| 1491 |
Charles VII of France annexes Brittany inciting war with England. Spanish colonists land in the Canary Islands, plant sugar cane. |
| 1492 |
Isabella of Castille and Aragon's Ferdinand drive the Muslims out of Granada and the Jews out of their territories. The Inquisition started by Isabella in 1478 spreads. |
| 1492 September 6 |
Columbus leaves Tenerife in the Canary Islands after stopping to get a rudder fixed on the Pinta. He first sights land on October 12. He lands at Cuba October 28 and on Hispanola on December 6. |
| 1493 |
France cedes some land to Aragon in hopes for an alliance in the invasion of Italy but Ferdinand sides with the pope. |
| 1493 January 4 |
Before returning to Europe Columbus builds Fort Navidad on Hispanola and leaves a settlement of 44. He returns to Europe with maise, sweet potatoes, peppers and pineapples. |
| 1493 May 4 |
A papal bull of Alexander VI (Lucretia Borgia's father) sets a line of Demarkation between Spain and Portugal's discoveries. |
| 1493 November 23 |
Columbus returns to Hispanola, finds the fort burned and the settlers missing. He brings horses and cattle and plants sugar cane and cucumbers. His second voyage is funded by confiscated Jewish property. |
| 1494 |
Spain and Portugal agree at the Treaty of Tordesillas to divide the globe along the papal line. Columbus has brought Isabella 500 Caribe "Indians" to be sold into slavery. She eventually has them returned to the islands. |
| 1494 |
Columbus lands on Antigua, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Monserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Martin, and the Virgin Islands. |
| 1495 |
Columbus taxes the natives of Hispanola. The Fuggers of Augsburg gain wealth and political power by mining mercury in Spain as well as other ores in Hungary, Tyrol and Carinthia. |
| 1496 |
Spanish forces take the Canary Islands from Portugal and find bananas cultivated by the native Guanche. England refuses to honor the papal bull of 1493 and sends John Cabot, a Venetian merchant, to explore North America. |
| 1497 |
Amerigo Vespucci of Italy claims to have explored North America in 1491. He lives in Seville, Spain but is probably an agent for Medici interests in Florence. John Cabot explores Labrador, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. The fishing grounds off the coast of Newfoundland are already familiar to Breton fishing fleets |
| 1498 |
King Charles VIII of France dies at age 27 and the throne goes to his Valois cousin who he had imprisoned a decade before. The duc d Orleans will reign as Louis XII until 1515.
Spanish try again to ship Caribes to Spain as slaves. Columbus makes his third voyage, exploring St. Vincent, Grenada, Trinidad and the Orinoco River on the South American coast. 200 settlers are left on Hispanola. Portuguese explorer Duarte Pacheco Pareira also explores the South American mainland. John Cabot and his son Sabastian are back in Newfoundland. |
| 1499 |
France continues to conquer Italy. London begins a long battle with the Black Plague. |
| 1500 |
Portuguese explorer Gaspar de Corte-Real cruises the North American Coast. Spanish navigator Vicente Yanez Pinzon explores the coast of Brazil. He was captain of the Nina in 1493. |
| 1501 |
Louis XII conquers Naples and enters Rome. Spain's Ferdinand battles troublesome Moors in Granada. Settlers in Hispanola import the first African natives as slaves. Amerigo Vespucci Explores the coast of Brazil for Portugal and declares that it is defintely not Asia. |
| 1502 |
Spain finally expels all Moors. Montezuma II, who is 22, rules the Axtecs in Mexico. On his fourth voyage Columbus discovers St. Lucia and the Bay Islands off Honduras. He also explores the coasts of Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama. Hispanola gets 2,500 new settlers and a governor: Nicholas de Ovando. |
| 1503 |
Louis XII drops his claims on Naples under pressure from his ex-ally Ferdinand of Aragon. Ovando, governor of Hispanola gets royal consent to import African slaves. He receives another 2,000 Spanish settlers. Columbus, still on his last exploration, names Puerto Bello in Panama where he observes latex rubber used in native games. |
| 1504 |
Louis XII of France and Ferdinand of Aragon (Spain) have claimed Italy, north and south, respectively. Isabella of Castile dies at age 53, Ferninand rules until 1516. Columbus returns from his last voyage but is too ill to see the dying Isabella. |
| 1506 |
Ferdinand II of Aragon marries a niece of Louis XII and after the death of his son-in-law becomes ruler of Castile and Aragon as Ferdinand V. Christopher Columbus dies in Valladolid, age 55 and his remains are sent to Santo Domingo on Hispanola. |
| 1507 |
Amerigo Vespucci is given credit, by geographer Martin Waldseemüler, for discovering the new world and his name is forever attached to the Western Hemisphere. |
| 1508 |
Cuba is explored for a good area to colonize by Sebastian de Ocampo of Spain. Juan Ponce de Leon, who had been on Columbus' second voyage, starts a settlement on Puerto Rico. The native population of Hispanola is declining. |
| 1509 |
Henry VIII of England is 17 as he ascends the throne and marries Cathrine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand II. Spanish ships return from the new world with sunflower seeds. |
| 1510 |
Alfonso de Ojeda of Spain explores the coast of Colombia and Ponce de Leon declares himself governor of Puerto Rico. Other Spaniards settle Panama as Diego Alvaros Correa establishes the first Brazilian settlement for Portugal. Several nations cruise the North American coast. |
| 1511 |
Ferdinand II and Henry VIII lend forces to drive French troops out of Italy. Cuba is taken through force by Diego Valazquez. Decimated by the attack, Caribe natives are soon replaced as slaves by African slaves. Dominican friars in Hispanola preach against enslaving the natives of the West Indies. A Spanish ship bound for Panama wrecks off of the Yucatan and most of its survivors are canabalized. |
| 1512 |
Spanish troops conquer Navarre. |
| 1513 |
Ponce de Leon explores parts of Florida. English troops invade France at Calais. The Scotish navy is sold to France. |
| 1514 |
Ponce de Leon names Florida, planting orange and lemon trees. Vasco Nunez de Balboa names the South Sea (Pacific Ocean) and claims it for Spain. Hispanola has 17 different settlements as natives continue to decline. |
| 1515 |
France has a new king, Franįois I, who reconquers Lombardy and then makes peace with the new pope Leo X. Havana, Cuba is established. Spaniard Juan de Bermudez explores Bermuda and Juan Diaz de Solis explores the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. |
| 1516 |
Carlos I becomes king of Spain and the Hapsburg dynasty he starts will rule a united Spain for almost 200 years. He adds Valencia and Catalonia to the kingdom. At age 16 he rules from Flanders, licensing his courtiers to import slaves to Caribbean colonies. The Yucatan coast experiences a smallpox epidemic. Hispanola has crops of wheat, bananas and oats grown first by missionary Fra Tomas de Berlanga. The first sugar crop grown in the Caribbean is exported to Spain. |
| 1517 |
A former planter in Hispanola, Bartolomeo de las Casas becomes a priest and travels to Spain to tell Carlos I about mistreatment of native slaves. Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba explores ruins of a Mayan civilization. |
| 1518 |
Martin Luther starts the Reformation in Europe. Juan de Grijalva gives the name New Spain to the area of the Yucatan. |
| 1519 |
Spain's Carlos I becomes Carlos V, Holy Roman Emperor. His Hapsburg ascendency will lead to war in Eruope. The term dollar is originated as a currency in Bohemia, now part of the Spanish realm. Magellan sails from Seville, Spain. Hernando Cortez sets out from Cuba to conquer New Spain and before the year is over he rules the Aztec Empire. He finds shipwrecked Spaniards who have become Mayan slaves and discovers new foods including chocolate, peanuts, turkeys, tomatoes, vanilla beans, tortillas and papayas. |
| 1520 |
Carlos I hears protests in Spain over his move to the Holy Roman Empire. A Spanish force of 1,400 leaves Cuba to wrest New Spain from Cortez, but he surprises them with his native forces. Magellan sails around the stormy southern tip of South American into the South Sea which he renames the Pacific Ocean. |
| 1521 |
Carlos V ends the rebellion in Spain but now France, which aided the rebellion, is at war with Carlos. San Juan, Puerto Rico is established. Magellan discovers the Philipine Islands, but is killed by natives in a skirmish. |
| 1522 |
Carlos V expells the French from Milan and is joined in war by the pope and Henry III of England against France. A slave rebellion in Hispanola is the first of many in the Caribbean in the next 30 years. |
| 1523 |
Sugar cane is cultivated in Cuba. |
| 1524 |
France retakes Milan and invades Spain. Giovanni da Verrazano, sailing for France, explores the Hudson River. |
| 1525 |
Francisco Pizarro heads to Peru to conquer the Incas. Rodrigo de Bastidas establishes Santa Marta in New Granada. |
| 1528 |
Panfilo de Narvaez establishes a village on Tampa Bay. |
