HOP ABOARD! The Great Hispanic American History Tour
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´SUBA A BORDO!
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June 17, 2014 - The time has come for me to take a long drive. My pilgrimage in search for America's hidden Hispanic heritage requires reporting from dozens of historical sites I'm determined to visit this year. To get the most out of my journey, I have been mapping a route for months. But it hasn't been easy. After all, I'm planning a 21st-century road trip using 16th-century maps! I want to see the relics left by our great-grand Spanish ancestors. I want to follow their trails. I want to visit the towns that have been named after them and the monuments built to recognize their great accomplishments. I want to pray in the churches they built . . . (48) Read more -->
17 de junio de 2014 - Ha llegado el momento para tomar un largo viaje. Mi peregrinaje buscando la historia hispanoamericana oculta requiere reportar desde docenas de sitios históricos que estoy determinado a visitar este año. Para sacar lo máximo de mi viaje, he estado mapeando la ruta por meses. Pero no ha sido fácil. ´Después de todo, estoy planeando un viaje en el Siglo 21 usando mapas del Siglo 16! Quiero ver las reliquias de nuestros antepasados españoles. Quiero seguir sus huellas. Quiero visitar los pueblos que tienen sus nombres y los monumentos erigidos para celebrar sus grandes logros. Quiero rezar en las iglesias que construyeron. (48) Lea mas -->
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June 24, 2014 -- From the water, you still can see small sections of unspoiled shoreline that allow you to imagine what the conquistadors must have seen when they landed on the west coast of Florida almost 500 years ago. Seeking that vantage point, from the intercostal waterways near St. Petersburg, Florida, I discovered last week that you still can land on the same spot where Panfilo de Narvaez began his exploration of North America in 1528. (49) Read more -->
24 de junio de 2014 -- Desde el mar, todavía se logra ver pequeñas secciones de una impecable costa donde se puede imaginar lo que los conquistadores vieron al llegar a la orilla oeste de Florida hace casi 500 años. Buscando esa vista única, desde el canal intercostal cerca de St. Petersburg, Florida, descubrí la semana pasada que todavía se puede desembarcar en el mismo lugar donde Pánfilo de Narváez comenzó su exploración de Norteamérica en 1528. (49) Lea mas -->
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July 1, 2014 - To follow the footsteps of the Spanish conquistadors who came to North America some 500 years ago, sometimes water routes are necessary. And that's how I found myself rowing on the Econfina Creek in northwest Florida. After seeing how the Panfilo de Narvaez expedition reached Florida in 1528 — from a modern deck boat that landed in St. Petersburg — I also wanted to see how some of its survivors escaped Florida and the arrows of its natives, this time from the perspective of a canoe! (50) Read more -->
1 de julio de 2014 - Para seguir los pasos de los conquistadores españoles que vinieron a Norte América hace unos 500 años, a veces las rutas marinas son necesarias. Y fue así que me encontré en Econfina Creek (Arroyo Econfina) en el noroeste de Florida. Después de ver como la expedición de Pánfilo de Narváez llegó a Florida en 1528 — desde un bote moderno que arribó en San Petersburg — también quería ver como algunos de sus sobrevivientes escaparon de Florida y de las flechas de los indígenas, esta vez desde la perspectiva de una canoa. (50) Lea mas -->
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July 8, 2014 -- When you stand next to those huge cannons pointing into Mobile Bay, as I did when I recently visited Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan in Alabama, somehow they don't look as menacing as when you see them from the water, as I did when I took the ferry that crosses the mouth of that huge bay. In my quest to rediscover America's hidden Hispanic heritage, I sought the perspective of the Union Navy and the Hispanic commander who led them to victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay 150 years ago during the Civil War. (51) Read more -->
8 de julio de 2014 -- Cuando estás parado al lado de esos enormes cañones apuntando hacia la bahía de Mobile, como lo hice cuando recientemente visité Fort Gaines y Fort Morgan en Alabama, por alguna razón no se ven tan amenazantes como cuando usted los ve desde el agua, como lo hice cuando tome el ferry que cruza la boca de esa enorme bahía. (51) Lea mas -->
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July 15, 2014 - From the cannons mounted on the roof of Fort Conde, now surrounded by modern high-rise buildings in downtown Mobile, Alabama, it's hard to envision the time when it was under siege by Spanish and Latin American troops. But it's even harder for many Americans to understand that those Latinos were keeping the British from George Washington's flanks and helping him win the American Revolution. (52) Read more -->
15 de Julio de 2014 - Desde los cañones montados en el techo de Fort Conde, ahora rodeado de altos y modernos edificios en el centro de Mobile, Alabama, es difícil imaginar el momento que estaba sitiado por tropas españolas y latinoamericanas. Pero es aún más difícil para que muchos estadounidenses entiendan que esos latinos estaban manteniendo a los ingleses alejados de los flancos de George Washington y ayudándolo a ganar la Revolución Americana. (52) Lea mas -->
