Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 12, 1992 TAG: 9201120255
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAMES T. YENCKEL THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
TRACING COLUMBUS' FOOTSTEPS FROM FLORIDA TO CALIFORNIA
Christopher Columbus never set foot in what is now the United States, but his historic voyage in 1492 launched Spain on an aggressive campaign to dominate the New World, including a large chunk of this country.Columbus and his impact are, to be sure, a matter of some controversy these days, but I, for one, think we owe him thanks in at least one important respect. He bequeathed to much of the American West the gorgeously romantic look of Old Spain - the sunbaked adobe walls, red-tiled roofs, splashing fountains, covered arcades and flower-filled patios that rival the landscape in their distinctive beauty.
The upcoming celebration of the Columbus Quincentennial, the 500th anniversary of Columbus's first voyage of exploration, seems the appropriate time to reflect on Spain's presence in America, which lasted for more than three centuries.
England was the motherland for many of our national institutions, but in 1776 when the 13 Atlantic colonies declared their independence, Spain already had laid claim to a far greater expanse of American territory to the south and west.
For a traveler, the story is well told in the colorfully decorated churches, pink adobe missions, solid rock fortresses, graceful bell towers and other still-existing structures left behind from Florida west to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
The National Park Service cites at least three dozen national parklands in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands where the Spanish heritage is evident in some fashion, and many other sites have been preserved as state and local historical monuments.
Several of the mission churches scattered throughout the Southwest are architectural gems, but my favorite is San Xavier del Bac, a gleaming white monument that rises triumphant from an empty brown desert on the outskirts of The Spanish were gone, but aspects of their language, religion, culture and that gorgeous architecture remain as strong influences. Tucson, Ariz. The mission is located on the reservation of the Tohono O'odham (or Papago) Indians, and it continues to serve as a religious center today.
In its simplicity, the graceful little San Francisco de Asis Church just south of Taos, N.M., also is one of the most charming of the Spanish mission churches in America. Painter Georgia O'Keeffe, who lived nearby and made northern New Mexico a primary subject of her works, was one of many artists captivated by its soaring twin belfries, gently rounded lines and four-foot-thick pink adobe walls.
The tortuous 123-mile Coronado Trail is the presumed high alpine path through Arizona of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, the 16th century conquistador, in his futile search for the seven cities. In 1540 - a full 80 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock - Coronado led his armor-clad band from Mexico as far north as Kansas.
Coronado, who traveled on horseback, is credited with introducing horses to America and the Indians of the West.
Also impressive is the massive Castillo de San Marcos, the more than 300-year-old gray rock fortress on Matanzas Bay that still stands sentinel in St. Augustine, Fla. Founded by the Spanish in 1565, the city is the oldest permanent European settlement in this country. The authentically restored (or reconstructed) houses in the old Spanish Quarter are something of an open-air museum recalling Florida's early years as a struggling colony.
New Orleans, one of the country's liveliest cities, is justly famous for its French origins, but for more than three decades in the late 1700s it was governed by Spain. In that period, two major fires devastated much of the town, and it subsequently was rebuilt with flourishes of the Spanish-colonial style. Even today, many of the streets in the surrounding French Quarter are marked by both their French and Spanish names.
A traveler who wants to pursue this country's Spanish heritage as a grand quincentennial gesture could see a significant part of Spain's American past by making a transcontinental drive west along the Gulf Coast and Mexican border from Jacksonville, Fla., to San Diego, Calif., and then heading north to San Francisco and the wine country of the Sonoma Valley.
The one-way trip should take a minimum of three weeks.
From Florida to central Arizona, the quickest way west is via Interstate 10, which takes in the Spanish-flavored cities of St. Augustine, New Orleans, San Antonio and Tucson. From Casa Grande, Ariz., to San Diego, where the first California mission was founded, the link is Interstate 8; and from San Diego north, Interstate 5 and U.S. 101 retrace the old El Camino Real, the King's Highway, which (along with State Route 1) remain the major link to all 21 mission sites.
Fairly easy side trips off these highways lead to many more of the national park sites where the Spanish influence is recalled.
Between 1492 and 1504, Columbus made four voyages to the New World on behalf of Spain, and that nation remained dominant in the Western Hemisphere for the next two centuries, eventually laying claim to most of South America, Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Florida, and the American Southwest.
The territorial grab disturbed England and France, which early on launched their own campaigns for North America. Ultimately, England triumphed, or we might be speaking Spanish today.
In the early decades, Spanish explorers such as Ponce de Leon in Florida, Hernando de Soto in the Southeast, Coronado in the Southwest and Juan Cabrillo along the California coast came to America in search of gold, silver and other riches that Spain already had found in Mexico and Peru.
In their footsteps, military posts were built to protect Spanish claims. St. Augustine, the first among them, was founded primarily to safeguard treasure-laden galleons sailing home from Mexico and South America via the Florida coast.
The missionaries soon followed, determined to make Christians of the Indians. Thriving towns sprang up around several of the missions. The charming California cities of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz, among others, owe their birth to these colonial ventures.
The end of Spain's 300-year rule in America came early in the 19th century in the wake of that country's long decline as a power in Europe. In 1810, Spain's colony of Mexico - which then included much of the U.S. Southwest and California - declared itself independent and subsequently fought and won its sovereignty.
In turn, Mexico lost Texas to American settlers in the Battle of Jacinto in 1836; and Arizona, New Mexico and California were taken by the United States in the Mexican War of 1846 to 1848. Under pressure, Spain sold Florida to the United States in 1821.
The Spanish were gone, but aspects of their language, religion, culture and that gorgeous architecture remain as strong influences.