R.B. Cunninghame Graham, Horse of the Conquest (1930) - illustrations

 Salvete Omnes 

perusing the great Archive World Library I finally came across the 1930 edition of R.B. Cunninghame Graham's 'The Horses of  the Conquest' (University of Oklahoma edition) 

with J. Craig Sheppard's illustrations, which I 'corralled'

for your pleasure:

Enjoy

Valete

Venezuela - slaves, pearls, Germans & La Conquista

 Salvete Omnes,

Venezuela has been much in the news - eg. Miami Herald, 

But let us go back to the very early XVI century, when the Spanish conquistadors, acting on behalf of their monarchs, were sailing from their ports in Santo Domingo and conquering other islands of the Caribbean See and slowly moving their settlements onto la Tierra Firme (the Mainland).

One of those regions of la Tierra Firme was the norther coast of South America, today's Venezuela & Atlantic coast of  Colombia. Columbus/Colon was the first to try to esbalish a permanent settlement in la Tierra Firme during his 4th voyage.  In 1499 sailing from Santa Maria, Spain, Alonso de Ojeda and his fleet sailed along the Columbus 4th voyage route, and entered the Gulf of Venezuela and the Lake Maracaibo.  There he saw houses built on stilts over the water and he christened the land - Venezuela (Little Venice). At the Gulf of Uraba our Alonso de Ojeda founded Villa de San Sebastian, end settlement after Columbus' one in la Tierra Firme.

Along the Venezuelean coasts the Spaniards (and others acting in their service) attempted to establish forts already in 1500AD, but the scarce resources and often fierce resistance from the natives derailed these plans.
However, the many thousands of gold hungry settlers who came to La Espanola/ Santo Domingo, later Cuba and other islands,  also started conducting naval slaving raids along the coast, looking for slaves, gold, pearls, Brazil wood; the island of Cubagua was attracting colonization attempts due to the rich pearl deposits. The attempts further east mapped the mouth of the Orinoco River 
... The Franciscan and Dominican monks, Bartolome de las Casas among them, voiced their desire to Christianize the natives in the peaceful manner and with the king's blessing and commendation also established missions sailing from the Caribean ports. But more often than not these missions failed, destroyed by the native warriors. Islands of Aruba and Margarita, very close to Venezuelan coast,  were taken by the Spanish conquistadors.
The warrior-like Carib people of the coast did not prevent of the establishment of  three settlements, Nueva Cadiz (famous for the oyster pearls, infamous for slave-diver  force labor, but destroyed by the tsunami in 1541) in 1515AD/1528AD,  Santa Ana de Coro in 1525AD , and Cumana (used to be called la Atenas venezolana) at the mouth of the Manzanares river in the east 1515AD. Cumana was established in the country of the Carib Indians (then the Cumanagoto tribes under el cacique  Maraguey) , and from the start punitive raids were led by the royal leaders, like capitan Gonzalo de Ocampo. Perhaps the first horses came with the entrada de Ocampo in 1515/1516AD.

In the summer of 1527AD incorruptible Juan de Ampies/Ampues, acting under orders from the Real Audiencia in Santo Domingo, landed in the dry scrubby coast of Paraguana Peninsula, where he founded said Coro. He made amicable and peaceable overtures and treaties with the natives, hence it was a short period of law and order and somewhat peaceful coexistence.  

Then in 1528 CarlosI/Charles V, king of Spanish realms, who was embroiled in the Italian wars  with France, needed money and his bankers, the Welsers, gave him a loan in echange for a indefinite lease in the newly established Coquivacoa (province of Venezuela), known to the Germans ad Klein-Venedig. 
King Carlos obligated the bankers to found two cities, forts and give him one fifth of all profits, but the sly bankers ignored those provisions, reasoning that the land was an ocean away. So begun the German episode of La Conquista in the XVI century. 

Their first governor was one Ambrosio Alfinger (Ehinger), who left Spain via the port of Sanlucar de Barrameda and reasonably quickly landed in 1529AD, took possession of Coro from de Ampues, who went on to protest to la Espanola. Alfinger founded Maracaibo,  and started campaigning against the natives in search of gold, pearls, slaves, and lands. Alfinger's troops massacred whole villages and razed the country from Coro, across the llanos y the Andean cordillera to Cucuta in present Colombia. Alfinger died from the wounds while fighting the Chitareros Indians in 1533AD.

The next Welsers' governor was Hans Seissenhofer, known as Juan Aleman to the Spanish,  then came George Hohermuth von Speyer (Jorge de Espira),  the first official searcher for El Dorado between 1535-1538AD. He died in Coro in 1539 or 1540AD.