| 1539 May 30 |
Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay and begins a trek through Florida, Georgia, Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas. |
| 1540 |
Spaniard Hernando de Soto sails past the mouth of the Mississippi River, but feels no need to stop because Spain had a claim on the land as early as May 4,1493 when Pope Alexander the sixth (Borgia) with his bull "Inter caetera" had drawn the line of Papal Demarkation dividing the Ocean Sea between Spain and Portugal. |
| 1564 |
In the French establish Fort Caroline on the St. John's River near the site of Jacksonville. In response King Philip sends the adelantado Menendez de Aviles to establish a settlement in Florida. |
| 1565 |
Menendez de Aviles establishes St. Augustine and ten days later marches to Fort Caroline and destroys it. He then establishes a string of posts from Tampa Bay to Santa Elena or Port Royal. |
| 1566 |
Menendez de Aviles establishes the post of St. Catherine on the Georgia Coast which he calls the Gaul coast in honor of an Indian chief there. The Mission established there is abandoned in 1570 due to an Indian uprising stirred up by French corsairs who harried the coast. The struggle to re-establish the Gaul coast was long and hard. |
| 1588 |
English maul the Spanish Armada and begin settling on the east coast of North America granting themselves land to the Pacific Ocean. |
| 1600 |
During the reign of Philip III Canchez Vizcaino explores the coast of California looking for suitable harbors for ships coming from the Phillpines, resulting in a settlement at Monterey. About the same time Fernandez de Quiros discovers the New Hebrides as well as exploreing the coasts of Australia and New Guinea |
| 1605 |
The north coast of Florida is opened up by Spanish exploration |
| 1609 |
Jesuits are sent to help tame the Upper Pirana River area. An isolated Indian reservation is established. It is divided into several villages lead by a Jesuit priest and one or two assistants. |
| 1617-18 |
The area of Cape Horn is explored. |
| 1625 |
A band of English and French adventurers establish a settlement on St. Christopher from which they make raids on San Domingo. |
| 1627 |
Many Indians in South America along the Rio Plata are treated as vassels to the white colonists, but they are diminishing in numbers due to smallpox, measles and alcohol. A revolt in 1627 results in a ten year war in Tucuman. |
| 1628 |
Charles I of England makes a grant to Sir Robert Heath of land between the 31st and 36th parallels north latitude from sea to sea in North America. This grant ignores existing Spanish settlements in El Paso, Texas and Santa Fe, New Mexico. However, no English settlements were actually made on this grant. A Spanish expedition under Pedro de Torres combs the Georgia and Carolina areas in search of English encroachment. |
| 1630 |
The buccaneers on St. Christopher move to Tortuga del Mar which is on the Spanish Main. They continue to make raids on Spanish vessels and settlements and receive aid from Jamaica when that island becomes British. |
| 1661 |
Another Spanish expedition searching for English encroachment crosses Georgia to the lands Apalachicolas or lower Creek Indians, but again finds none. |
| 1663 |
Charles II charters the same area as Charles I in 1628, extending it to the 29th and 36-30'th parallels. |
| 1664 |
During the reign of Philip IV Spain is the value of money is steadily falling and the ministers are completely ignorant of how to halt the runaway inflation. Villages near Madrid are on the verge of starvation. In 1664 a military force is sent to the countryside to force farmers to supply hte city with produce. |
| 1665 |
Charles II again charters the same area as Charles I in 1628, extending it to the 29th and 36-30'th parallels. |
| 1666 |
Attempts are made to gather South American Indians into reducciones or reservations. Two hundred families of Quilmes Indians are taken from Tucuman to Buenos Aires and settled in a village where they become mitayos ofr forced laborers. This only makes the remaining Indians in Tucuman bolder in their raids on frontier villages. |
| 1669 |
An expedition is organized by the English to explore the Atlantic coastline between the 29th and 36-30'th parallels. |
| 1670 |
An agreement is reached to recognize all lands north of Charleston, North Carolina as legal English property and all land to the south is Spanish. |
| 1671 |
Henry Morgan, who has already sacked Puerto Bello, leads a force across the Panama isthmus. Later he will be knighted by Charles II of England and appointed deputy-governor of Jamaica. Piracy was at its high point during the reign of Charles the Bewitched. |
| 1680 |
Again Spain is on the verge of starvation, with people forming gangs for the purpose pillage and beggers are crowding the capital. Conflict begins between the English in Charleston (South Carolina) and the Spanish colonists in St. Augustine (Florida) with local Native American tribes caught in the middle on one side, then the other. Buccaneer John Coxon captures Santa Maria and takes several vessels in the Bay of Panama. |
| 1683 |
Buccaneer Van Horn sacks Vera Cruz and Davis and Swann are active on the Pacific coast of Mexico. |
| 1700 |
The hurricane season, which lasts from July to October, is the determining factor in the duration of naval operations and the convoy programs, for no big ships put to sea during these months, and convoys were timed to arrive from Europe not later than June or earlier than January, while homeward bound convoys sailed in May or June and sometimes in November. The governing factor for the seamen of all nationalities was the wind. The prevailing one was north easterly, which meant that it was an easy matter for, say ships to sail from the Windward Islands to Jamaica, but a very long and arduous operation to make the reverse passage. For this reason outward-bound convoys from England made their landfall at Barbados, where ships with cargoes for the various Windward Islands parted company, and the remainder went on in convoy to Jamaica. For the homeward voyage the ships with cargoes from the Windward Islands collected at St. Kitts, the most northerly of the British Islands, and made their way north to about the latitude of Bermuda to pick up the prevailing west wind to carry them home to the Channel. On the other hand homeward-bound ships clearing from Jamaica instead of beating to the eastward, took advantage of the Gulf Stream, and, after passing through the Yucatan Strait, made their way north until they felt the west wind. Westward bound ships clearing from British ports worked their way south to the latitude of Madeira in order to pick up the trade wind, and ships bound for the East Indies, via the Cape, took the same course for the first part of the voyage. They were thus in a danger-zone until well clear of the latitude of Gibraltar, and their safety could only be assured by the adoption of a convoy and escort system. |
| 1715 |
Forty Creek chiefs in the area of Georgia, who had been friendly to the English, make peace with the Spanish. |
| 1716 |
Spanish missionaries move into Texas to stem the expansion of the French in Louisiana. |
| 1719 |
The Cabildo of Buenos Aires calls for the loan of 1,600 horses for a great cattle hunt of the Banda Oriental. Bands of vagabond Spaniards aided by indians were driving off up to 400,000 head of cattle and selling to the portuguese in Colonia Sacramento |
| 1713 |
The Treaty of Utrecht includes an Asiento or agreement between Spain and Great Britain. British merchants acquire the right to trade with certain Spanish settlements. British factories were built in Panama, Vera Cruz, Buenos Aires and Cartegena. The British South Sea Company was allowed to send one large trading ship annually to the Spanish colonies. This agreement became a constant source of problems between these two colonial powers. Widespread illicit trade and smuggling existed. The official text is in French and Latin. It is signed on July 13 and is ratified by Queen Anne in Kensington on July 31 |
| 1713 |
Spanish colonial administrators use gunboats called guarda-costas to search for smuggling activities around its American coasts. |
| 1721 |
Fort King George is established for the English by Colonel John Barnwell on the Altamaha. The Spanish protest this move and demand adherence to Treaty of 1670, but the English establish the colony of Georgia with its southern boundary at the Altamaha. |
| 1732 |
Jose Patino is the Spanish Minister of Marine and Finance who has reorganized and built a navy of some 600 ships by this year. When he dies four years later he has restored the Spanish navy nearly to its sixteenth century glory. |
| 1733 |
New governor Oglethorpe wants to move the Georgia colony border south to the San Juan River. An agreement with Gov. Sanchez of Mexico leaves the decision to the royal courts. |
| 1734 |
New governor Oglethorpe wants to move the Georgia colony border south to the San Juan River. An agreement with Gov. Sanchez of Mexico leaves the decision to the royal courts. Some time prior to this year the French move their post at Natchitoches from the East to the West side of the Red River. The governor of Texas at the time, Captain Don Manuel Sandoval, makes no protest but is later reprimanded. This is the first hint of a dispute which will define a western international boundary of Louisiana. |
