Partners examine the family tree of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, a Spanish admiral and explorer who founded St. Augustine, Florida, and answer several questions about the text using a worksheet. After they've explored the family tree,...

Spanish learners peek back into history by reading a copy of an original letter written in the sixteenth century by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. To show their comprehension, they respond to a series of provided questions. For writing...

Each of the 23 slides that comprise this presentation are intended to enhance or support lessons on shifts in religion and the colonization of the Americas. Students are guided through the changes in religion that ultimately lead to the...

From 1500-2000, an interactive timeline details important events related to Latino Americans. Next, to each date are small, yet informative blurbs—some of which include videos. 

A biography of this Spanish explorer who was born in 1490. Click on "route" for a map of his travels, and click on "account" for a translation of his published account of his experiences.

Read this fascinating account by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, one of four survivors who traversed Florida and the Southwest for eight years, from 1529-1537.Read the preface which gives a background to this narrative before delving into...

A biography of Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish explorer from the 15th and 16th centuries. He was at one point the governor of Puerto Rico, and is credited with discovering Florida. Ponce de Leon is also remembered for having searched the...

In 1733 a fleet of many ships set sail from Havana for Spain. After a bout of wind changes and bad weather most of the ships were swamped or sunk covering a span of approximately 80 miles in the Florida Keys. The shipwrecks created many...

A map of southern North America, Florida, and the Gulf of Mexico east the Mississippi Delta showing the routes of the early Spanish explorers Ponce de Leon (1513), De Narvaez (1528), and Hernando de Soto (1535-1542).

Covers the life of Ponce de Leon, a Spanish explorer known for leading the first official European expedition to Florida in 1513.

A biography of Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto who explored the southern coast of what became the United States. Read about his travels and demise.

An English translation of Cabeza De Vaca's first-hand account of his journey and quest to claim territory from Florida to Mexico for Spain.

A short history of Tampa, Florida from the time of Spanish explorers. A city-commissioned painting by artist Lynn Ash that tells the story of Tampa is presented.

An account of the Spanish expedition led by Alonso Alvarez de Pineda in 1519 that explored the Gulf of Mexico between Florida and Cabo Rojo, Mexico. The explorers tried to establish the Panuco colony but were unsuccessful.

Insights, primary and secondary source material and timeline on early exploration and Spanish settlement of Florida and the Atlantic Coast.

From a history book published in the late 19th century, this account of the exploits of Panfilo de Narvaez in the new world relies primarily on an account by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, upon his return to Spain.

View the artwork for a U.S. postage stamp issued in 1982 to commemorate the famous Spanish Explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. With a short passage on his explorations to Puerto Rico and later Florida.

(1460-1521) Spanish explorer who was a part of the whose? Second expedition. In 1513 he discovered Florida and occupied Trinidad.