otras misiones superpobladas

107. Mission La Purísima Concepcion:
​Going back in time ​to Spanish California

107. Mision La Purísima Concepción:
Retrocediendo en ​el tiempo a la California española


XXX. Saluting an exile: ​Father Félix Varela
XXX. The Meaning of 'Sotomayor'
SPECIAL SECTIONS
• Great (pro-Hispanic) Americans
​
• 16th Century in the Hispanic American History Timeline
• 17th Century in the Hispanic American History Timeline
• 18th Century in the Hispanic American History Timeline
​
• Spanish-American expeditions before Jamestown
• NYC ​Hispanic Landmarks
• NYC Hispanic Art
• Do You Know/Sabes?
• Garita Art
​
• Do You Speak Spanglish?
HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORY TIMELINE
​1513 Ponce de Leon Discovers North America, Names Her 'Florida'

April 22, 1513 ​Alaminos discovers the Gulf Stream

1517 De Cordoba, wounded in Yucatan, stops in Florida

1518 Grijalva Reaches Galveston Island

1519 De Pineda confirms Florida ​is not an island​

1521 Ponce de Leon Returns to Florida, Falls Mortally Wounded

1524-25 Estevan Gomez Explores North America's East Coast

1526 Ayllón lands in S.C., settles in Georgia


1528 Narváez expedition succumbs to storms and natives

1528-36 Cabeza de Vaca treks across North America

1537-42 Cabeza de Vaca Returns to Spain, Writes 'La Relación'

1539 De Niza Searches for Golden Cities of Cibola
​

1539-42 De Soto celebrates first American Christmas

1540 Hernando de Alarcon Reaches California

1540-42 Coronado Explores the Southwest,
Cardenas Discovers ​the Grand Canyon


1542-43  ​Cabrillo explores California coast​

1559 De Luna Builds Santa Maria de Ochuse​


1565 Pedro Menendez de Avilés Establishes San Agustin

1566 Santa Elena Built in South Carolina

1598 ​Juan de Oñate Explores New Mexico

1602 Sebastian Vizcaino ​explores the West Coast

1610 Pedro de Peralta establishes Santa Fe

1610-26 The Birth of San Miguel, oldest church in the U.S.A.

1613 Juan Rodriguez becomes the first Manhattan immigrant

1633 Misión San Luis de Apalachee is born in Tallahassee

​1682 San Antonio de la Ysleta becomes first mission in Texas

1691 Father Eusebio Kino builds Tumacácori and Guevavi

1692 ​Father Kino builds San Xavier del Bac 

1692 Diego de Vargas leads ​'Bloodless Reconquest" of Santa Fe

1695 Castillo de San Marcos ​Completed in St. Augustine

1718 Mission San Antonio de Valero is born
​- long before it became The Alamo
​

1738 Runaway slaves establish Fort Mose,
​the first free African-American community​


​1738 Francisco Menendez Leads Fort Mose

1742 Spanish Soldiers ​Open Fort Matanzas

1752 Spanish Soldiers Build Presidio de Tubac

1763 Spanish Florida Goes to England

1765 Juan Antonio Maria de Rivera ​explores ​Colorado and Utah
​
1769 
Father Serra opens ​San Diego de Alcalá,
California's first ​Spanish mission


1771 Father Serra establishes San Gabriel Arcángel

1772 Good hunting determines site
​of ​Misión San Luis Obispo de Tolosa


1775 Captain Hugh O’Connor
​builds Presidio San Agustin del Tucson


​1776-83 Hispanics in the American Revolution

1776 The Birth of San Francisco

1781 Spanish troops defeat the British, capture Pensacola

1781 Pobladores of Los Angeles are imported

1791 ​Alessandro Malaspina Alaska Reaches Alaska

1797 Fermín Francisco de Lasuén
Establishes Misión San Fernando Rey de España


1797 The Birth of Villa de Branciforte

Herencia Hispana Oculta de America:
La Lista de Lugares, Ideas, y Evidencia Historica para Reconectár a los Americanos con sus Raíces Hispanas

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America's Hidden Hispanic Heritage:
The Bucket List of Places, Ideas and Historical Evidence to Reconnect Americans with their  Hispanic Roots
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US/QUIENES SOMOS
  • CHAPTERS/CAPITULOS
  • EN ESPAÑOL
  • ON FACEBOOK
  • IN THE NEWS/NOTICIAS
  • ACCOLADES/ELOGIOS
  • VIDEO LECTURES/CHARLAS
  • MY STUDENTS
  • MIGUELPEREZ.COM
  • ABOUT/SOBRE MIGUEL
  • VIDEOS WE LIKE
  • CONTACT US/CONTÁCTENOS
  • TIMELINE/CRONOLOGIA
  • THE HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORY MUSEUM
  • THE GREAT TOUR/LA GRAN GIRA
  • CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP
  • NYC HISPANIC LANDMARKS
  • NYC HISPANIC ART
  • ON THE ROAD AGAIN
  • EN EL CAMINO OTRA VEZ
  • OUR MEDALLIONS SAGA