| 1739 January |
The Convention of the Pardo is a meeting between British and Spanish diplomats who are attempting to arbitrate various commercial disagreements. On the table are the deliniation of a border between Florida and Georgia and the right of search of commercial ships and privateers. Neither the Spanish or British Prime Minister wants hostilities, but by October Walpole is forced to declare what will be called the War of Jenkins Ear. Jenkins is a merchant captain, and his ear, which is cut off by a Spanish officer, is a symbol of the many minor quarrels that precipitate the war. British invasion forces fail in attempts to take Puerto Rico in Panama and Santiago de Cuba. An attempt is made to settle the border between Spanish Florida and English Georgia. A Neutral ground is established between San Juan on the South and Altamaha on the north, but the War of Jenkins Ear breaks out, to end indecisively in 1742. |
| 1740 |
The War of Jenkins Ear merges with the larger War of Austrian Succession. Its termination at the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle includes a renewal of the Spanish-British Asiento for another four years, but few of the maritime disputes were settled. The Spanish governor of Texas is ordered to investigate French intrusion in the area of Natchitoches. |
| 1744 |
The Spanish governor of Texas is again ordered to investigate French intrusion in the area of Natchitoches. |
| 1746 |
The pacific policies of Ferdinand VI and the diplomatic abilities of Britain's minister to Madrid Benjamin Keene will keep Spain out of conflicts until late in the Seven Years War. The Marques de Ensenada is minister of Marine, Finance, War and the Indies who works hard to maintain the French Alliance and his own standing. Don Ricardo Wall is the Spanish ambassador to London, although he hailed from Ireland and was actually born in France. |
| 1750 October 5 |
Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Don Jose de Carvajal and British ambassador Benjamin Keene sign a commercial treaty that solves most of the maritime problems forgotten at the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. The treaty is bitterly resented by the French who see it as a sign of Spanish Bourbon independence. |
| 1751 October 5 |
The Spanish governor of Texas is again ordered to investigate French intrusion in the area of Natchitoches. |
| 1753 |
Benjamin Keene, the British ambassador at Madrid, is looking for a way to counter the new French ambassador, the Duc de Duras. He believes that the most effective means is to secure the dismissal of Ensenada, who he knows to be involved in various intrigues to encourage hostilities between Spain and Great Britain. Texas governor Don Jacinto de Barrios y Juaregui determines that the French are encroaching on Texas. The Spanish Attorney General puts the border at Arroyo Hondo or Gran Montana which is two and a half leagues in opposite directions from Natchitoches and the Spanish port at Los Adaes. |
| 1754 March 8 |
Carvajal, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs dies suddenly. He is replaced by Don Ricardo Wall. Benjamin Keene is overjoyed and gives Wall the evidence he has been collecting on Ensenada. When the King sees the incriminating papers Ensenada is dismissed. Keene is made a Knight of the Bath. George II allows Ferdinand to perform the ceremony which occurs on the Spanish monarch's birthday September 23. Unfortunately Ensenada's treachery is already in motion by December the British report that loggers on the coast of Belize had been expelled and their ships seized. The loggers had been tolerated for many years and the legality of their presence was a matter of long diplomacy. The matter worsens when the Governor of Jamaica sends an armed force to restore and defend the loggers. |
| 1755 October |
Early in 1755 British forces under Braddock and Boscawen appear in North America, but suffer setbacks at the hands of French colonists in preleminary skirmishes of the Seven Years War. Keene, who wants to be recalled because of failing health is too vital in Madrid and Duras, his nemesis, is dismissed by Ferdinand who finds him annoying and wishes to maintain his independence from Paris. |
| 1756 May 18 |
