CONQUEST OF
AMERICA
The
dramatic story of exploration, conquest and colonization
of North America
Narrated by Emmy®
Award winning actor Jeffrey Wright, the four-part epic
adventure saga airs March 28 and 29 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on
The History Channel
Some came seeking
incredible riches. Others sought an elusive sea passage
to the Orient. Still others, personal glory. CONQUEST OF
AMERICA, a four-part special presentation, tells the
story of the exploration of North America through the
words of the men who undertook the journeys. CONQUEST OF
AMERICA airs Monday, March 28 and Tuesday, 29 at 9:00
– 11:00 ET/PT on The History Channel.
Emmy-Award winning
actor Jeffrey Wright narrates the special.
CONQUEST OF AMERICA
is an epic saga full of great adventures, foolish quests,
unspeakable cruelty, unimaginable bravery and an
unquenchable thirst for glory and riches. It is a story
of lost cities of gold, legendary sea passages to China,
religious wars, national pride, mutiny on the high seas
and uprisings in unfamiliar lands. CONQUEST OF AMERICA is
a story of European politics and intrigue. Wars fought
over religion and trade in the Old World will have dire
repercussions for colonists, conquerors, and conquered an
ocean away.
Each episode of
CONQUEST OF AMERICA crystallizes the conquest of a
different geographical region of North America by
focusing on a primary explorer in that territory:
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in the Southwest; Pedro
Menendez and Jean Ribault in the Southeast; Henry Hudson
in the Northeast; and Vitus Bering and Nicolai Rezanov in
the Pacific Northwest. These stories play like amazing
action-adventure tales, taken from the explorers' own
journals, and the letters and writings of eyewitnesses.
Dramatic dialog and scenes throughout are derived from
the historical records; diaries of Europeans, and the
oral histories of Native American participants.
The special is shot
on location in New Mexico, Northern and Southern
California, Washington State, Florida, Alaska, Maine,
Connecticut, Maryland and along the Hudson River. It
features breathtaking scenery, replica boats and dramatic
reenactments. The series also draws on period maps and
drawings. Historians add insight and perspective to the
narrative.
EPISODE ONE: THE
SOUTHWEST (airs Monday, March 28 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT)
follows Mexican governor Francisco Vasquez de Coronado's
amazing three-year journey in search of the golden city
of Cibola, a journey that will take him over 7,000 miles
of territory from Kansas to Arizona, past the Grand
Canyon. Immediately after returning from the expedition,
he is put on trial for cruelty to the Pueblo Indians.
EPISODE TWO: THE
SOUTHEAST (airs Monday, March 28 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT)
tells about the establishment of a French colony of Fort
Caroline (in modern Florida), and the Spanish attempt to
quash it and how the rivalries of European nations for
new lands and the political and religious climate back
home often determined life and death in these colonies.
EPISODE THREE: THE
NORTHEAST (airs Tuesday, March 29 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT)
sets sail with ambitious adventurer Henry Hudson and his
quest for a northern sea passage to Asia. Although he
fails and eventually is set adrift after a mutiny, he
will be immortalized for his discovery of the Hudson
River, which sets in motion the conquest of the Northeast
and the establishment of a Dutch colony at the tip of the
Hudson that will someday become New York City.
EPISODE FOUR: THE
NORTHWEST (airs Tuesday, March 29 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT)
follows the Russians led by Vitus Bering as they settle
along the Alaskan islands and Pacific Northwest in search
of something more valuable than gold—sea otter
pelts, which can be sold in China for huge profits. When
the Spaniards get wind of Russian activity in the region,
they raced to establish their own settlements along the
West Coast.
In their pursuit of
riches and glory, the flawed heroes of CONQUEST OF
AMERICA devote their lives to unfulfilled quests,
sometimes unaware of what they have found or that they
have begun the conquest of a continent far richer than
anything in their wildest dreams, a continent of
limitless natural resources and economic potential. And
as conquest paves the way for colonization, it will
ultimately be farmers, artisans, and merchants who lay
the slow, painstaking groundwork of building new lives in
a new land.
CONQUEST OF AMERICA
is produced by Lone Wolf Documentary Group for The
History Channel. Executive Producer for The History
Channel is Margaret Kim. Lisa Wolfinger and Rocky Collins
produced and directed for Lone Wolf Documentary Group.
