Soon, Virginia will have its 400th Jamestown celebration. It's a proud moment in Virginia's Anglican history.... but were English really the first to settle in Virgina? Could the Spanish have beaten them to the punch?
Apparently, the answer is....
"Hispanics and Latinos can trace their heritage back 500 years in Virginia, almost a full century before the English landed at Jamestown in 1607.
In 1524, Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón from Hispaniola, Dominican Republic, sailed up the Rio Guandape, which is known today as the James River and Chesapeake Bay. In 1526, he founded the settlement of San Miguel de Guandape, which some scholars believe was near present-day Jamestown. Six hundred people, many of them African slaves, lived in the colony, including two Dominican priests.
Unfortunately, Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón died of ship fever, and about 450 colonists died from the harsh winter and hostile attacks by the Indians. Some of the slaves probably escaped and lived with the Indians. In 1527, the survivors returned to Hispaniola."
See that and more at blurbs about Hispanics and Latinos in Virginia at
http://www.virginia.org/site/features.asp?FeatureID=195
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment