Lesson 3 - Europeans Arrive In Kansas

CHAPTER 2 LESSON 3

Europeans Arrive in Kansas For thousands of years, ​countries around the

world invaded and explored other lands. Yet North and South America had been left alone - the people of Europe, Africa, and Asia had no idea the two continents even existed. Then, Christopher Columbus landed in Central America and sparked a wave of exploration. European explorers were motivated by different goals. Some were driven by the desire to spread religious beliefs. Others hoped to conquer new lands. Exploration was also fueled by a desire to establish trade routes and obtain precious resources such as gold or spices. Many early explorers were also simply pushed onward to new lands by the quest to fill in gaps in their culture’s knowledge.

European Exploration Begins By the 1400s, a major trade had developed between Europe and the kingdoms of Asia and the Middle East. Yet each European country wanted a bigger share of the trade. They began looking for new ways to reach these areas. Portuguese explorers were the first to sail around Africa to trade with China. Italian sailor Christopher Columbus had another idea, though. He believed that to reach Asia, he could sail west. Since the Earth is round, he argued that eventually he should land on the coast of China or India. Finally, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain agreed to pay for Columbus to try his idea.

Key Ideas ● European exploration of North America began in the late 15th century. ● Spanish explorer Francisco Vazquez de Coronado was the first European to reach Kansas. ● The French sent explorers into Kansas to increase trade with Indian tribes there. ● Spain and France traded Kansas back and forth without considering the right of the American Indians.

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Indigenous People of North America Since Europeans landed in North America, a wide variety of terms have been used to refer to the native people here. Columbus, believe he had landed in Southeast Asia (near India), referred to the people he met as “indians.” Once explorers realized that this land was in fact a new continent, “American” was added to describe the people of North and South America. However, many native people find this term offensive. Native people have their own names to describe themselves. They do not wish to be identified by a term that came from Europeans. Some also do not like the term “American Indian’ because “Indian” describes people from an entirely different culture and region of the world. In the 1960s, many began using the term “Native American” to describe the first people to live in the Americas. Though this has become the preferred term by some, others continue to call themselves “indians.” In the last 50 years or so, other terms have come to be used. Some refer to themselves as “indigenous” people. The word i​ndigenous​ m ​ eans native, or living or found in a certain region. Some tribes have adopted the phrase “First Nation” to describe themselves. Finally, some native people prefer that only the specific name of the tribe be used. In the text, we have tried to use the specific tribe name where possible. When referring to indigenous people broadly, we use both the terms “American Indians” and “Native Americans.”

Columbus Start the Fire In 1492, Columbus and his crew reached the island of Hispaniola (what is today Haiti and the Dominican Republic). When Columbus returned to Spain a year later, he told stories of a great gold mines and wealth in the islands. His stories, though untrue, made other countries want to send explorers to the New World. Before long, explorers from Spain, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Great Britain, and Portugal began exploring various regions of the Americas. Each claimed land for his country, traded goods with native cultures, and changed the land and its people.

The Spanish in Kansas In the 1500s, the Spanish claimed much of southern North America (what would become Mexico, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Florida). France claimed much of what would become Canada, as well as the area around the Mississippi River. Eventually, European explorers from both of these countries came to the land that was to become Kansas. The spanish were the first to arrive, followed by the French.

This famous painting of Columbus and his crew hang in the US Capital. IT was painted many years after Columbus sailed. The artist was trying to imagine what each person might have felt when he arrive. L ​ ook at the man standing unt the flag Columbus is holding. Why is he watching the forest? Why do you think the artist included this man? Why do you think the young boy is down on one knee?

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​ y the 16th century, the Wichita were B actively trading with the Indians of the Southwest. This gave them experience with people of other cultures. But we can only imagine what the Wichita though when the first Europeans arrived at their villages. The Spanish came on horseback, wearing shiny metal helmets and protective vests of chain mail. Although few in numbers, the Europeans must have been a sight unlike any other. However, we have no records to tell us how the Wichita felt.

Differing Evidence Spanish explorers wore chain mail armor for protection. Chain mail was also used to protect their horses. This small piece of horse chain mail was found in a large indian village site in central Kansas. This and other artifacts have led some people to speculate that Coronado made it as far north as Lindsborg before returning to Mexico. How does a piece of chain mail tell us the Spanish were here? What else might it mean?