Now reaching more
than 87 million Nielsen subscribers, The History Channel®,
"Where the Past Comes Alive®,"
brings history to life in a powerful manner and provides
an inviting place where people experience history
personally and connect their own lives to the great lives
and events of the past. In 2004, The History Channel
earned five News and Documentary Emmy® Awards and
previously received the prestigious Governor's Award from
the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the
network's "Save Our History®"
campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history
education. The History Channel web site is located at www.History.com. Press Only: For more information and
photography please visit us on the web at
www.historychannelpress.com.
“CONQUEST
OF NORTH AMERICA”
A Four-Hour
Mini-Series
By Lone Wolf
Documentary Group for
THE HISTORY CHANNEL.
“We, who live
in the United States, we like our country and we think
it's a great place. But, it's a little hard for us
sometimes to imagine that to a 16th century European the
bulk of North America seemed to be an inhospitable,
savage land that had very little value, that in fact was
a major inconvenience because it stood in their way of a
convenient sea route to get to Asia. And so, it is kind
of a blow to our egos to realize that for the most part,
the early conclusions about North America was that it was
not only useless but it was highly inconvenient that it
even existed. It is one of the great ironies of
history.”
Historian, Ron
Fritze, author of “The New World”:
This is an epic saga
full of slaves and kings; science and magic; great
adventures and foolish quests; unspeakable cruelty,
unimaginable bravery and an unquenchable thirst for gold,
power and fame. This is a story of Lost Cities of Gold,
legendary sea passages to China, and sea monsters
guarding the edge of a flat earth.
It is an epic worthy
of J.R.R. Tolkien. As in "The Lord of the Rings"
the will of nations and the forces of destiny fall on
just a few. Perhaps it is always this way. In our own
space race, the weight of international Cold War politics
fell ultimately onto the shoulders of Yuri Gagarin, John
Glenn, Neil Armstrong and a handful of others.
In the CONQUEST OF
AMERICA the Europeans with the right stuff are Coronado,
Menendez, Ribault, Hudson, and Bering.
They are not all
heroes. They do not all perform admirably. But they are
all in the right place at the right time. If one trait
unites them, it is that they are the type of man who
never gives up. Each of the European explorer’s
stories (taken from their own journals, and the letters,
writings and drawings of eyewitnesses) is a wild
action-adventure tale.
CONQUEST OF AMERICA
is a story of five European nations and five hundred
American Indian nations, large and small. Each is engaged
in nearly constant war with each other, although
allegiances shift like the wind. Virtually all of these
many nations become caught up in their own civil wars
during the 400-year span of our plot.
Many of these civil
wars are fought over religion, because this was the age
of the Spanish Inquisition, the Reformation, the
Counter-Reformation, and the St. Bartholomew’s Day
Massacre. Religious faith cuts across national
boundaries, sometimes making strange bedfellows.
Catholics and Protestants rarely hesitate to rob,
plunder, rape and murder one another in the name of their
God and King.
Holding our
far-reaching plot together is a single through-line which
we will develop slowly over four hours: The early
Europeans conquerors of North America were motivated by
stories of fabulous wealth, perhaps surpassing that found
in South America by Cortes and others. When they did not
find it, their motivation changed: Now North America
became an obstacle at best in the way of a legendary sea
passage to the Orient and all the riches of the Spice
trade. And so, our heroes devote their lives in
unfulfilled quests, unaware that they have found and have
begun the conquest of a continent far richer than
anything in their wildest dreams. Our series ends with
the dawning realization by the European invaders of the
early 19th century in the Pacific Northwest
that AMERICA is a land of limitless natural resources and
economic potential.
Our story of
conquest paves the way for colonization. America was
first explored by adventurers from the nobility (remnants
of the feudal knight class) who were looking for instant
wealth, countries to lord over, and pagans to convert.
But America was ultimately conquered by a new class of
farmers, artisans, and merchants who did the slow,
painstaking groundwork necessary to build new lives in a
new land. In hour three: the story of Henry Hudson’s
voyages of discovery, our hour ends with the Dutch colony
of New Amsterdam, a vibrant, polyglot community that will
someday become one of the most powerful cities in the
world: New York City.
The episodes:
We will focus on the
stories of just a handful of individual Europeans (and
their Native American counterparts, such as the infamous,
“el Turk” in the Southwest episode and the
powerful Chief Saturiba in the Southeast episode) whose
stories have come down to us in writing, allowing us to
tell this sweeping tale.