A war is declared between France and Great Britain, it is to be called the Seven Years War. French troops capture Minorca soon after. Ferdinand VI resists pressure to join Louis XV against the protestant alliance of Great Britain and Prussia. Ambassador Keene moves to placate Ferdinand. The governor of Jamaica who sent troops to Belize is replaced and Spanish ships are given special privileges |
| 1757 January |
The Elder Pitt is now Prime Minister in London. Ambassador Keene is dying and the war this year is going bad for Britain on all fronts. A couple of naval crises sour relations between Britain and Spain. Through Keene, Pitt tried to enlist Spain's help in recapturing Minorca. In return he is offering Gibraltar and a complete surrender of all British claims to Honduras. Keene dies on December 15 and the next day a dispatch arrives with news that the tide of the war had changed. |
| 1758 September |
An attack on King Joseph of Portugal by members of two families is traced to the Jesuits. Prime Minister Pombal will lead the attack on the Society of Jesus in the next few years. It spreads to France where Parlement orders all Jesuit books condemned and burned and all students in Jesuit schools and seminaries to leave them. Charles III will be drive them from Spain. |
| 1761 |
A third Pacte de Famille of the Bourbon kingdoms brings France, Spain, the Two Sicilies and Parma together in a common-market and defense bloc.. |
| 1762 |
A declaration of war by Great Britain drags Spain belatedly into the Seven Years War. |
| 1763 |
The question of the border between Florida and Georgia is settled by the Treaty of Paris that ends the Seven Year's War (French and Indian War in North America). |
| 1767 |
The expulsion of the Jesuits from South America exascerbates the Indian problem. The Jesuits had been the only positive force to civilize and educate the Indians. Long-established settlements are abandoned to the jungle undergrowth including the viliges along the Upper Pirana. The colonists are glad to see the priests go , owing to the jealousy of the Jesuit's independence. |
| 1767 June 2 |
After much pressure from Madrid the Jesuits are forced from New Spain (Mexico). Troops on a series of pre dawn raids gather 687 members of the Society of Jesus and send them to Vera Cruz. The Jesuits control 103 Indian missions and 23 colleges in the colony. The operation is unpopular and the riots that occur result in almost 100 executions. The euducation of Mexico is grossly affected. |
| 1768 June 18 |
The Ultonia Regiment is an Irish regiment only in name and tradition and most of its officers when it arrives in Vera Cruz. It is in Mexico from 1768 to 1771, replacing the Regimiento de America in Mexico City. The regimiento de Saboya and Flandes are also present. |
| 1769 |
A British naval officer claims the Falkland Islands for his country and tells the Spanish governor he must leave. A force sails from Buenos Aires, evicting the British. In France Louis XV sees the hand of Choiseul in various intrigues against the British and dismisses him. He writes to Don Carlos that his minister wants war, but the king does not. |
| 1771 |
Charles II appoints Antonio de Bucareli Viceroy of Mexico 1771-1779. The colony sees unprecedented prosperity and peace. He is followed by the Conde de Revilla Gigedo, appointed by Don Carlos' ministers after his death.. Revilla uses Mexico's renewed prosperity to push for many public improvements in the colony. He replaced the viceroy de Croix who reports that he leaves a drunken and debached populace which leaves at least one body a day on the streets of Mexico City. |
| 1771 September |
In a settlement, Bucareli, the Captain-General of Buenos Aires is rebuked and Port Egmont, in the Falklands is returned to the British, but Spain reaffirms its ownership of the islands. The British withdraw their settlement in 1774, but leave a monument staking their claim to the Falklands, The Spanish maintain a colony there, subordinate to Buenas Aires, until 1811 |
| 1776 |
Hostilities with Portugal arise over Colonia Sacremento in South America. Pedro de Cebellos, who had taken the portuguese colony on the Rio Plata thirteen years earlier, retakes it and is named Viceroy. This move is taken to re-establish overland trade to Peru. The hostilities end with the death of King Joseph I in February of 1777. His daughter Maria I dismisses the troublesome Pombal. Don Carlos is her uncle and assures her that he will protect her from the scheming ex-minister. |
| 1777 |
