1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano (c 1485-1528) describes Native Americans, kidnaps a young boy, & then the Natives eat him

The east coast of the present United States of America was largely unexplored in the early 1520s. The Spanish had discovered Florida, & the Norsemen, English & Portuguese were familiar with Newfoundland, which was visited frequently by fishermen & whalers of various nations, but the area between these 2 locations was a mystery on the map. 

King Francis I of France decided to finance an expedition to investigate the area. He chose the Florentine, Giovanni da Verrazzano, to lead the exploration. Verrazzano began with 4 ships, but 2 shipwrecked shortly after departure, while a 3rd was sent home loaded with the prizes from privateering on the Spanish coast.  Only the flagship, La Dauphine, actually crossed the Atlantic with 50-man crew. Of these, the only one who is known apart from Verrazzano himself was his brother Girolamo da Verrazzano, who was a mapmaker. His 1529 world map was one of the first maps to show Verrazzano's discoveries.

Giovanni da Verrazzano set out for his crossing from Madeira, on January 17, & touched land on or around March 1, at Cape Fear. From here he sailed south, but returned from north of Charleston, afraid to run into the Spanish, anchoring not far from his original landfall. He send a boat, to the shore, & had a pleasant meeting with the natives, whom he describes thus: "These people go altogether naked except only that they cover their privy parts with certain skins of beasts like unto martens, which they fasten onto a narrow girdle made of grass, very artfully wrought, hanged about with tails of diverse other beasts, which round about their bodies hang dangling down to their knees. Some of them wear garlands of birds' feathers. The people are of a color russet, & not much unlike the Saracens; their hair black, thick, & not very long, which they tie together in a knot behind, & wear it like a tail. They are well-featured in their limbs, of average stature, & commonly somewhat bigger than we; broad breasted, strong arms, their legs & other parts of their bodies well fashioned, & they are disfigured in nothing, saving that they have somewhat broad visages, & yet not all of them; for we saw many of them well favored, having black & great eyes, with a cheerful & steady look, not strong of body, yet sharp-witted, nimble & great runners, as far as we could learn by experience. From what we could tell from observation, in the last 2 respects they resemble the Orientals, particularly those from the farthest Sinarian regions. We could not learn the details of the life & customs of these people because of the short time we spent on land, due to the fact that there were few men, & the ship was anchored on the high seas. Not far from these people, we found others on the shore whose way of life we think is similar. "

Sailing along the coast, Verrazzano reached the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Further north he came to a beautiful place which he therefore called Arcadia. This was probably Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Here he kidnapped a young Native American child to carry back to France. Sailing further north, Verrazzano next discovered New York Harbor, & He describes the bay & Native Americans as follows: "The people are almost like unto the others, & clad with feather of fowls of diverse colors. They came towards us very cheerfully, making great shouts of admiration, showing us where we might come to land most safely with our boat. We entered up the said river into the land about half a league, where it made a most pleasant lake [the Upper bay] about 3 leagues in compass; on the which they rowed from the one side to the other, to the number of 30 in their small boats, wherein were many people, which passed from one shore to the other to come & see us. & behold, upon the sudden (as it is wont to fall out in sailing) a contrary flow of wind coming from the sea, we were enforced to return to our ship, leaving this land, to our great discontentment for the great commodity & pleasantness thereof, which we suppose is not without some riches, all the hills showing mineral matters in them."

He continued his voyage east reaching Narragansett Bay. Because the natives there were very friendly, for once he decided to break his habit & anchor near the coast. These Wampanoags led him to an even better sheltered harbor, present day Newport, & Verrazzano stayed there for 2 weeks, waiting for better weather conditions. His men traded with the Wampanoags. Verrazzano described the Wampanoags very positively.  The Verrazano party made contact with the Narragansett, Mahican, Wampanoag, Abnaki, Pokanoket, & Penobscot. Verrazano reported that he and his crew were treated well by the Natives they encountered. The Europeans and the Indians shared meals and the Indians often organized sporting games for their mutual entertainment. In Narragansett Bay Indians came on board the ship. According to Verrazano, “They exceed us in size, and they are of a very fair complexion, some incline more to a white and others to a tawny color; their faces are sharp, and their hair long and black, upon the adorning of which they bestow great pains; their eyes are black and sharp, their expressions mild and pleasant, greatly resembling the antique.”  In a letter to the King of France Verrazano wrote that the Narragansett “are the most beautiful and have the most civil customs that we found on this voyage.” Verrazano also observed that the Indians set their planting times according to their observations of the moon and the rising of the Pleiades. In other words, they understood some of the basics of astronomy.  While Verrazano did not speak any Indian languages, he concluded:  “We think they have neither religion nor laws.”

The Native American Abnaki of Maine, he describes as "of such crudity & evil manners, so barbarous, that despite all the signs we could make, we could never converse with them. They are clothed in peltry of bear, lynx, 'sea wolves' & other beasts. Their food, as far as we could perceive, often entering their dwellings, we suppose to be obtained by hunting & fishing, & of certain fruits, a kind of wild root." The Abnaki shot arrows at the French when they tried to land, but they could still conduct some meager trade through baskets, let down on a line from cliffs at the shore by the Indians. The French disliked the Abnaki's parting salute as the Europeans left, "such as exhibiting their bare behinds & laughing inmoderately."

There are conflicting accounts of Verrazzano's death.  Historian Samuel Eliot Morison (1887-1976) asserts that in 1528, Giovanni da Verrazzano again crossed the Atlantic for the French (to explore & collect wood), landing in Florida, then following the chain of the lesser Antilles. Reportedly, once again anchored out at sea, Giovanni decided to go ashore in a small boat to greet the natives, wading the last part while the ship, with his brother, remained farther out. Unfortunately, these Native Americans were not a friendly tribe looking to trade, but cannibalistic Caribs. Reportedly they killed Giovanni & ate him. The French ship his brother was aboard was too far away to give support.

See:
The Written Record of the Voyage of 1524 of Giovanni da Verrazano as recorded in a letter to Francis I, King of France, July 8th, 1524, in Lawrence C. Wroth, ed., The Voyages of Giovanni da Verrazzano, 1524-1528 (Yale, 1970)]

Morison, Samuel Eliot (1971). The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages. New York: Oxford University Press

A Biography of  1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano  

Eyewitness John White 1585 - Cooking Fish

Watercolor drawing Cooking Fish by John White (created 1585-1586)

Four corner stakes, forked at the top, enclose a wood fire and support four sticks, across which six others are laid from front to back to form a simple grill or barbecue (7 cm. or 2 3/4 in. square). On this are laid to cook, from right to left, two large fish, 1 bluish in color, occupying the full width of the grill. At the right-hand side two fish, each impaled by the gills on a small upright stick, are also being broiled. From the fire reddish tongues of flame arise but little more than the smoke reaches the grid.

Inscribed in dark brown ink, at the bottom, "The broiling of their fish ouer th' flame of fier."

John White (c 1540-1593) was an English artist & early pioneer of English efforts to settle North America. He was among those who sailed with Richard Grenville to the shore of present-day North Carolina in 1585, acting as artist & mapmaker to the expedition. During his time at Roanoke Island he made a number of watercolor sketches of the surrounding landscape & the native Algonkin peoples. White had been commissioned to "draw to life" the inhabitants of the New World & their surroundings.  During White's time at Roanoke Island, he completed numerous watercolor drawings of the surrounding landscape & native peoples. These works are significant as they are the most informative illustrations of a Native American society of the Eastern seaboard.  They represent the sole-surviving visual record of the native inhabitants of America encountered by England's first settlers.

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca 1490-1559 - Soldier, Slave, Faith Healer & Advocate for Native Americans & Texas

Orphaned as a youngster, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (c 1490–c 1559) joined the Spanish army as a young adult & fought with distinction at the 1512 battle of Ravenna in Italy. His military service to the Spanish crown won him appointment as treasurer & 1st lieutenant in the 1527–28 expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez (1478-1528), a Spanish conquistador in the Americas who 1st sailed for Jamaica in 1510. Pánfilo de Narváez departed Spain again with Cabeza de Vaca in June 1527 with 5 ships. He bore a contract from the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain) permitting him to colonize the region between Florida & the Río de las Palmas, Mexico. The expedition wintered in Cuba & landed on the Florida coast near Tampa Bay on April 15, 1528.

On the Florida coast, Narváez unfortunately decided to land 300 men & about 40 horses from his support vessels to reconnoiter lands to the north in search of rumored gold. Narváez believed the Río de las Palmas to be only 30 to 45 miles distant, when the actual distance via the coast was approximately 1,500 miles. Permanently separated from his ships & short of food, the land contingent trekked & fought its way to the Florida peninsula over the course of 4 months. By then, Narváez’s command numbered fewer than 250 men.

Two ships with about 40 survivors each, including Cabeza de Vaca, wrecked on or near Galveston Island (now part of Texas). Out of the 80 or so survivors, only 15 lived past that winter. They tried to repair the rafts, using what remained of their own clothes as oakum to plug holes, but lost the rafts.  As the number of survivors dwindled rapidly, they were enslaved for a few years by various American Indian tribes of the upper Gulf Coast. The tribes to which Cabeza de Vaca was enslaved included the Hans & the Capoques, & tribes later called the Karankawa & Coahuiltecan. After escaping, only 4 men, Cabeza de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, & an enslaved Moroccan Berber named Esteban survived to reach Mexico City.

Traveling mostly with this small group, Cabeza de Vaca explored what is now the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the northeastern Mexican states & possibly smaller portions of New Mexico & Arizona. He traveled on foot through the then-colonized territories of Texas & the coast. He continued through Coahuila & Nueva Vizcaya; then down the Gulf of California coast to what is now Sinaloa, Mexico, over a period of roughly 8 years. Throughout those years, Cabeza de Vaca & the other men adapted to the lives of the indigenous people they stayed with, whom he later described as Roots People, the Fish & Blackberry People, or the Fig People, depending on their principal foods.

During his wanderings, passing from tribe to tribe, Cabeza de Vaca developed sympathies for the indigenous peoples. He became a trader & a healer. His healing of the sick gained him a reputation as a faith healer. As Cabeza de Vaca finally decided to try to reach the Spanish colony in Mexico. Many natives were said to accompany the explorers on their journey across what is now known as the American Southwest & northern Mexico.  After reaching the colonized lands of New Spain, where he encountered fellow Spaniards, Cabeza de Vaca & the 3 other men reached Mexico City. From there he sailed back to Europe in 1537.  

There he detailed his journey to America & those he came to know along the way in Relación, the account of his experiences with the Narvaez expedition & those after being wrecked on Galveston Island in November 1528. His narratives of his adventure were published in 1542 in Spain. They are now known as The Relation of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. His detailed account describes the lives of numerous tribes of Native Americans. Cabeza de Vaca showed compassion & respect for America's native peoples, which, together with the great detail of the land he recorded, distinguishes his narrative from others of the period.

Trekking, however, was far from over for Cabeza de Vaca. In the early 1540s, he again served the Spanish crown as governor in present-day Paraguay. To reach his seat of government at Asunción, he led some 200 settlers on a 1,200 mile march from the coast of Brazil. To inspire his followers, he took off his shoes & walked every step of the way, even though horses were available. During his experiences in Texas, he had become a lay champion of Native American rights, despite years spent as a slave. In Paraguay, he attempted to implement policies to the benefit of the Guaraní Native Americans & was removed from office by disgruntled settlers bent on exploiting the Native Americans, sent to Spain in chains, & convicted there on trumped-up charges of mistreating Indians.

Found guilty in Spain on 32 specific charges of transgressions at Asunción, Cabeza de Vaca was banished in perpetuity from Spanish possessions in the Americas & sentenced to 5 years’ service in North Africa. After a series of appeals, his sentence was commuted in August 1552. Cabeza remained in Spain until he died about 1559. The path for Cabeza de Vaca in becoming a defender of Native Americans is almost as remarkable as his journeys in Texas.  Cabeza de Vaca’s adventures in Texas, he was a merchant, doctor, ethnologist, historian, recorder of plants & animals, & advocate for Native Americans.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Rolena Adorno & Patrick C. Pautz, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: His Account, His Life, & the Expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez (3 vols.; Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999). 