Hour one: Conquest
of the Southwest: “Coronado’s Quest for
Gold.”
Some have claimed
that Frenchmen, Irish, Welsh, Africans, Chinese or maybe
Norse Vikings made it to North America before 1492. But
it was Columbus’ discovery of the Caribbean Islands
that touched off a mad European scramble for conquest and
possession of the new continent.
By 1535, Spain is
the dominant colonial power in South America and Mexico.
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado is the young governor of a
Mexican Province.
But no European
country has yet succeeded in conquering the lands to the
north. English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch
sailors have explored parts of the East Coast, but few
have set foot on shore and only a couple have ventured
inland.
One of those few is
Cabeza de Vaca, treasurer of an early mission to conquer
Florida until a shipwreck landed him in Texas. For eight
years de Vaca lived in the desert as a captive of
Indians.
Coronado sends Fray
Marcos de Niza on a journey to the north, to New Mexico,
to explore the lands that de Vaca has told him about.
When Marcos returns he brings legends of a wealthy,
golden, “Asian” city, called Cibola. Coronado
immediately puts together an expedition to take the gold
from these Indians, just as Cortes and Pisarro had taken
gold from the Aztecs and Maya in Mexico and Peru.
Coronado rides north with 340 Spanish soldiers, 300
Indian allies, women, children, and 1000 Native American
and African slaves.
Over the next 3
years, Coronado and his men will fight their way through
some 7000 miles of hostile wilderness, conquering pueblos
in New Mexico, and Arizona. They find the Grand Canyon
and some of his men travel as far northeast as Kansas. It
is one of the great quests of all times. Coronado will go
farther than any man before him into the heart of this
strange New World.
While Coronado is
still on his quest, Rodriguez Cabrillo sails north from
Baja California to explore the coast of what is now the
U.S. state of California. He breaks a leg in a skirmish
with Indians (who have already heard rumors of the brutal
‘bearded men’ and know not to trust them).
Cabrillo dies of gangrene on one of the Channel Islands.
Coronado’s
mission is, in many ways, a failure. Coronado proved to
Spain that if the desert Southwest is rich in anything,
it is not gold but people. The next Spanish efforts in
this region would seek to conquer those natives through
missionary endeavors. 67 years after Cornado (in 1607,
thirteen years before Plymouth Colony was settled by the
Mayflower Pilgrims) the town of Santa Fe, New Mexico, was
established. Santa Fe is the oldest European community
west of the Mississippi.
Hour Two: Conquest
of Southeast: “Massacre at Matanzas.”
Ponce de Leon
discovered Florida in 1513 ... though he believed it to
be an island. He was killed by Indians while trying to
build a colony there. Hernando de Soto launched another
ill-fated mission to conquer Florida in 1539. In search
of gold, he marched through Alabama, Louisiana ... all
the way to the Mississippi River, and claimed all this
territory for Spain. But he too was killed by the natives
who believed the land was theirs.
At this time the
Spanish already had enormously profitable colonies in
Peru and Mexico. But the land to the North was not so
easy to exploit: gold and silver were harder to find. The
Indians proved much harder to enslave.
It was French
Huguenots in 1565, escaping persecution in Catholic
France, who established the first serious attempt at a
European colony – with women and children as well as
men - in what is now the continental United States. Their
leader was a skilled Protestant seaman, Jean Ribault. But
the French colony, called Fort Caroline, was located in
territory claimed by Spain. Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the
dashing Captain General of the Spain’s treasure
fleet was sent to put a stop to it.
The dramatic and
action-packed story of the French colony at Fort
Caroline, in modern Florida, will form the spine of this
second hour. This story is the perfect vehicle to tell
the story of the conquest of the Southeast because not
only is it important in its own right, but this one story
encompasses and epitomizes many elements that will be
repeated in every early European colony – the
reliance of the settlers on local Indians for food; the
way the Europeans try to pit various Indian tribes
against one another; the constant hope for gold that
drives all exploration; the rivalry among European
countries for new lands; the political and religious
climate at home that often determines the life and death
of the colonies; and the raw brutality of life in the
American wilderness.
This story also
points to the future: it ends with Menendez establishing
a settlement at Saint Augustine ... the oldest
continuously occupied town in the United States.
Hour Three: Conquest
of the Northeast: “Mutiny! Henry Hudson’s
Voyages of Discovery.”