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July 22, 2014 - You feel like you've been there before, and yet you know this is your first time in New Orleans. That's the sensation you get if you are a Latino arriving in the French Quarter. At first you can't quite figure out why everything looks so familiar. You are expecting the French Quarter to be more French! (53) Read more -->
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July 29, 2014 - As if the day had been made to order, just for me to truly appreciate the hardships endured by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and a few-dozen other shipwrecked Spanish conquistadors almost 500 years ago, there was menacing weather when I arrived on Isla de Mahaldo — the Isle of Misfortune. Nowadays they call it Galveston Island, Texas, but I could clearly see why the Spanish gave it its former name. (54) Read more -->
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August 5, 2014 - We all make the same mistake. When traveling through history, we tend to shorten time and lose perspective, often turning centuries into decades and decades into years. Perhaps this is the reason why so many Americans still confuse the totally justified Texas War of Independence from Mexico and the totally unjustified Mexican-American War almost a decade later... (55) Read more -->
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August 12, 2014 - Its original name was Mision San Antonio de Valero. It was built by Native Americans and Spanish Franciscan priests in 1724. But you probably know it better because of what happened there in 1836, when it was no longer a Spanish mission. You probably just "remember the Alamo." (56) Read more -->
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August 19, 2014 - In the early evening, as I walked through Main Plaza in downtown San Antonio, headed by the majestic San Fernando Cathedral and reminiscent of the many Spanish colonial plazas throughout Latin America, I noticed that something had changed. (57) Read more ->
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August 26, 2014 - When we think of the Spanish conquistadors, most of us see images of the ruthless explorers who committed genocide while seeking gold in Latin America. Those images often are grossly distorted by the anti-Spanish propaganda known as the Black Legend, but they are even more distorted when they are applied to the Spanish missionaries who came to North America. (58) Read more -->
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September 2, 2014 - Long after "Remember the Alamo" no longer needed to be used as a battle cry against Mexico, it was used once again by a Latina who fought to preserve that former Spanish mission as a shrine to the heroes of the Texas revolution. Her name was Adina De Zavala, born in 1861, the granddaughter of Lorenzo de Zavala (1789-1836), the first vice president of the Republic of Texas. I must admit that although I knew about her Hispanic grandfather, I didn't know about her until I got to Texas. But once I knew of her, I began to admire her tenacity in defense of her Hispanic heritage. I wish I had lived in her time so I could have met her. (59) Read more -->
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September 9, 2014 - As you drive west on I-10 across Texas, you can see Mexico from your left windows. Sometimes the highway gets so close to the Mexican border that you can clearly see the landscape on the other side of the Rio Grande. But if you take an offramp a few miles before you get to El Paso, you not only can get much closer to Mexico but also can travel back in time and relive West Texas' rich Hispanic history. (60) Read more -->
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September 16, 2014 - When you get to San Elizario, Texas, in a part of the country that bears little resemblance to Plymouth, Massachusetts, you learn that you are in "a proud and picturesque community, which is gaining fame as the home of the 'First Thanksgiving.'" At least that's what the welcoming signs tell you: "The expedition of Spanish explorer Don Juan de Oñate held a Thanksgiving feast in 1598 near what is now San Elizario, twenty-three years before the Thanksgiving at Plymouth Colony." (61) Read more -->
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September 23, 2014 - It is, by all accounts, "the world's biggest equestrian statue" — so big that it's meant to be seen from a distance. Standing next to this rearing Andalusian stallion — mounted by a Spanish conquistador — can be intimidating, not to mention illegal. (62) Read more -->
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September 30, 2014 - When the United States and Mexico agreed to designate a large portion of the Rio Grande as the international border between the two countries in 1848, no one asked the river whether it wanted to accept such a huge responsibility. And so, because nature is never bound by international treaties, the course of the river kept shifting — making the border inconsistent, inviting unscrupulous land-grabbing and igniting bitter feuds that lasted more than a century. . . R(63) Read more -->