Donald E. Chipman, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: The Great Pedestrian of North & South America (Denton: Texas State Historical Association, 2012). 

Donald E. Chipman, “In Search of Cabeza de Vaca’s Route Across Texas: An Historiographical Survey,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 91 (October 1987). 

David A. Howard, Conquistador in Chains: Cabeza de Vaca & the Native Americans of the Americas (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1997). 

Alex D. Krieger, We Came Naked & Barefoot: The Journey of Cabez de Vaca across North America (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002). 

Andrés Reséndez, A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca (New York: Perseus Books Group, 2007). 

Jesse E. Thompson, “Sagittectomy—First Recorded Surgical Procedure in the American Southwest, 1535: The Journey & Ministrations of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca,” New England Journal of Medicine 289 (December 27, 1973).

Eyewitness John White 1585 - Women already on the Atlantic coast of America when the English arrived

1585 John White (English artist, c 1540-1593)  A cheife Herowans wyfe of Pomeoc and her daughter of the age of 8 or 10 years. 

A woman is standing to the front with her head turned half-right and with a child standing at her left side, facing half-left. The woman is wearing an apron-skirt of fringed skin of which only the part in front is visible, edged at top and bottom with a single row of white beads. Her hair is fringed in front, long behind and caught up at the nape of her neck. A headband, probably of woven beadwork, is shown running across her forehead and under the hair at each side. A close-fitting three-string necklace with a pendant is either worn or suggested by painting or tattooing on the skin. She also wears a long three-strand bead necklace hanging to her waist, through which her right hand is thrust. Painted or tattooed decoration is visible on her forehead, cheek and chin and on her upper arms. She holds in her left hand a large bottle-shaped gourd vessel. The girl's head reaches almost to the woman's waist and her hair is fringed on the forehead, hanging free at the sides and back. She wears a necklace of at least three strands of red and blue or black beads, with a tongue-like pendant which she is holding in her right hand. Her sole article of clothing is a thong or string passing round the waist, where it is tied in front, and through her crutch where it secures a small pad. In her left hand she holds a doll perhaps dressed in Elizabethan female costume.

Inscribed in dark brown ink, at the top, "A cheife Herowans wyfe of Pomeoc. | and her daughter of the age of .8. or. | .10. yeares. "

John White (English artist, c 1540-1593) was an English artist & early pioneer of Britain's efforts to settle North America. He was among those who sailed with Richard Grenville to the shore of present-day North Carolina & Virginia in 1585, acting as artist & mapmaker to the expedition. During his time at Roanoke Island he made a number of watercolor sketches of the surrounding landscape and the native Algonkin peoples. These works are significant, as they are the most informed, eyewitness contemporary illustrations of a Native American society of the North America's Eastern seaboard.

Early Attempts of Europeans To Occupy Native American Homelands

Tobacco cultivation at Jamestown, c 1615. from 1878

The early 1600s saw the beginning of a great tide of emigration from Europe to North America. Spanning more than 3 centuries, this movement grew from a trickle of a few hundred English colonists to a flood of millions of newcomers. Impelled by powerful & diverse motivations, they built a new civilization on the northern part of the continent.

The first English immigrants to what is now the United States crossed the Atlantic long after thriving Spanish colonies had been established in Mexico, the West Indies & South America. Like all early travelers to the New World, they came in small, overcrowded ships. During their 6-to-12-week voyages, they lived on meager rations. Many died of disease; ships were often battered by storms & some were lost at sea.

Most European emigrants left their homelands to escape political oppression, to seek the freedom to practice their religion, or for adventure & opportunities denied them at home. Between 1620 & 1635, economic difficulties swept England. Many people could not find work. Even skilled artisans could earn little more than a bare living. Poor crop yields added to the distress. In addition, the Industrial Revolution had created a burgeoning textile industry, which demanded an ever-increasing supply of wool to keep the looms running. Landlords enclosed farmlands & evicted the peasants in favor of sheep cultivation. Colonial expansion became an outlet for this displaced peasant population.

The colonists' first glimpse of the new land was a vista of dense woods. The settlers might not have survived had it not been for the help of friendly Native Americans, who taught them how to grow native plants -- pumpkin, squash, beans & corn. In addition, the vast, virgin forests, extending nearly 2,100 kilometers along the Eastern seaboard, proved a rich source of game & firewood. They also provided abundant raw materials used to build houses, furniture, ships & profitable cargoes for export.

Although the new continent was remarkably endowed by nature, trade with Europe was vital for articles the settlers could not produce. The coast served the immigrants well. The whole length of shore provided innumerable inlets & harbors. Only two areas -- North Carolina & southern New Jersey -- lacked harbors for ocean-going vessels.

Majestic rivers -- the Kennebec, Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac & numerous others -- linked lands between the coast & the Appalachian Mountains with the sea. Only one river, however, the St. Lawrence -- dominated by the French in Canada -- offered a water passage to the Great Lakes & into the heart of the continent. Dense forests, the resistance of some Native American tribes & the formidable barrier of the Appalachian Mountains discouraged settlement beyond the coastal plain. Only trappers & traders ventured into the wilderness with the Native Americans. For the first hundred years the colonists built their settlements compactly along the coast.

Political considerations influenced many people to move to America. In the 1630s, arbitrary rule by England's Charles I (1600-1649) gave impetus to the migration to the New World. The subsequent revolt & triumph of Charles' opponents under Oliver Cromwell (1599-1668) in the 1640s led many cavaliers -- "king's men" -- to cast their lot in Virginia. In the German-speaking regions of Europe, the oppressive policies of various petty princes -- particularly with regard to religion -- & the devastation caused by a long series of wars helped swell the movement to America in the late 17C & 18C.

The coming of colonists in the 17C entailed careful planning & management, as well as considerable expense & risk. Settlers had to be transported nearly 5,000 kilometers across the sea. They needed utensils, clothing, seed, tools, building materials, livestock, arms & ammunition.