A Treaty of Ildefonso is signed between Spain and Portugal, As a settlement for Colonia Sacramento Spain cedes a large territory in the Amazon River Basin. All disputes over the border between Brazil and Paraguay are settled. As a result Buenos Aires flourishes as a cultural and trade center. Slaves are brought from Africa and silver and vicuna wool is shipped to Spain. |
| 1778 |
Pedro de Cebellos is replaced after two years by Juan Jose de Vertiz y Salcedo. Vertiz was born in Mexico, but served as a colonial governor on the River Plate and then under Cebellos. He survives the Indian revolt of 1780-1783 and builds Buenos Aires into a dignified colonial capital in the image of Charles III. Vertiz intoduces lighting, paved streets, the College of San Carlos, a medical school, hospital. He also explores Patagonia, thoug few of the resulting settlements survive. |
| 1783 |
Conflicting Boundaries: After the close of the American Revolution Great Britain makes two conflicting treaties with Spain and the United States. Article two of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain designates the southern boundary of the United States "east from the Mississippi along the 31st parallel to the middle of the Apalachicola or Chatahouche; Thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint River, thence strait to the Head of St. Mary's River and thence down along the middle of St. Mary's river to the Atlantic Ocean." Article eight states that the navigation of the Mississippi River would be open to the United States from its source to the Gulf of Mexico. The same day a treaty drawn up between Great Britain and Spain makes no mention of navigation on the Mississippi River and although East Florida is ceded to Spain and West Florida is retained by Spain, which had conquered it by force of arms. No boundaries are stipulated for these provinces. Spain had conquered all of West Florida which included all the territory of Natchez as far north as the parallel passing through the junction of the Yazoo and Mississippi Rivers (about 32-26'). This northern boundary to West Florida had been defined by British order in 1764. Furthermore a separate article to the preliminary Articles of Peace of November 30 1782 stipulated this line as the northern boundary of West Florida, thus showing British opinion as to the exact location of this boundary. Since Great Britain had lost West Florida to Spain by conquest and acknowledged this conquest by treaty she had no legal right to assign the United States the privilege of navigating that section of the Mississippi River that flowed through West Florida and Louisiana, which was also Spanish Territory. The contested area between the United States and Spain is now between the parallels of 31 and 32-26' from the Mississippi to the Chattahoochee River, which contains the heartland of the Southern Indian Tribes. The Spanish cultivate this situation as their newest barrier to English-speaking expansion. The Spanish claim is based on its conquest of West Florida, the Spanish treaty with Great Britain in 1783 and the subrogation by Spain of France's rights as ceded to Great Britain in 1763, the dependence of the Chickasaw tribe on Pensacola, and the fact that on November 22, 1780 the Spanish commandant of Arkansas had taken formal possession of the east bank of the Mississippi River for Spain. The area of West Florida claimed by Spain began at the western extremity of East Florida up the Flint River to its source, thence on a straight line to the Hiwassee River, thence down the Hiwassee, Tennessee and Ohio rivers to the Mississippi and thence to its source. The Americans insisted on rights to the 31st parallel and navigation on the Mississippi. Alexander McGillivray, a Creek Indian chief, had sided with the English in the American Revolution. He now lead the Creek, Chickasaw and Cherokee and sided with the Spanish while the Choctaws Indians sided with the Americans. Don Artur O'Neill governor of Pensacola suggests presenting "Magilbery" to governor Estevan Miro and St. Maxent at the Indian Convention. |
| 1784 |
A treaty of friendship between Miro and the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee tribes. The treaty agrees on peace between all parties as well as protection of the Indians from all white men, trade regulations, exchange of prisoners, fugitive slaves and a prohibition of all intoxicating drinks as articles of trade. By this time the Indian trade had been given to Panton, Leslie and Company a British trading firm out of St. Augustine which eventually gained a monopoly by 1795. |
| 1785 |
Despite McGillivray's staunch alliance with the Spanish some Cherokees make a treaty with representatives from the American Congress, However, this treaty is later repudiated. |