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October 7, 2014 - Back in 1995, when I was almost 20 years younger, I was daring enough to hike all the way up to the mountaintop. But much to my relief, there was no need to do it again, because this time, I was there for a different reason. Instead of the view from 4,675 feet above sea level, this time I was there to see that majestic sierra from a distance and to admire the huge crucifix that stands on its summit. This time, I was on the Great Hispanic American History Tour, and Mount Cristo Rey — in Sunland Park, New Mexico, just west of El Paso, Texas — was a mandatory stop. It was conceived by a Hispanic priest, was created by a Spanish sculptor and has guided Latinos along El Paso del Norte (the Pass to the North) for more than seven decades. (64) Read more -->
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October 14, 2014 - When a huge chunk of Mexico became part of the United States in 1848, many of the Mexicans who lived in the affected territory moved further south, back into Mexico, because they didn't want to live in the country that had invaded them. Back then, the flow of immigration was in reverse! (65) Read more -->
14 de octubre de 2014 - Cuando una gran parte de México se hizo parte de los Estados Unidos en 1848, muchos de los mexicanos viviendo en el territorio afectado se mudaron más lejos al sur, de vuelta a México, porque no querían vivir en el país que los había invadido. !En ese entonces, el flujo de inmigración era al reverso! (65) Lea mas -->
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October 21, 2014 - Using 16th-century maps but traveling on 21st-century highways — and even some waterways — my cross-country trip has been roughly following the route of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, the Spanish conquistador who spent almost eight years traveling across the North American wilderness from 1528 to 1536 — from Tampa, Florida, to Mexico City. (66) Read more -->
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October 28, 2014 - As you drive there, you get the feeling you are terribly alone. The area is so remote and desolate that if you are traveling by yourself, it feels a little spooky, like being on a deserted planet. You don't see anyone for miles! You've driven across the country to visit the Coronado National Memorial in southern Arizona, which commemorates the 1540 to 1542 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado expedition through North America and "the cultural influences of Spanish colonial exploration." But you are greeted by signs warning you that if you are traveling alone, you shouldn't be there. (67) Read more -->
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November 4, 2014 -They were the best that 17th- and 18th-century Europe had to offer. Every one of them was an explorer, a diplomat, a teacher, a cartographer, a farmer, a rancher, a builder, a scribe and a preacher. The men who really settled and first established what now are huge portions of the United States were Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries who worked for the king of Spain.n (68) Read more -->
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November 11, 2014 - Right then and there, as I knelt on a pew at the Mission San Xavier del Bac church in southern Arizona two years ago, I made a pledge that I would go back — not just for another Sunday Mass but by way of a cross-country pilgrimage to discover America's hidden Hispanic heritage. This church was so uniquely beautiful, so spiritually fulfilling, so ethnically enriching that it rearranged my professional priorities and took my life in a new direction.
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November 18, 2014 - The first time I met him, I immediately perceived that he had a unique talent for bringing Hispanic American history into present-day context. And that's all I needed. Because my history columns seek the same objective, I became an instant fan and follower of Dr. Bernard "Bunny" Fontana. It was more than two years ago, and we were in the living room of his Sonoran Desert home, just outside the Tohono O'odham Native American reservation in southern Arizona — the area he has explored, researched and exposed in several books as a noted anthropologist and historian. (70) Read more -->
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December 2, 2014 - Long before southern Arizona was part of the United States and long before it was part of Mexico, back when it was part of the territory of New Spain, the town of Tucson was born. Its name is a Spanish adaptation of "S-cuk Son," which is what Tohono O'odham Native Americans called their village. But the name Tucson is what stuck, especially after 1775, when the Spanish decided to build a fort to protect the village and called it Presidio de San Agustin del Tucson. (71) Read more -->
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December 9, 2014 - Back in 1776, while 13 British colonies were becoming an independent nation on the eastern side of North America, two Spanish priests were leading an expedition across present-day New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. They were looking to establish a northern route from Santa Fe to the Spanish settlements in present-day California. But the mighty Colorado River stood in their way. (72) Read more -->