In contrast to the colonization policies of other countries & other periods, the emigration from England was not directly sponsored by the government but by private groups of individuals whose chief motive was profit.

From Outline of U.S. History, a publication of the U.S. Department of State copied from the website of the United States Information Agency, where it was published in November 2005.

Eyewitness John White 1585 - Man & Woman Eating Together

1585 John White (English artist, c 1540-1593) Man and Woman Eating

A man on the left and a woman on the right are seated facing each other on a strip of matting, which appears to be stitched across at about one foot intervals. It extends beyond the left-hand edge but the end on the right is finished with a double row of stitches. They are eating with their right hands from a large circular dish containing large grains of food. The man has his hair shaved at the side, with a roach running from front to back in which he wears a feather. A small knot of hair is gathered at the back of the neck. His ear ornament is apparently a piece of skin, passed through a hole in the right ear lobe and hanging down several inches on either side. Each end is marked with a streak of yellow, perhaps representing cylindrical pieces of shell or bone. Lines of red paint are visible on his face and forehead. His fringed deerskin mantle is worn over the left shoulder, the top folded over, showing the hair on the inside. The woman's hair is worn long, with a low fringe in front, perhaps hiding a headband or tattooing, and is tied in a knot at the neck. She also wears a three-string bead or pearl necklace, and a fringed skin robe over her left shoulder. 

Inscribed in dark brown ink, at the top, "Theire sitting at meate. "

John White (English artist, c 1540-1593) was an English artist & early pioneer of English efforts to settle North America. He was among those who sailed with Richard Grenville to the shore of present-day North Carolina in 1585, acting as artist & mapmaker to the expedition. During his time at Roanoke Island he made a number of watercolor sketches of the surrounding landscape and the native Algonkin peoples. These works are significant as they are the most informative eyewitness illustrations of an early Native American society of the Eastern seaboard.

European Invaders vs Native Americans - Ponce de Leon

In May of 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon (1460?-1521) encountered Calusa Indians while exploring the Gulf Coast of Florida. In a fight with the Calusa, Juan Ponce de Leon captured 4 warriors. Ponce de León was typical of the Spanish conquistadors. A military officer by training, he served in the campaign that drove the Moslems from Spain in 1492, before joining Columbus’ 1493 expedition. After helping to conquer Hispaniola in 1502-1504 (now the Dominican Republic), he was made governor of its eastern province. Discovering gold in Puerto Rico in 1508, he invaded that island, too, & as its governor enriched himself by trading in real estate, gold, & slaves.  Ponce de León obtained permission in 1512 to explore & colonize Bimini, an island reported to contain a river whose waters had a rejuvenating effect. It did not. (The origins of the “fountain of youth” myth are given in the opening pages of Chapter one of Francis Parkman's (1823-1893) 1897 Pioneers of France in the New World.) 

Ponce de León's vessels left Puerto Rico on March 3, 1513, reaching the east coast of Florida on April 2, 1513. For 6 weeks he skirted the coastline southward past Cape Canaveral, Palm Beach, & Biscayne Bay to the Keys & Tortugas. He then coasted up the west side of the peninsula as far as the site of present city of Naples, before turning back to Puerto Rico, arriving on September 21, 1513.  No eyewitness accounts survive from the 1513 voyage, but two archival documents related to the expedition survive. The earliest description of Ponce de León’s explorations was written 70 years later, when Antonio de Herrera (d 1625) compiled his Historia de las Indias, which contains his account of the 1513 exploration voyage of Juan Ponce de Leon, published in 1601. He wrote, "On the 20th of April, they discovered some huts of Indians, where they anchored: the day following, all three vessels following the seacoast, they saw such a current that, although they had a strong wind, they could not go forward, but rather backward, & it seemed that they were going on well; & finally it was seen that the current was so great it was more powerful than the wind. The two vessels that found themselves nearest the land anchored, but the current was so strong that the cables twisted; & the third vessel, which was a brigantine, which was farther out to sea, could find no bottom, or did not know of the current, & it was drawn away from land, & lost to their sight, though the day was clear with fair weather.
"Here Juan Ponce went ashore, called by the Indians, who immediately tried to take the boat, the oars, & the arms. In order not to break with them, they suffered it to cause trouble in the land. But, because they struck a seaman in the head with a stick, from which he remained unconscious, they had to fight with them; they, with their arrows & armed shafts — the points of sharpened bones & fish spines — wounded two Spaniards, & the Indians received little hurt. The night separating them, Juan Ponce regathered the Spaniards after hard work. He set out from there to a stream where he took water & firewood, & stayed awaiting the brigantine. Sixty Indians went there to hinder him. One of them was taken for a guide, & so that he might learn the language. He gave this stream the name of La Cruz & he left by it a cross hewn from stone, with an inscription; & they did not finish taking water, because it was brackish."

Theodor de Bry and sons, Americae Frankfurt

By some estimates, at that time Florida was home to as many as 300,000 Native Americans. The only identifiable tribe that played a documented role was the Calusa, a now-extinct tribe that Ponce de Leon encountered on the southwest coast. Ponce de Leon served as governor of the Spanish colony of San Juan (now Puerto Rico). There, he was known as a conquistador with a reputation for taking Native Americans as slaves.  Herrera also recorded Ponce de Leon's method of quelling Native American unrest in Peurto Rico. "He had a dog, called Bezerillo, that made wonderful havock among these people, & knew which of them were in war & which in peace, like a man; for which reason the Indians were more afraid of 10 Spaniards with the dog, than of 100 without him, & therefore he had one share & a half of all that taken, as was done to one that carried a crossbow, as well in gold as slaves & other things, which his master received. Very extraordinary things were said of this dog.”

Combating Native American revolts on various islands occupied his attention for several years, but in 1521 Ponce de León organized a large-scale colonial expedition to settle Florida. When they landed near present-day Tampa Bay, however, Native American resistance was so fierce, that it drove the 200 Spanish colonists back to their vessels. Ponce de Leon entered the Calusa village in an effort to establish a Spanish colony. When the Calusa attacked, Ponce de Leon was hit with an arrow & suffered a mortal wound. He died in July of 1521, in Cuba. 