| 1786 |
As early as this year Jefferson expresses desire to obtain Louisiana from Spain in due time. |
| 1787 |
Early in his reign Don Carlos sent Jose de Galvez to Mexico as a visitador to investigate abuses that have been established over the previous two centuries. He was born in Malaga of an obscure family. He will become Minister for the Indies and lives the greater part of his life in the Americas where he introduces many reforms. He removes the old system of corregidores and alcaldes mayores and introduces a system of twelve Intendants that are more carefully chosen for their honesty and efficiency. Galvez inspoects the Pacific Coast of Neorth America and organizes an ambitious expansion there to guard against Russian expansion from Alaska. Jose de Galvez dies at a relatively young age in 1787. He has relaxed trade regulations among the Americas and reduced the oppression of the Indians. Don Carlos is very pleased with the reforms which have returned prosperity to Spain. |
| 1790 |
McGillivray makes treaty with U.S. in New York. The Spanish disapprove but bide their time. |
| 1792 July 6 |
A Spanish treaty with McGillivray agrees to remove all American settlers on the land. |
| 1793 July 6 |
Treaty signed by Gayoso and chiefs of Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek as well as Talapuche and Alabama tribes form an alliance to protect, find solution to the boundary question, provide gifts for the Indians. |
| 1794 July 6 |
Despite this formidable barrier, reports of Americans driving Indians South and West reach the king of Spain, whose concern is protecting the mines of his interior provinces. |
| 1795 July 6 |
The Indian barrier and attempts to create an independent American West are in Spain's favor, but the French Revolution and associated wars cause Spain to retreat from this dispute. Trade lines of Panton, Leslie and Company break down and Spain is forced into an unnatural alliance with Great Britain. Spain is forced to make a separate treaty ( of Bale) with France, ending the short alliance with England. |
| 1795 October |
The Treaty of San Lorenzo. Spain surrenders the Indian territory and claims to exclusive ownership of the Mississippi River. This treaty marks the beginning of the disintegration of the Spanish empire and the beginning of territorial expansion of the United States. U. S objectives: solves boundary question, navigation of the Mississippi and control of the southern Indians. Article II describes the boundary as "a line running east from the Mississippi River along the 31st parallel to the middle of the Apalachicola or Chatahoochee along the middle thereof to the Flint River thence to the head of the St. Mary's River and along its middle to the Atlantic Ocean." Article IV stipulates navigation of the Mississippi river to the Gulf by citizens of the United States. Article V settles the Indian question. Article XXII authorizes the right of deposit in the Port of New Orleans for three years. |
| 1796 |
The international boundary for next few years is the Mississippi River and West Florida at 31st parallel. This barrier would also fall, first Louisiana, then West Florida and finally East Florida. In 1794 only 5,400 barrels of flour from the American West passed through the port of New Orleans. By 1802 there will be 12,000 barrels for local consumption and 70,000 barrels deposited for export. Other commodities such as cotton, tobacco, pelts, and whiskey increased in similar proportion. American settlers start moving in large numbers into upper Louisiana and as a barrier Louisiana became useless and costly. |
| 1796 |
The international boundary for next few years is the Mississippi River and West Florida at 31st parallel. This barrier would also fall, first Louisiana, then West Florida and finally East Florida. In 1794 only 5,400 barrels of flour from the American West passed through the port of New Orleans. By 1802 there will be 12,000 barrels for local consumption and 70,000 barrels deposited for export. Other commodities such as cotton, tobacco, pelts, and whiskey increased in similar proportion. American settlers start moving in large numbers into upper Louisiana and as a barrier Louisiana became useless and costly. |
| 1796 June 22 |
Godoy signs a treaty with the French Directory asking for the retrocession of Louisiana. Retrocession negotiations begin, are suspended and renewed in 1800 with the Consulate supplanting the Directory in France. Napoleon makes a demand for Florida as well, which is refused. |
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