The Fertile Land

The new country was fertile and unblemished when the first Europeans landed on the shores of North America.  They found the Indians of the south had many kinds of food the Europeans considered tasty and enjoyable. They had sweet potatoes and many other kinds of root vegetable. Pumpkins, corn, grapes, persimmons, mulberries, all sorts of berries and wild fruits, beans, peas, squash, sunflowers, tobacco, groves of oranges, and cane fields that spread in all directions.

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Fields of golden corn thrived and a wealth of animals abounded. Trout and perch swam in the crystal clear streams. To this wild beautiful land the first explorers came, but they were not interested in the forests and fertile land. They had come to make a name for themselves by finding riches and gold to carry home to the Queen.

All the south was one huge forest that stretched from the Atlantic ocean to the Mississippi river and on to the Gulf of Mexico. Both banks of the Mississippi River were forested all the way to the sea, Trees grew large enough to make dugouts 50 to 60 feet long. The only clear land was land the Indians had cleared for their crops and gardens. Famine as suffered by the northern Indians were unknown here in the fertile south where crops grew in abundance and wild foods were plentiful.

The first explorers after Columbus were not interested in the bounty of the land. They were interested in the gold and riches they expected to find. From a misunderstanding with the Indians their heads were filled with dreams of cities rich with gold and jewels they could loot. In 1521 Spanish slave traders had plans to strike it rich too, by capturing shiploads of Indians to take back to Spain to sale as slaves. They sailed the shores looking for Indians but it isn’t known if they succeeded in that endeavor.

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As early as 1526 Spaniards tried starting a colony along a river in South Carolina. After searching for gold  they settled down by the river for the winter. This attempt was led by Vasquez de Allon. About 150 of his men got home alive but Allon didn’t make it, he was one of many who died from cold and exposure. He was left dead in the wilderness.

Fifty years after Columbus landed in the new country, white men were drawn to this promising adventure as moths are drawn to a flame. Two or more expeditions were always exploring different parts of the country at the same time. Missionaries and people who planned to stay were coming in. The long, hard process of colonizing America would begin.

http://quazen.com/reference/bigraphy/women-settlers-on-the-western-front/

http://quazen.com/reference/biography/mary-mcleod-bethune-miracle-worker/

http://socyberty.com/ethnicity/skin-color-and-children/

http://purpleslinky.com/offbeat/appalachain-colloquialisms/