Within 80 years of Ponce de Leon’s landing in the New World, much of the indigenous Calusa population had succumbed to slavery, disease, or death in combat against the invaders.  Before Ponce de Leon, Willie Johns, a historian for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, notes that there were 8 groups of Native Americans in the region. They all had their own distinct languages & cultures. None of them remain. 

See 
American Journeys Eyewitness accounts of Early American Exploration & Settlement. University & Historical Society of Wisconsin 

The Saint Augustine Record article on Ponce de Leon by Sam Turner Apr 28, 2013

Native History: Ponce de Leon Arrives in Florida; Beginning of the End. Indian Country Today by Alysa Landry. April 2, 2017

Eyewitness John White 1585 - Native Americans Praying around the Fire with Rattles

John White (English artist, c 1540-1593) Praying around the fire with rattles 1590

Ten Indians, apparently six men and four women, are seated or kneeling in a circle round a spoke-shaped log fire. Five are holding gourd rattles. Four of the men wear feathers in their hair which is cut short at the side to leave a roach in the middle. The women wear their hair somewhat longer and looser. The figure (a man?) seen behind the flames apparently has long, untrimmed hair. Several men and women are wearing one-, two-, or three-strand necklaces and there is a suggestion that some have ear ornaments. One man clearly wears a breech-clout, one is evidently entirely unclothed, and two wear skin mantles draped over one shoulder. One woman wears a single apron-skirt, one has either a single or double apron-skirt, and one seems to be wearing only a cord around her waist. One woman is painted or tattooed on her arms and one leg, and another on one arm.

John White (English artist, c 1540-1593) was an English artist & early pioneer of Britain's efforts to settle North America. He was among those who sailed with Richard Grenville to the shore of present-day North Carolina & Virginia in 1585, acting as artist & mapmaker to the expedition. During his time at Roanoke Island he made a number of watercolor sketches of the surrounding landscape and the native Algonkin peoples. These works are significant, as they are the most informed, eyewitness contemporary illustrations of an early Native American society of the North America's Eastern seaboard.

1519 Spanish Invasion & Fall of the Native Aztec Empire

Aztec Feast by Spanish Franciscan missionary & ethnographer Bernardino de Sahagún (1499–1590) in the Florentine Codex. 1540 & 1585 

The Aztecs, who probably originated as a nomadic Native American tribe in northern Mexico, arrived in Mesoamerica (as the south-central region of pre-Columbian Mexico is known) around the beginning of the 13C. From their capital city, Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs emerged as the dominant force in central Mexico, developing an intricate social, political, religious & commercial culture that brought many of the region’s city-states under their control by the 15C. Invaders led by the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes overthrew the Aztecs by force & captured Tenochtitlan in 1521, bringing an end to Mesoamerica’s last great Native American civilization.

Aztec Feast by Spanish Franciscan missionary & ethnographer Bernardino de Sahagún (1499–1590) in the Florentine Codex. 1540 & 1585 

The exact origins of the Aztec people are uncertain, but they are believed to have begun as a northern tribe of hunter-gatherers whose name came from that of their homeland, Aztlan (or “White Land”). The Aztecs were also known as the Tenochca (from which the name for their capital city, Tenochtitlan, was derived) or the Mexica (the origin of the name of the city that would replace Tenochtitlan, as well as the name for the entire country). The Aztecs appeared in Mesoamericain the early 13C. Their arrival came just after, or perhaps helped bring about, the fall of the previously dominant Mesoamerican civilization, the Toltecs.

Mexica (Aztec) Farmer by Spanish Franciscan missionary & ethnographer Bernardino de Sahagún (1499–1590) in the Florentine Codex. 1540 & 1585

Tradition relates that when the Aztecs saw an eagle perched on a cactus on the marshy land near the southwest border of Lake Texcoco, they took it as a sign to build their settlement there. They drained the swampy land, constructed artificial islands on which they could plant gardens & established the foundations of their capital city, Tenochtitlán, in 1325 A.D. 

Storing Maize. by Spanish Franciscan missionary & ethnographer Bernardino de Sahagún (1499–1590) in the Florentine Codex. 1540 & 1585

Typical Aztec crops included maize (corn), along with beans, squashes, potatoes, tomatoes & avocadoes; they also supported themselves through fishing & hunting local animals such as rabbits, armadillos, snakes, coyotes & wild turkey. Their relatively sophisticated system of agriculture (including intensive cultivation of land & irrigation methods) & a powerful military tradition would enable the Aztecs to build a successful empire.

Aztec Food by Spanish Franciscan missionary & ethnographer Bernardino de Sahagún (1499–1590) in the Florentine Codex. 1540 & 1585

In 1428, under their leader Itzcoatl, the Aztecs formed a 3-way alliance with the Texcocans & the Tacubans to defeat their most powerful rivals for influence in the region, the Tepanec, & conquer their capital of Azcapotzalco. Itzcoatl’s successor Montezuma (Moctezuma) I, who took power in 1440, was a great warrior who was remembered as the father of the Aztec empire. By the early 16C, the Aztecs had come to rule over up to 500 small states, & some 5 to 6 million people, either by conquest or commerce. Tenochtitlán at its height had more than 140,000 inhabitants.

Aztec Merchants selling feather articles, jewelry, textiles and furs by Spanish Franciscan missionary & ethnographer Bernardino de Sahagún (1499–1590) in the Florentine Codex. 1540 & 1585

Bustling markets such as Tenochtitlan’s Tlatelolco, said to be visited by some 50,000 people on market days, drove the Aztec economy. The Aztec civilization was also highly developed socially, intellectually & artistically. It was a highly structured society with a strict caste system; at the top were nobles, while at the bottom were serfs, indentured servants & slaves. 

Aztec Ceremonial Eagle Warrior (left) & Jaguar Warrior (right)  by Spanish Franciscan missionary & ethnographer Bernardino de Sahagún (1499–1590) in the Florentine Codex. 1540 & 1585

The Aztec faith shared many aspects with other Mesoamerican religions, like that of the Maya, notably including the rite of human sacrifice. 