Then his lieutenant Nicolas Federmann of Ulm represented the Weslers. We could note that for his transgressions against Alfinger  - the search with troops, including mounted troops, for the route to Asia in the Orinoco basin in 1530 - he was first banished to Augusburg,  where he wrote his Indian History. Back in Venezuela in 1535AD he led many expeditions across the lands, reaching Guajira Peninsula in 1535AD, and in 1538 marched his little army into what was the eastern Muisca Confederation in Colombia,  crossed into La Pampa de Bogota, and in 1539 re-founded the city of Bogota, along with Sebastian de Belalcazar and Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada - all famous conquistadores. He was accused of being a Lutheran and recieved no posts from the king Carlos V. He returned to Europe, was sued by the Welsers and died in prison in Valladolid in  1542AD. Nota bene 64 soldiers from the Bogota expedition received their economiendas from the royal chancery. 

The final conquistador and German official or governor was  Philip von Hutten (Felipe de Utre). In search of riches and wealth he undertook large scale 'entrada' into the Amazon Basin searching for El Dorado  in 1541-45AD, and there during the El Dorado expedition he was wounded while fighting the Omagua tribal warriors. 

His long expedition for riches and wealth came to nothing and he returned much weaker in power and support, facing political challenges. His duties of governonr, like spreading Christianity among the native tribes neglected, settlements left to their own measures etc like Maracaibo and Coro.
He founded various settlements during his expeditions, but he was absent and the Council found his replacement, Juan de Carvajal who took some settlers from Coro and founded his one settlement of  El Tocuyo. There de Utre, along with younger Bartholomeus Welser (son of the king's banker of the same name), confronted his replacement Juan de Carvajal.  The Germans was ambushed, disarmed,  chained and finally killed on the spot by de Carvajal and his people. De Utre left a manuscript  titled ''News from the Indies from Junker Philipp Hutten" (German: Zeitung aus India Junkher Philipps von Hutten), published in Germany in 1785AD.

The last acting official of Welsers' governors was perhaps Melchior Gruber (he was a mayor of Coro in the 1550s),  but  in 1546 Carlos V proclaimed the end of the Welsers' grant. But in law the grant lasted until 1556AD, when Spanish king abdicated in favor of his son, Felipe II.  So ended the German participation in the Spanish Crown conquista of Venezuela.

There are many articles and books written about this Klein Vedig of the Germans in Venezuela. 

Giovanna Montenegro published a book, German Conquistadors in Venezuela ( University of Notre Dame PRess, 2022)

ps
one day I may write a bit about opening of the llanos and cattle and horse ranching in that Spanish America in the XVI century.

Valete

1521-2021 -Tenochtitlan - 1

 Salvete Omnes,

 

the last month of this 2021 Ad has started - 

 

and I think time has come to spend some time with the very round anniversary that we had this year, i.e., the Spanish-Tlaxcaltecan conquest of the Triple Alliance of  Mexicas (in popular parlance known as the Aztec Empire) and their vast and rich empire.. Awesome murals on the Tlaxcaltecan history in the city of Tlaxcala, Mexico.
 

I could start with the horses Cortes' 'legion' brought from Cuba landing in the American continent near present day Vera Cruz, Mexico(properly la Villa Rica de Vera Cruz). Yep, Cuba's green meadows and spaces were the true motherlands of the American horse in the XVI century Western Hemisphere.

But let us start,(and there will be lots of links in this thread,a s Spanish and Mexican and other scholars mad plenty of most interesting presentations on the conquest of Mexica ),  with a link to a presentation by a historian Carlos Martinez Shaw, via Fundacion Juan March, titled The True story of Herman Cortes (in Spanish with subtitles).
why starting with Cortes, well, without Hernan and later his lover and companion La Malinche aka dona Marina there would be a different story, and with don Hernan, somewhat a student of Latin and law from the Valladolid and Salamanca Universities begins the most epic conquest in the last 500 years, done from horseback and with a lance and sword, firearms and crossbows, and other meas of war. Cortes was one the most talented and astute military commanders in the history of the art of war, and only because of the political correctness and other shenanigans he is presented as odious, hateful, racist and despicable  amoral character etc... 

It would be an injustice to not to provide a link to the story, complex as it may be, of the most famous or infamous woman in the history of indigenous Americas  la Malinche, Malintzin, as presented by  Dr Margo Glantz,  In English, hmm., I can suggest this presentation from the heartland of the Olmec/Popolucan native Veracruzans, a bit different but interesting.

Also, I will link other presentations and lectures from  the CEHM Fundación Carlos Slim - perhaps adding a link on La Malinche with the presentation by dr Andrea Martínez Baracs about the Tlaxcaltecas and their relationship with Cortes.

Note that already a 100 years ago one researcher and horseman Cunninghame Graham wrote profusely about the Age of Conquest, including his fine work  titled the Horses of Conquest - dedicated to the horses of this military conquest. And I will using this work and quoting from it too.

on Academia there various works available,so enjoy browsing various subjects.

 also note, that the  great Spanish painter Augusto Ferrer Dalmau has been painting various aspects of the Conquista - on Facebook you can look for his page and enjoy the artworks etc or directly on his webpage here.

well,  I have started

Valete

Horse in the Americas - post AD 1492 - timeline

Salvete omnes,
part of my little research about the horse in the Americas during the Age of Conquest etc, I would like to introduce some date, although they may be subject to later corrections and or explanations.