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Francisco Vázquez de Coronado

Quivira

Among the men in Coronado’s expedition was a Native American slave called “Turk.” He told the Spaniards about the land of Quivira. A wide river ​We know much more about the Spanish point of with fish the size of horses could be found there. view than the Wichita perspective. Francisco Vazquez Large boats with golden eagle statues on their de Coronado led the expedition into what is now bows sailed up and down the river. The king of this Kansas. He was born into a wealthy family in Spain. great land slept each night beneath a tree of golden He came to what Europeans called the “New World” at bells. The blowing wind made soft music. Even the the age of 25 to serve in the government of New common people of Quivira were surrounded by Spain. He heard stories about seven cities of gold. great wealth. They ate from plates of silver and Although already wealthy, he wanted more. His were served from bowls of gold. According to the search for treasure led him to present-day New tales, the people of Quivira lived in large stone Mexico and beyond, but he found no gold. houses with many stories. Although Coronado and his men began to doubt the stories about Quivira, the ​allure​ (something that What Do attracts people) of this mythical place was strong. Eventually, Coronado and about 40 men made their YOU​ Think? way to present-day Kansas in search of Quivira. When they arrived, the found no gold or silver, Europeans often referred to North and South no river with fish as big as horses. The did, America as the “New World” because it was new to however, encounter Wichita villages. Unlike the them. In fact, people had been living and interacting people in the stories, the Wichita lived in grass in the “New World” for just as long as many lodges, raised crops, and hunted buffalo. They European kingdoms. How does the term “New worked with stone tools. The only metal Coronado World” show the bias of Europeans at the time? found was a necklace of copper worn by a Wichita chief.

Kansas artist Albert T. Reid imagined what Coronado’s march into Kansas may have looked like. The Wichita there had never seen horses or metal armor like that worn by the Spaniards.

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Return to Mexico Disappointed, Coronado eventually returned to Mexico, where his expedition was considered a failure. Within a short time, Coronado lost his job with the Spanish government. He was put on trial for raiding villages and killing people who did not cooperate with him. For this, he was found guilty for mistreating native peoples. Because of the poor reports from the expedition, the Spanish did not explore the plains regain again for decades.

This map shows Coronado’s route from what is now Mexico to Kansas. ​What physical features did he have to cross to get to Kansas?

The Wichita lived in grass lodges for most of the year. After harvest, the people went on an extended winter hunt as they followed the buffalo herds. H ​ ow does this structure compare to the stories told to Coronado?

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French Exploration of Kansas

Claude Charles Du Tisne

One of the first French explorers was Claude Charles Du Tisne. He was sent to contact the ​More than 100 years after Coronado visited the Comanche because they were a powerful nation, and Wichita, French explorers from Canada followed the also because they had obtained horses from the Mississippi River to the Missouri River. One of the Spanish. The Comanche used their horses to roam explorers, Louis Jolliet, placed the names “Kansas” the plains and keep other tribes away. They even and “Missouri” on a map for the first time. Jolliet captured Indians of other tribes and traded them as never actually explored Kansas but was responsible slaves. The French saw the Comanche as a possible for gathering information on the lands beyond the barrier to relations with other tribes, so they wanted to Missouri River. form an ​alliance​, a partnership for a common goal, The French had already developed trade relationships with the American Indians north and east with them. Du Tisne failed to reach the Comanche, but he did of Kansas. They traded guns, alcohol, and metal for manage to make contact with the Osage and the furs, which they sold to other explorers or to people Pawnee. With these tribes, he traded guns and back in France. This trade was very ​profitable,​ ammunition for information. This alarmed the Spanish meaning it made a lot of money, and they wanted to expand it. They also heard that the Spanish might be - they did not want the French to gain control over the area. moving into territory already claimed by France. The French sent expeditions into Kansas to persuade the Indians who lived here to form trade relationships with What Do the French, not the Spanish. Fort Cavignal was the first permanent European outpost in Kansas. This is a drawing of how the fort might have looked. ​What structures were created to defend the fort? Why do you think the French created these structures?

YOU​ Think?

Despite all the positive encounters European explorers had with Indian tribes, why do you think people saw the Indians as “uncivilized”?

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Bourgmont and Fort Orleans Four years after Du Tisne’s trip, France sent another explorer to try to gain control of present-day Kansas. Etienne Veniard de Bourgmont was sent to establish a relationship with the Kansa and the Plains Apache. French leaders also wanted Bourgmont to set up a fort on the Missouri River. This fort became known as Fort Orleans. It was meant to help the French control the area they claimed, known as the Louisiana Territory, as well as prevent the Spanish from taking their land. A year after Fort Orleans was established, de Bourgmont convinced the Plains Apache to enter into a peace agreement with other tribes. After these expeditions, the French continued to trade in Kansas. However, soon they began to lose influence. When the traders could not supply trade items the Indians wanted, the agreements dissolved. The British also became increasingly interested in trade. The goods offered by the British were often superior to those of the French. To help regulate the fur trade, the French built Fort Cavignal.