Aztec Ceremonial Drums at the One Flower Ceremony, by Spanish Franciscan missionary & ethnographer Bernardino de Sahagún (1499–1590) in the Florentine Codex. 1540 & 1585

In the great cities of the Aztec empire, magnificent temples, palaces, plazas & statues embodied the civilization’s unfailing devotion to the many Aztec gods, including Huitzilopochtli (god of war & of the sun) & Quetzalcoatl (“Feathered Serpent”), a Toltec god who served many important roles in the Aztec faith over the years. 

 Aztec Merchants delivering pipes with scented tobacco, ashtrays, floral arrangements and aromatic staffsby Spanish Franciscan missionary & ethnographer Bernardino de Sahagún (1499–1590) in the Florentine Codex. 1540 & 1585

The Aztec calendar, common in much of Mesoamerica, was based on a solar cycle of 365 days & a ritual cycle of 260 days; the calendar played a central role in the religion & rituals of Aztec society.

Aztec Women by Spanish Franciscan missionary & ethnographer Bernardino de Sahagún (1499–1590) in the Florentine Codex. 1540 & 1585

The 1st European to visit Mexican territory was Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba (c1475-1526), who arrived in Yucatan from Cuba with 3 ships & about 100 men in early 1517. Cordobars reports on his return to Cuba prompted the Spanish governor there, Diego Velasquez (1465-1524), to send a larger force back to Mexico under the command of Hernan Cortes. 

In March 1519, Cortes landed at the town of Tabasco, where he learned from the natives of the great Aztec civilization, then ruled by Moctezuma (Montezuma) II. Defying the authority of Velasquez, Cortes founded the city of Veracruz on the southeastern Mexican coast, where he trained his army into a disciplined fighting force. Cortes & some 400 soldiers then marched into Mexico, aided by a native woman known as Malinche, who served as a translator. Thanks to instability within the Aztec empire, Cortes was able to form alliances with other native peoples, notably the Tlascalans, who were then at war with Montezuma.

In November 1519, Cortes & his men arrived in Tenochtitlan, where Montezuma & his people greeted them as honored guests according to Aztec custom (partially due to Cortes’ physical resemblance to the light-skinned Quetzalcoatl, whose return was prophesied in Aztec legend). Though the Aztecs had superior numbers, their weapons were inferior, & Cortes was able to immediately take Montezuma & his entourage of lords hostage, gaining control of Tenochtitla. 

The Spaniards then murdered thousands of Aztec nobles during a ritual dance ceremony, & Montezuma died while in custody. Cuauhtemoc, his young nephew, took over as emperor, & the Aztecs drove the Spaniards from the city. With the help of the Aztecs’ native rivals, Cortes mounted an offensive against Tenochtitlan, finally defeating Cuauhtemoc’s resistance on August 13, 1521. In all, some 240,000 people were believed to have died in the city’s conquest, which effectively ended the Aztec civilization. After his victory, Cortes razed Tenochtitla & built Mexico City on its ruins.  See History.com
____________________________________________
The contemporary illustrations are from the Florentine Codex (c 1540 & 1585) which consists of 12 illuminated books of Aztec codices, created in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Colonial México) by Spanish missionary Bernardino de Sahagún (1499–1590).  Bernardino de Sahagún was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest, & pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain (now Mexico). Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, he journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean to New Spain in 1529, & spent more than 50 years conducting interviews regarding Aztec beliefs, culture & history. Though he primarily dedicated himself to his religious missionary task, his extraordinary work documenting indigenous worldview & culture has earned him the title “the first anthropologist.” He also contributed to the description of the Aztec language Nahuatl, into which he translated the Psalms, the Gospels & a basic manual of religious education.

Eyewitness John White 1585 - Women already on the Atlantic coast of America when the English arrived

1585 John White (English artist, c 1540-1593) One of the Wives of Wyngyno, John White Painting of Algonquian Indians of Virginia (now North Carolina)

A woman stands facing half-left, with the right foot crossed behind the left and her arms bent, her hands resting on her shoulders so that her forearms partly cover her breasts. She is wearing an apron-skirt of fringed deerskin. Her hair has a fringe in front and is caught at the neck behind, while beneath the fringe, a headband is visible. Her ear ornament consists of two or more blue beads hanging from the lobe. She wears a short, two-string necklace of alternate black and blue beads from which hangs a large bead (with two others) to form a pendant. She is tattooed or painted on the forehead, cheeks, chin, wrists, the left upper arm and the calves. Her left foot, as drawn, has the toes on the wrong side.


Inscribed in dark brown ink, at the top, "One of the wyues of Wyngyno. "

John White (English artist, c 1540-1593) was an English artist & early pioneer of English efforts to settle North America. He was among those who sailed with Richard Grenville to the shore of present-day North Carolina in 1585, acting as artist & mapmaker to the expedition. During his time at Roanoke Island he made a number of watercolor sketches of the surrounding landscape and the native Algonkin peoples. These works are significant as they are the most informative illustrations of a Native American society of the Eastern seaboard.

Native American Culture when Europeans Arrived in The New World

1876 A Popular History of the United States by William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) & Sydney Howard Gay (1814-1888)

The America that greeted the first Europeans was, thus, far from an empty wilderness. It is now thought that as many people lived in the Western Hemisphere as in Western Europe at that time -- about 40 million.

Estimates of the number of Native Americans living in what is now the United States at the onset of European colonization range from 2 to 18 million, with most historians tending toward the lower figure. What is certain is the devastating effect that European disease had on the indigenous population practically from the time of initial contact. Smallpox, in particular, ravaged whole communities & is thought to have been a much more direct cause of the precipitous decline in Native American population in the 1600s than the numerous wars & skirmishes with European settlers.

Native American customs & culture at the time were extraordinarily diverse, as could be expected, given the expanse of the land & the many different environments to which they had adapted. Some generalizations, however, are possible.

Most tribes, particularly in the wooded eastern region & the Midwest, combined aspects of hunting, gathering & the cultivation of maize & other products for their food supplies. In many cases, the women were responsible for farming & the distribution of food, while the men hunted & participated in war.