I own some books on the horses of the America, and would love to read many more and own them too  - :) ; in this context prominently among my collections figure three books:
R.B. Cunninghame Graham, Horse of the Conquest (2004)
Deb Bennet, Conquerors, The Roots of New World Horsemanship (1998)
Robert M. Denhardt, The Horse of the Americas (1975)
Mr Denhardt, the Quarter Horse historian, provides in his book a short timeline for the horse appreance and/or establishment in the Spanish Main,Tierra Firme, and further south in the South America (including the Portuguese possessions).
So goes the list (all A.D. dates)a bit edited by my hand:
1493 - Española (little Spain) or Hispaniola (Caribbean island of Santo Domingo shared between San Domingo and Haiti)
1508 - Puerto Rico
1509-24 - Jamaica
1510 -14( Denhardt) - Vasco Nunez de Balboa beginning of conquest of Panama (Tierra Firme)
1511 - Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar beginning of conquest of Cuba
1519-1595 - Mexico
1530 - Brazil
1532 - Peru
1535 - Bolivia
1536-42 - Argentina, Southern Brazil & Paraguay
1538 - Venezuela*, Colombia
1541- Chile
US side:
1521 - Ponce de Leon entrada - aborted - I am not sure if he landed his horses (got to read about this part)
1527 - Panfilo Narvaez entrada in Florida - mythical beginning of the horse in the US territories
1539-42  - Hernando de Soto entrada in Florida and the American South - mythical horse origin in Texas etc
1540-42 Coronado's 'entrada' in the Southwest US - another mythical date for the mustangs in the US
1598 -  Juan de Ońate entrada and conquest of New Mexico - beginning of the horse breeding in the continental US.

as time will show I hope to get into these dates as facts gathered from the primary/secondary sources will allow
meantime enjoy the Indian Summer

*German conquistadors with the Spanish king mandate landed their dogs, armor, firearms and  horses in 1528AD, but landings with horses in Venezuela had occurred from 1515AD.

Columbian exchange & horse in the Americas

Salve,
well, from the northern Europe of the Bronze Age lets jump to Anno Domini 1492, as today is Columbus Day/Fiesta Nacional de Espana / el Dia de la Raza  etc,  thus  another anniversary of the beginning of our modern Americas.

Incidentally, on this day we, the horse people, celebrate or should celebrate the return of equus caballus to the Americas - obviously the date is general, as the horses did not arrive AD 1492, but begun arriving with the Colon's (Columbus) second voyage of conquest and settlement  and so on, in la Hispanola(1493), Cuba(1494) and later continuing onto the mainland with the entradas.
I want to signal the new thread in my blogging - that is the Age of La Conquista (Conquest), Colonial Spanish empire and the horse in the Americas.
Slowly, probably very slowly but surely, for I really enjoy studying this period of the horse history.

We are blessed with abundant primary sources for this period, and later secondary works, and nowadays in the Age of Internet many previously inaccessible article and books can be read directly in one's computer.
I hope to corral for us all some interesting equestrian histories and art, including some of my own.

....so, to begin with this thread, I would like to bring to your attention the person of a conquistador, cavalryman and later a lay priest Juan de Castellanos who wrote and later published his epic and very long poem - Elegias de varones ilustres de Indias,; in there de Castellanos put the following verses as allegedly spoken by some conquistador companions during la entrada of Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada and the conquest of Nueva Granada (Colombia), crude words spoken upon a desperate victory over some brave native warriors in or near the valley of Opon:
[fragment can be easily translated via google translate]
Tierra buena, tierra buena,
Tierra que hara fin a nuestra pena.
Tierra de oro, tierra bastecida
Tierra para hacer perpetua casa.
Tierra con abundacia de comida,
Tierra de grandes pueblos, tierra rasa,
Tierra donde se ve gente vestida
Tierra de bendicion, clara y serena,
Tierra que hara fin a nuestra pena.
[1857 edition, p. 309-10, can be read or downloaded from archive.org]

Monument to Pizarro and his horse in Lima, Peru

For the victorious Spanish conquistadors the conquered land would be the land of prosperity and wealth, and so would the Americas prove themselves to be the greatest land for the horses.
But first the horses would replenish and grow abundant in the Caribbean pastures, before really making for the continent with the conquistadors. we could say that the American horses were born in the Caribbean in the early XVI century.
ps
I have been watching the Spanish Kingdom (Spain) troubled internal conflicts taking place in their autonomous regions, especially in Catalonia (but Pais Vasco is not far behind nor is Galicia etc).