This illustration by George Catlin was painted at a Kansa village in 1830. Catlin traveled to the homelands of Native Americans to sketch them. ​Do you think this is an accurate representation of the Kansa? Why or why not?

Kansas  

Portrait    Etienne Veniard de Bourgmont

(1679 - 1734)    ​Though one of the less well-known European explorers to reach the Great Plains, Etienne Veniard de Bourgmont had a big impact on the region. De Bourgmont was born in Normandy, an area in northern France. As a young man, he was caught ​poaching (hunting illegally) on the land of a local monastery. He knew the local army would come to arrest him after he failed to pay the fine for his crime. To avoid arrest, he boarded a ship headed for New France, a colony in North America. New France stretched from what is now Canada in the north to New Orleans along the Mississippi River. For the next several years, de Bourgmont served as a soldier in the French colony. He was stationed at Fort Pontchartrain, near Detroit, Michigan. Then, he got in trouble with the law again. He fled the fort and worked as an illegal trader for the next several years. Also during this time, he married the daughter of a Missouri Indian chief. After an arrest warrant was issued for him, he fled down to Mobile, in what is now Alabama. A few years later, he traveled up the Missouri River to return home. He recorded his observations of the landscape and local Indians on both of these trips. Later explorers relied heavily on these accounts. After a brief trip back to France, the French government was impressed with de Bourgmont’s travels and familiarity with Native American groups. They sent him back to North America to set up forts on the edge of the colony. In 1724, de Bourgmont and his troops built Fort Orleans near what is now Kansas City, Missouri. He later negotiated a peace between several nearby Native American groups, including the Apache and the Comanche. De Bourgmont returned to France again three year later, and was given the title of squire by the king of France as a reward for his work. Too sick to continue his travels, de Bourgmont retired to his family estate. Little is known of the final years of his life, and he died in 1734.

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French Exploration of Kansas

Europeans brought new diseases to the Indians of Kansas. Sometimes there was no one left in a village to hunt or tend the gardens. Some people tried to escape the diseases by running away. However, this only spread the illness.

When Europeans arrived in Kansas, many Indian tribes had already made the region their home. Despite this, European explorers and traders claimed the land and its resources in the name of their king or queen. They did not see Native Americans as equals. Europeans viewed Native Americans as “uncivilized” because they did not speak Europeans languages or practice Christianity. According to the European view, there was no need to involve the Indians in decisions about land and resources. American Indians were asked to give their allegiance to the ​monarch,​ the king or queen of a country. As wars were fought in Europe, Spain and France traded the territory of Kansas back and forth in treaties. Each time, they did not consult, or even inform, the American Indians who lived here. The ​sovereign rights​ (or government authority) of the native peoples were ignored.

European Impact on Kansas Contacts between Indians and Europeans were sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile. Trade brought the native peoples new products such as metal tools and cloth, but it also created economic needs. European traders disrupted the traditional economy of the Indians. As the tribes became dependent on European goods, they then became dependent on the Europeans. Perhaps the biggest consequence of European exploration for American Indians was the spread of disease. Europeans brought new diseases to the plains that Indians had never experienced before. Smallpox, measles, whooping cough, and influenza had a devastating effect on the Indians of Kansas. Because the diseases were new to the continent, American Indians had not built up an ​immunity​ or the ability to resist sickness and infection. Sometimes the population of an entire village died from these diseases.

LESSON 3 REVIEW

Check Your Understanding Know

Analyze

Synthesize

1. What motivated early European explorers?

4. ​Compare what Coronado hope to find in Quivira with what he actually found.

8. E ​ uropean and American explorers often asked American Indians to give to give their allegiance to a foreign nation. What do you think this meant to the Indians? How might they have reacted?

2. Explorers from which European country were the first to visit Kansas? 3. What does indigenous mean? How does it relate to native peoples in North America?

5. ​Why did the French and the Spanish want to maintain control of Kansas? 6. ​How did Europeans treat the American Indians? 7.​ How did disease impact American Indians? Why?

9. W ​ hy do you think Europeans felt they could take American Indian land and resources despite the American Indians living there?

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