By all accounts, Native American society in North America was closely tied to the land. Identification with nature & the elements was integral to religious beliefs. Native American life was essentially clan-oriented & communal, with children allowed more freedom & tolerance than was the European custom of the day.

Although some North American tribes developed a type of hieroglyphics to preserve certain texts, their culture was primarily oral, with a high value placed on the recounting of tales & dreams. Clearly, there was a good deal of trade among various groups & strong evidence exists that neighboring tribes maintained extensive & formal relations -- both friendly & hostile.

From Outline of U.S. History, a publication of the U.S. Department of State copied from the website of the United States Information Agency, where it was published in November 2005.

Eyewitness John White 1585 - Body Paint

Watercolor drawing Indian in Body Paint by John White (created 1585-1586)

A man stands to the front, his face half-left, his feet well apart, the back of his right hand resting on his right hip. He is wearing a single apron-skirt of fringed deerskin and a grayish (puma?) tail which hangs down at the back and is seen between his legs from the thighs almost to the ankles. His hair is worn short at the sides leaving a central roach and is caught up at the back. Two feathers are stuck in his hair by his left ear and one is visible by his right, while a tall feather stands upright from his forehead. From his right ear protrudes what seems to be a bone ornament, and from his left hangs an ornament which appears to consist of a stone (or bead) enclosed by a strip of yellowish metal from which depend three small metal balls; one ball may also be seen above the stone. Around his neck he wears a long six-string necklace of blue or near black pearls or beads of even size, and two bracelets of the same materials are worn round his right wrist. He is elaborately painted in reddish-brown and white on the face, neck, chest, upper arms and calves. Around the neck the painting simulates a necklace from which hang three circular plaques with double outlines, the lowest of these having a central boss. Round the nipples and on the shoulders are similar circular designs, from the latter of which stripes are carried down to the forearm. He is armed with a strung bow somewhat taller than himself which he holds upright in his left hand. On his left wrist is a folded band or wrist-guard of skin, secured with a button, while from his left side projects a basketry quiver inside which the tips of arrows are visible. This is supported by a string or thong probably suggested by the line on his left shoulder.

Inscribed in dark brown ink, in the upper left-hand corner, "The manner of their attire and | painting themselues when | they goe to their generall | huntings, or at theire Solemne feasts."

John White (c 1540-1593) was an English artist & early pioneer of English efforts to settle North America. He was among those who sailed with Richard Grenville to the shore of present-day North Carolina in 1585, acting as artist & mapmaker to the expedition. During his time at Roanoke Island he made a number of watercolor sketches of the surrounding landscape & the native Algonkin peoples. White had been commissioned to "draw to life" the inhabitants of the New World & their surroundings.  During White's time at Roanoke Island, he completed numerous watercolor drawings of the surrounding landscape & native peoples. These works are significant as they are the most informative illustrations of a Native American society of the Eastern seaboard.  They represent the sole-surviving visual record of the native inhabitants of America encountered by England's first settlers.

Native Americans in the Ice Age

At the height of the Ice Age, between 34,000 and 30,000 B.C., much of the world's water was contained in vast continental ice sheets. As a result, the Bering Sea was hundreds of meters below its current level, and a land bridge, known as Beringia, emerged between Asia and North America. At its peak, Beringia is thought to have been some 1,500 kilometers wide. A moist and treeless tundra, it was covered with grasses and plant life, attracting the large animals that early humans hunted for their survival.

The first people to reach North America almost certainly did so without knowing they had crossed into a new continent. They would have been following game, as their ancestors had for thousands of years, along the Siberian coast and then across the land bridge.

Once in Alaska, it would take these first North Americans thousands of years more to work their way through the openings in great glaciers south to what is now the United States. Evidence of early life in North America continues to be found. Little of it, however, can be reliably dated before 12,000 B.C.; a recent discovery of a hunting lookout in northern Alaska, for example, may date from almost that time. So too may the finely crafted spear points and items found near Clovis, New Mexico.

Similar artifacts have been found at sites throughout North and South America, indicating that life was probably already well established in much of the Western Hemisphere by some time prior to 10,000 B.C.

Around that time the mammoth began to die out and the bison took its place as a principal source of food and hides for these early North Americans. Over time, as more and more species of large game vanished -- whether from overhunting or natural causes -- plants, berries and seeds became an increasingly important part of the early American diet. Gradually, foraging and the first attempts at primitive agriculture appeared. Indians in what is now central Mexico led the way, cultivating corn, squash and beans, perhaps as early as 8,000 B.C. Slowly, this knowledge spread northward.

By 3,000 B.C., a primitive type of corn was being grown in the river valleys of New Mexico and Arizona. Then the first signs of irrigation began to appear, and by 300 B.C., signs of early village life.

By the first centuries A.D., the Hohokum were living in settlements near what is now Phoenix, Arizona, where they built ball courts and pyramid-like mounds reminiscent of those found in Mexico, as well as a canal and irrigation system.

From Outline of U.S. History, a publication of the U.S. Department of State copied from the website of the United States Information Agency, where it was published in November 2005.

Eyewitness John White 1585 - Village of Secoton

Watercolor drawing Indian Village of Secoton by John White (created 1585-1586)