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December 17, 2014 - You are standing on a hilltop, next to a beautiful shrine. You see a valley of farmland embraced by mountain ranges. You are overlooking a quaint, historic community at the bottom of the hill — and all of it is named in Spanish. You are on "La Mesa de la Piedad y de la Misericordia," or the Hill of Piety and Mercy, standing next to "La Capilla de Todos Los Santos," or the Chapel of All Saints, overlooking the San Luis Valley, which is embraced by the Sangre de Cristo and San Juan Mountains. You are in southern Colorado. But from the names of the landmarks here, you could just as well be in Spain. (73) Read more -->
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December 30, 2014 - After Spanish conquistador Francisco Vasquez de Coronado gave up on New Mexico because the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola turned out to be made of mud instead of gold — and before returning to present-day Mexico — he went all the way up to present-day Kansas. Marching with more than 1,000 people, with several thousand head of livestock, and often sending small groups of soldiers to explore in different directions, the 1540-42 Coronado expedition covered a huge territory — through today's Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. (74) Read more->
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January 6, 2015 - Somewhere beneath the Hilton Hotel and Ballpark Village — the fancy new complex built by the St. Louis Cardinals next to Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis — lie the remains of an old Spanish fort that played a key role in defeating the British during the American Revolution. In fact, had it not been for Fort San Carlos, hastily built by Spanish troops and French Creole settlers to protect the small village of St. Louis in 1780, some historians believe American independence from Great Britain would not have been achieved. (75) Read more -->
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29. Jefferson's Spanish LibraryJanuary 13, 2015 - He was the star of the Founding Fathers, the intellectual architect of our system of government, the author of our Declaration of Independence, our first secretary of state and our third president. He was well-known for his attraction to France. But if you were to ask Thomas Jefferson, he would tell you how important it is for you to learn Spanish. (76) Read more -->
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Bernardo de Galvez
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WASHINGTON — February 2, 2015 - It took Congress 231 years to keep this particular promise, perhaps setting a record, but it finally happened in December, when a portrait of Spanish Gen. Bernardo de Galvez finally was hung on a wall in the U.S. Capitol. (77) Read more -->
WASHINGTON - 2 de febrero de 2015 - El Congreso tardó 231 años para cumplir esta promesa, quizás estableciendo un récord, pero finalmente sucedió en diciembre, cuando un retrato del general español Bernardo de Gálvez, finalmente, fue colgado en una pared en el Capitolio de EE.UU. (77) Lea mas -->
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Discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto Photo: Architect of the Capitol
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March 24, 2015 - You see Hernando De Soto and his Spanish conquistadors as they discovered the Mississippi River. You view different artistic interpretations of the moment Christopher Columbus first landed in the New World. You see Hernando Cortes' meeting with Montezuma in Mexico and Francisco Pizarro on his way to Peru. You see tributes to Spanish monarchs and missionaries — and to U.S. Hispanic heroes and accomplishments. (78) Read more -->
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32. Searching for Not-So-Hidden
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June 9, 2015 - On the broad streets of Washington, D.C., and within the majestic halls of the U.S. Capitol, our often-hidden Hispanic heritage had not been hard to find. My Great Hispanic American History Tour had discovered many remarkable monuments and works of art recognizing Hispanic patriots and heroes and their contributions to this great nation. I was truly impressed — until I got to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. (80) Read more -->
9 de junio de 2015 - En las amplias calles de Washington, DC, y dentro de los salones majestuosos del Capitolio de los EE.UU. , nuestra herencia hispana, frecuentemente oculta, no había sido difícil de encontrar. Mi Gran Gira por la Historia Hispanoamericana había descubierto muchos monumentos extraordinarios y obras de arte que reconocen patriotas y héroes hispanos y sus contribuciones a esta gran nación. Yo estaba realmente impresionado - hasta que llegué a Museo Nacional de Historia Americana de la Institución Smithsonian. (80) Lea mas -->
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August 18, 2015 - There I was, on my Great Hispanic American History Tour, visiting yet one more gallery where our heritage is on display, and much to my surprise — through my camera lens — I made a discovery that almost knocked me down. (81) Read more . . .
18 de agosto de 2015 - Allí estaba yo, en mi Gran Gira por la Historia Hispanoamericana, visitando aún una galería más donde nuestro patrimonio está en exhibición, y para mi sorpresa - a través del lente de mi cámara - hice un descubrimiento que casi me tiró al suelo. (81) Lea mas -->
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