Spanish

Hispanic Heritage Month

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Before there was a United States, the Spanish were here first. Over five centuries ago, Spanish explorer Ponce de León arrived in Florida, somewhere near St Augustine. That settlement is older than Plimoth and even older than Jamestowne. Hernando de Soto landed in 1539—at the mouth of Tampa Bay near where Hurricane Milton just landed—, and he led his expedition through what would later become 8 US states. Before the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month ends on October 15th, we should take a moment to reflect on the deep Hispanic roots of America, reflected in the Spanish names of many of our city, county and state names.

  • Arizona is ‘Arid Zone’
  • California is named after a 16th century Spanish fictional island
  • Colorado was named for it’s rich colors
  • Florida is ‘Flowery’ since de Leon arrived on Easter, 1513
  • Montana is ‘Mountainous’
  • Nevada means ‘Snowy’ in Spanish
  • New Mexico was part of the Spanish Empire’s reach to Alaska and the Great Lakes
  • Oregon was first recorded in Spanish
  • Texas comes from Tejas for ‘Friend’, used to describe Native American allies
  • And Utah derived from how the Spanish referred to the natives there

The Spanish began European exploration of our country, beginning by funding Columbus.  One reason there are Spanish place names throughout the US is due to explorers like De Soto, Coronado, and Cabrillo.  How many Americans know that St Augustine is our oldest permanent European settlement? We love Historic Route 66, but do we recognize that such Old Spanish Trails were mapped by Spanish colonizers like de Anza and de Oñate?  At El Morro, early settlers carved messages in the rock in Spanish.  Spanish speaking traders were at the ancient Casa Grande and at the still open Hubbell Trading Post.  100 years before we gained our Independence from the British, the Pueblo Revolt kicked the Spanish out of what’s now the US southwest.  We know that Jefferson bought Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803, but do we know that Napoleon got it from Spain in 1800?  Our Midwest roots are both French and Spanish. The Presidio in San Francisco was Mexican for decades before the US Army took over.  

And yet for some reason, we persist in ignoring our Hispanic Heritage.  The Canadian River flows from Colorado, through New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, and it was mapped by Governor Oñate in 1601.  The river’s most remarkable geographic feature is in Texas, where it runs through Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the US, described as a cañada in Spanish.  And yet for generations, English speakers have tried finding non-Spanish explanations for the river’s name, such as lies that the French trappers didn’t know any Spanish, didn’t trade with the Spanish there and confusedly thought that the river came from Canada.  Ridiculous!  

While the ignorant falsely view Spanish speakers as only recent immigrants, in much of the country the Spanish speakers were here first, remaining for generations, even as wars and borders changed their lands from Spain or Mexico to the US.  Over 40 million Americans speak Spanish at home, as they have for generations.  Spanish speakers and their descendants should be rightfully recognized as founding members of our country, as their experiences and lives here predate English speaking settlers, and Spanish speaking citizens have continued contributing to our country, despite prejudice against them.  

Unlike the war-shrine Alamo, the San Antonio, Tumacacori and other missions today are dedicated to peace and understanding.  Despite some politicians trying to divide us, the Mexican border has long been peaceful, with disputes negotiated at places like Chamizal above in El Paso.  César Chávez organized the first permanent agricultural union in the US, to lift up the lives of millions of people.  And when Brown v Board of Education ended segregated schools for African Americans, it also ended segregation for Spanish speaking students at places like Blackwell School in Texas.  

We should learn about our Hispanic Heritage and our past discrimination—including tragedies of mob violence and mass deportations—, so that we reject hatred and division.  We can be a more just, inclusive and a better society.  

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  

—George Santayana, Spanish-American Philosopher

Fort Frederica National Monument

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Upon arrival, I remembered visiting by small boat as a teen many years ago. All along the southeast coast, displaced Native Americans and escaped slaves endeavored to remain free in these low-lying delta barrier islands. Although threatened, the evocative old oaks, the Spanish Moss and the shell-filled archaeological ruins are still hauntingly beautiful.

In the 1730’s the British built a pair of forts, both named after Frederick, Prince of Wales, to develop and defend their colonies against the Spanish. Fort Frederick’s ruins are 125 miles north, next the Reconstruction Era Camp Saxton in South Carolina. Fort Frederica here in Georgia, defined the southern boundary of their colonies, north of Spanish Florida.

The British commander Oglethorpe was considered enlightened (for the time) and enthusiastic. Rather than slavery, he proposed work be done by indentured servants mostly from debtors prisons in England, making Georgia a type of penal colony where workers could gain their freedom over time. The Methodist founder John Wesley and his brother Charles first attempted a church under one of the large, mossy oaks here, and the settlement had various tradespeople, including a Native American interpreter, a blacksmith and a doctor/barkeep.

In a remarkable historical echo of the French colonial experience at Fort Catherine, Oglethorpe also tried to seize St. Augustine in Florida, besieging the Castillo de San Marco and being stopped at Matanzas. Again, the Spanish counterattacked, but faring better than the French, Oglethorpe successfully defended this fort and cleverly routed the Spanish in Bloody Marsh, despite being outnumbered. After the Spanish retreated and conceded Georgia, the British cut their military presence here and the remote island village faded away in a decade or two.

Now, while driving through these remote islands, I can’t help but be amazed by the fancy houses. Not because they’re decadently ostentatious, but because they’re so close to sea level. It is astonishing to think that many of America’s most successful retirees choose to develop luxurious estates within the zone that is most certainly going to be erased by the climate crisis. The collapse of Thwaites ‘Doomsday’ Glacier is accelerating, and rising seas will take all the land here. They may have inherited much wealth, but they won’t be leaving these houses to future generations. Apparently, you don’t need much intelligence to be rich.