COLORADO HISTORY

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COLORADO HISTORY

• THE EXPLORERS

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Christopher ColumbusSails to New World1492
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EXPLORATION

• Spanish were interested in land west of the
  Mississippi River
• Spanish objectives were gold, glory and gospel
• Cabeza de Vaca had been shipwrecked on the Texas
  coast and was told by the Indians of the Seven
  Cities of Gold (Cibola) located to the north.
  (1528)

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CORONADO

• On his way home they passed through the
  southeastern corner of Colorado and were the
  first white men to reach and explore this area

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ULIBARRI

• Juan Ulibarri came into Colorado to capture
  runaway slaves in 1706. He brought with him 40
  troops and 100 Indian allies
• He accomplished the following
• Claimed land for Spain
• Named the San Luis Valley
• Named Colorado Santa Domingo

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DOMINGUEZ/ESCALANTE

• Left Santa Fe in July of 1776
• Both were padres whose purpose was to convert
  tribes north and west of the Colorado River
• Escalante kept a detailed diary
• Crossed Colorado near the San Juan Mountains

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DOMINGUES/ESCALANTE CONT.

• Eventually made it to Utah but then gave up in
  their attempt to reach California
• They looped through Utah and went home to Santa
  Fe
• They had carefully charted and mapped the entire
  area

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CONCLUSION OF SPANISH EXPLORATION

• Trouble existed between the US and Spain over
  boundaries
• In 1819 Spain and the US agreed on a border which
  was the Arkansas River and the 42nd parallel
• By 1848 all of Colorado belonged to the US
• Spain failed to push north of Santa Fe

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FRENCH EXPLORATION

• 17th century
• France challenged Spains control of western
  North America
• Lasalle went down the Mississippi River and
  claimed the whole valley of the Mississippi.
  (including all tributaries) He named it
  Louisiana.
• Soon French traders and explorers began working
  their way up the western branches

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MALLET BROTHERS

• First French in Colorado
• Came up the Platte River, cut across to the
  Arkansas River and entered Colorado
• Named the Platte River-Platte means flat

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Spanish and French Explorers of the Plains blue
Verendrye, 1742-43 green Mallet, 1739-41 red
Coronado, 1541
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FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

• 1763-War ended
• All of French claims went to Spain
• Land west of the Mississippi went to Spain
• Land east of the Mississippi went to Britain
• Canada goes to Britain

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FRANCE

• 1800-Land receded to France
• 1803-Purchased by US for 15 Million

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CONTRIBUTIONS

• Better exploration, maps and Indian trails
• Led the way for the trappers, traders and
  mountain men
• Named Platte

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AMERICAN EXPLORERS

• Thomas Jefferson wanted to explore the Louisiana
  Territory
• Sent Lewis and Clark to the Northwest
• They were the first Americans to explore this
  territory
• They never explored Colorado

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ZEBULON PIKE

• Second American to explore Louisiana he was to
  examine the headwaters of the Arkansas River and
  the Red River
• He began the effort to map Colorado
• Lost Pathfinder
• St. Louis to the Arkansas River to the San Luis
  Valley, up and down the front range near Colorado
  Springs, then to South Park and then left the
  state

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PIKE

• He failed to climb Pikes Peak
• He left the state as he was lost. He was arrested
  in Mexico (on the Conejos River which was in
  Spanish territory)
• He was sent to Santa Fe and then to Chihuahua for
  questioning as a spy (550 miles away)

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PIKE

• Reasons he could be considered a failure
• Failed to find the source of the Red River
• Allowed himself to be captured
• Reasons he is considered a success
• Valuable records of geography and natural
  resources
• He published his records-His journals were
  popular in both the US and Europe (Eng, FR.,
  Ger., and Holland
• Began efforts to map Colorado

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PIKE

• Reasons for success contd
• First American (in England) to describe Pikes
  Peak, the Royal Gorge, South Park, the San Luis
  Valley and the Sangre de Christo mountain range
• He was killed during the War of 1812 serving as a
  brigadier general

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STEPHEN H. LONG

• Second American to lead an expedition to Colorado
• Major in US army-math instructor at West Point
• Follows foothills and rivers-enter on the Platte,
  south to Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo and
  followed the Arkansas out of the state
• 19 men were on this expedition including a
  mapmaker, landscape painter, zoologist,
  physician, botanist and geologist

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LONG

• Journey remembered for inconsequential reasons
• Companion Edwin James climbed Pikes Peak and
  collected the Blue Columbine-Long called this
  James Peak
• Spotted 2-ears Peak (Longs Peak)
• Wrote Great American Desert across his
  map-uninhabitable by a person depending on
  agriculture
• (He later became a RR engineer and invented a new
  type of RR bridge)

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Important events affecting the ownership of
Colorado
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• PreColumbian
• before Columbus
• Native Americans
• in Colorado
• (before 1492)

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• Colonial Claims in the early 1700s

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France loses Louisiana then regains, then
sells land between Mississippi Rockies (1803)
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Mexico wins independence from Spain --- former
Spanish lands are now Mexican (including parts of
Colorado)

• 1810-20

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Mexican American War 1848
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CONCLUSION

• These explorers had done little more than chart
  the rivers and provide basic geographic
  information
• It was left to the mountain men to be the true
  explorers of the Rocky Mountain frontier