A bird's-eye view of an unenclosed Indian village of thirteen houses of light pole and mat construction. At the top, a path leads from water (a stream or pond) to the main group of houses where it widens into a central thoroughfare running down through the settlement. On the street, in the center of the main group of houses, a spoke-shaped fire attended by two Indians is burning and below, further down the path, are shown mats spread out on which are three large circular eating vessels and six small objects of indefinite form. One squatting and two sitting figures are seen eating and one man armed with a bow stands by. To the right of the path and street are three cornfields each at a different stage of growth. The top field of ripe maize contains a small hut, open at one side, which may shelter a seated figure and is mounted on a platform with four legs. A path to the right separates this field from the two lower ones in which crops of unripe and very young maize are growing. The last has faint indications perhaps representing hills around the bases of the plants. To the left of the unripe maize is a house with a small fenced yard before the door which is in the center of the end wall. The houses to the left of the road are set among (or near to) birch-like trees. Among the trees to the left are two houses with three figures nearby, two of them apparently carrying bows. Four other figures are to be seen among the main group of houses, which are shown with open ends, several revealing the pole framework and side platforms, while a few have small window-like openings. At the bottom right a path separates the lowest cornfield from the ceremonial area and is bordered by a row of seven posts. Below this is a circle of seven posts, the tops of which are possibly carved in the form of human heads, and on a path around it nine Indians (apparently all men), with feathers in their hair and waving gourd rattles, are dancing. Some wear a single apron-skirt and others apparently are naked or wear breech-clouts only. One Indian crouches beside a post outside the circle to the right and six others squat or sit in line on the roadway to the left. A further path is indicated at the bottom right, below the dancers. To the left of the roadway, opposite the circle, a path surrounds four posts within which a spoke-shaped log fire is burning, a fifth post being seen to the right near where the path joins the road. The heads of the posts are again possibly carved like the others. To the left of the fire is a but with the end covered and below, at the bottom left, is a house taller than the rest which may have openings in the end wall. A short path leads from it to the road.

Inscribed in dark brown ink, in the top right-hand corner, on the first field of maize, "Their rype corne" .; below, on the second field, "Their greene corne" .; on the third field, "Come newly sprong" . In the centre, below the eating figures, "their sitting at meale" . In a semi-circle about the fire, near the bottom left-hand corner, "The place of solemne prayer" and below, above the hut, "The house wherein the Tombe of their Herounds standeth" . To the right, on the street, below the line of squatting figures, "SECOTAN" ., and to the right again, below the dancing figures , "A Ceremony in their prayers wth | strange iesturs and songs dansing | about post carved on the topps | lyke mens faces" 

John White (c 1540-1593) was an English artist & early pioneer of English efforts to settle North America. He was among those who sailed with Richard Grenville to the shore of present-day North Carolina in 1585, acting as artist & mapmaker to the expedition. During his time at Roanoke Island he made a number of watercolor sketches of the surrounding landscape & the native Algonkin peoples. White had been commissioned to "draw to life" the inhabitants of the New World & their surroundings.  During White's time at Roanoke Island, he completed numerous watercolor drawings of the surrounding landscape & native peoples. These works are significant as they are the most informative illustrations of a Native American society of the Eastern seaboard.  They represent the sole-surviving visual record of the native inhabitants of America encountered by England's first settlers.

1492 Christopher Columbus vs. Native Americans

Christopher Columbus landing on Hispaniola being Greeted by the local Natives, the Arawaks. The print was made by 2 Flemish artists: Joos van Winghe (1544-1603) was the designer and Theodor de Bry (1528-1598) the engraver.  When Christopher Columbus (1450-1506) came in contact with Native Americans, he wrote: “They all go around as naked as their mothers bore them; and also the women.” He also noted that “they could easily be commanded and made to work, to sow and to do whatever might be needed, to build towns and be taught to wear clothes and adopt our ways,” and, “they are the best people in the world and above all the gentlest.”

Christopher Columbus by Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio(1483–1561)
The son of a weaver, Columbus left Spain for the world on the other side of the Atlantic with 3 ships and 39 crew members in the hopes of gaining fame and wealth. As Columbus approached land, the local Natives, the Arawaks, swam out to greet the ships. Columbus later wrote, and “They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance… They would make fine servants… With 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” 

In a search for gold, which proved to be very little, Columbus enslaved, murdered, and inflicted misery upon those "gentle" people. With 17 additional ships and 1,200 men, Columbus promised to bring back to Spain  gold and slaves. In 1495, they “rounded up” 1,500 Arawak men, women and children, chose 500 of the best, of which 200 died en route to Spain. When the Arawaks could not produce enough gold, he cut off the hands of all those 14 years and older, and enslaved them on estates where they were worked to death. 

Depiction of Spanish atrocities committed in the conquest of Cuba in Bartolomé de Las Casas's "Brevisima relación de la destrucción de las Indias." The print was made by 2 Flemish artists (who did not actually witness these brutalities) Joos van Winghe was the designer and Theodor de Bry the engraver. 

Dominican Friar Bartolomé de Las Casas  (1484-1566) wrote, “The Spaniards think nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades.” He wrote of 2 "Christians" who met up with two Arawak boys and beheaded them for fun. “Mothers drowned their babies from sheer desperation, husbands died in the mines, women died at work, children died from lack of milk… my eyes have seen acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write,” de Las Casas lamented.  He was a Spanish historian & social reformer who wrote A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and Historia de Las Indias, chronicling the first decades of colonization of the West Indies focusing on the atrocities committed by the colonizers against the indigenous peoples.  One of the earliest European settlers in the Americas, he initially participated in, but eventually opposed the atrocities committed against the Native Americans by the Spanish colonists. In 1515, he advocated, before King Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, on behalf of rights for the Native Americans. However, his early writings advocated the use of African slaves instead of Natives in the West-Indian colonies; consequently, critics see him being partly responsible for the beginning of the Transatlantic slave trade. Later in life, he retracted those early views, as he came to see all forms of slavery as equally wrong.

Depiction of Christopher Columbus' Soldiers Chopping the Hands off of Arawak Indians who Failed to Meet the Mining Quota in Bartolomé de Las Casas's "Brevisima relación de la destrucción de las Indias." The print was made by 2 Flemish artists (who did not actually witness these atrocities) Joos van Winghe was the designer and Theodor de Bry the engraver.  "They would cut an Indian's hands and leave them dangling by a shred of skin ... & they would test their swords and their manly strength on captured Indians and place bets on the slicing off of heads or cutting of bodies in half with one blow. ... [One] cruel captain traveled over many leagues, capturing all the Indians he could find. Since the Indians would not tell him who their new lord was, he cut off the hands of some and threw others to the dogs, and thus they were torn to pieces."

According to Boston University professor Howard Zinn’s (1922-2010) 1980 book The People’s History of the United States, over 3 million people perished at the hands of Columbus from 1494 to 1508. By 1515 there were only 50,000 left. By 1550, there were 500. Zinn said, "There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people."