Proud Spanish History, Part Two: Stewart Udall’s history gives background of many Hispanic families
by Norm Vance

The main theme of Inland Empire, by Stewart Udall, tells the history of Spanish exploration in the sixteenth century, and how this history has been unfairly altered and ignored. Many of Pagosa Springs' Hispanic families are direct descendents of the Spanish explorers and settlers described here. (See Part One of this two-part series.)

In the sixteenth century, Spain was the "super power" of the world. Spanish leaders sent exploration expeditions across half of the earth, previously unknown to the population of the eastern hemisphere. This was the "Great Age of Discovery.” Spain not only discovered the Americas, but made overland expeditions deep into new continents and set up permanent settlements. No other country sent forth such an armada of explorers. This was half a century before the English and French set up small permanent settlements on America’s east coast. Udall asks why it is that when the average American is asked about early American history, he or she usually describes English adventures on the east coast of the U.S.A.

Udall states, “It is puzzling that we Americans have ignored or disavowed a century we should view with fascination and pride. Events that changed the world occurred on our continent and some who participated in those developments were the first Europeans to see our shores and walk on our lands."

"What explains this lapse? How did we lose an invigorating chapter of our national story? How can a nation that celebrated John Smith and William Bradford slight founders who preceded them in other parts of the United States? And why have we been so grudging in contributions made in the dawn years of our history by people with Spanish surnames?"

"To find answers to those questions, one must hark back to the final decades of the sixteenth century, when Spain bestrode Europe and Englishmen began to nurture the ambition that they, too, might build an overseas empire. It was the hatreds evoked by the Protestant Revolution and the desire of the English and Dutch to undermine the Spanish colossus that the first dark shadows on Spanish character began and gave birth to a 'Black Legend’ that Spaniards are innately cruel and depraved."

"For readers of English, it was a single remarkable man, the Reverend Richard Hakluyt, who launched a propaganda campaign that distorted Spain’s great age of discovery and denigrated the character of her people."

Udall tells about Richard Hakluyt, an Englishman, who began an anti-Spanish propaganda campaign using the Royal Printing Press. Udall continues, "Hakluyt's articles convey the false impression that English exploration ran on a track parallel to that followed by Spain’s great discoverers. Hakluyt galvanized his country. However what concerns us here is how he and his successors distorted sixteenth-century history and robbed us of the Spanish part of our national story."

"As a self-appointed publicist for a greater England, Hakluyt faced two troublesome problems as he surveyed the events that brought the dynamics of the New World expansion into the very center of European life. It was undeniable, for example, that by 1580 Spain and Portugal had already completed great epochs of exploration and dominated the world’s seas. And it was equally undeniable that England had been inactive during the glory days of the first half of the sixteenth century."

"But a resourceful propagandist is not deterred by disagreeable facts. With anti-Spanish sentiment at a fever pitch in Queen Elizabeth's court, Hakluyt realized he was free to manipulate facts and tilt history as he pleased. This resulted in 'histories' that glorified English accomplishments, ignored Spain's 'climatic epoch' and 'spawned English fables that obliterated historic facts'. Hakluyt had a deft touch. He outlines sixteenth century history by muddling events, dates, and the deeds of individual nations. The technique so jumbled the two halves of the sixteenth century that it only dimly resembled the facts. Instead, there emerged the convenient concept of an ongoing age of discovery by English and other non Spanish historians began describing it as an 'European experience' that was an outgrowth of 'European initiatives'."

Hakluyt set a trend, tilting history away from Spanish success and toward English-European success that was later repeated by most Anglo-Saxon historians. For example, a five volume History of the American People, by Woodrow Wilson, had not a word about Spanish pioneering in this country.

A great deal of history has gone untold. The adventures and exploration of Cabeza de Vaca, Esteban the Moor, Alfonso de Castillo and Andres Dorantes is an epic in its own right. De Vaca and his comrades were the only survivors of a 400-man expedition that vanished in the swamplands of Florida in 1528. They paddled across the Gulf of Mexico and began living as "white Indians" with the natives in the area of Galveston, Texas. They began a trek across the country, with each step a stride off the edge of the known world. They lived with many tribes of Indians, none of whom had previous knowledge of white men. They began using their skills to heal sick Indians and became famous in the area as white "medicine men." At times there were thousands of Indians following them on the journey west. Their wanderings went across what is now Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, to the west coast of Mexico. In 1536, after eight years of walking, they were approached by a native wearing a Spanish horseshoe nail around his neck as an amulet. All they knew was that at the time of their wreck other Spanish explorers were planning to go to Mexico and then explore northward. De Vaca and his party had found them!

The members of the De Vaca party were the first Europeans to cross North America from sea to sea. They were the first to provide information about the land mass of America. They were the first to enter into good relationships with Indians. Udall's book continues on to explain that the expedition of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado began the conquest and settlement of most of the Western United States. Coronado’s journey is better known and covered in most history books.

Udall concludes, "With the Hispanic segment of our population increasing each year, the gains would be substantial if we had the wit to widen our horizons and pluck our Spanish century from the waste basket of history."

"The deeds of these American pioneers resonate through the annals of our history, and the imprint they and their ancestors left on our culture is both permanent and profound. It is time to bring them out of the shadows and into the sunlight. They will add a special luster to our national story.”

Inland Empire by Stewart Udall, is available from the Sisson Library. Udall, a well-known and respected scholar, is a U.S. Senator from Arizona and has been a statesman for several presidents.