By 1600, the Spanish
have successfully conquered much of South America ... but
nothing north of Mexico and Florida. The French, English
and Dutch are vying to conquer the Northeast and to find
that legendary passage to Asia that will finally give
them an advantage over the Spanish.
Henry Hudson's story
epitomizes the burning ambition behind all exploration at
that time: the quest for the ultimate prize: the
legendary passage to the Orient and easy access to
uncalculable wealth. Maps created by Hudson's
predecessors: Cabot, Cartier, Drake, Verazzano fuel his
dreams to succeed where others have failed.
Henry Hudson's love
of adventure leads him through four dramatic voyages of
discovery in as many years. The first two, for the
English Muscovy Company, are cut short by adverse
weather. When the Muscovy Company refuses to sponsor any
more expeditions, Hudson turns to the Dutch. In 1609,
after a year of clever negotiations, Hudson sets sail for
the New World flying Dutch colors in the Halve Maen , or
Half Moon.
Hudson’s
historic journey will eventually take him up what is now
known as the Hudson River as far as Albany.
Hudson’s
journey is rife with conflict and intrigue. His crew, led
by his nemesis, the embittered navigator, Robert Juet,
delight in mistreating, torturing, raping, and killing
the native Indians. Juet will eventually lead a mutiny
and set Hudson adrift in June of 1611. Hudson is never
seen again.
But his discoveries
help set in motion the final conquest of what is now the
Northeast of the United States. The Dutch colony at
Manhattan is a model of multi-culturalism that has a
profound impact on the future of American democracy and
culture. And in 1620, the Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock
to establish their religious colony ... setting in motion
another powerful trend that will lead to America becoming
a nation of immigrants.
Hour Four: Conquest
of the NorthWest: “Alaskan Cossacks”
Russians had begun
exploring Alaska and the Pacific Northwest starting in
the 1640s. The first “expeditions” were made by
fearless Siberian and Cossack fur traders, who managed to
reach the Alaskan Islands on rafts made of logs, sap and
leather.
But by the time of
Catherine the Great, in the 1750s, men like Vitus Bering
(discoverer of the Bering Strait) have begun to map out
the territory and establish trading posts. The Pacific
Northwest, extending down the Canadian Coast to Northern
California, possesses something worth more than gold: sea
otter pelts. Bought for pennies from the Indians, they
were sold in China for 10000% profit.
In 1765, in a Saint
Petersburg ballroom, Czarina Catherine the Great lets
slip to a gathering of French, British and Spanish
diplomats that Russia has settlers in America. When
pressed by the diplomats, she leaves it at that, saying,
“I’ve said too much already.”
This slip of the
tongue sends the French, British and especially Spanish
scrambling to find out what is really happening in the
Northwest: the last un-explored region of North America.
King Charles II of
Spain has inherited the colony of Mexico, which is not
nearly as profitable since the gold mines ran out.
Although Spain has long claimed America’s west
coast, in 260 years they have sent no more than a few
ships to plant crosses and make ceremonial claims.
That is about to
change, as the King orders his governor of Mexico to send
troops and missionaries north to confront the Russians.
Marching over 500 miles of grizzly-infested desert,
mountains and chaparral, Captain Gaspar de Portola and
Father Junipero Serra finally arrive in Monterey. They
establish a string of tiny missions and forts along the
“Camino Real” between San Diego and Carmel.
Father Serra flagellates himself with a barbed rope at
night, and proselytizes by day.
The northernmost
Spanish outpost at San Francisco is established six days
before the signing of the U.S. Declaration of
Independence.
Meanwhile, the
Russian settlements are growing larger under the
leadership of a bear of a man, rugged fur trader
Aleksandr Baranov. Baranov marries the daughter of the
Indian chief to seal an alliance. They stay loyal to one
another for 27 years and have many children.
Britain also has
claims to the Pacific Northwest, and in 1778, Captain
Cook accidentally discovered the Russians’ secret.
Looking for a “northeast passage” to the
Atlantic Ocean, he is given some sea otter pelts by the
Nootka Indians. He has no idea what it is worth until one
of his men sells a single pelt for 10 pounds to a Chinese
merchant. His men almost mutiny in their eagerness to
return to the Northwest Coast of America (instead they go
to Hawaii, where Cook is killed).
The Russian colony
is extremely profitable for a time. Baranov builds
himself a castle in Sitka, elegantly furnished. There are
grand balls with women in silk dresses. Although there
are early brutal battles with Indian warriors (Baranov is
almost killed in one) the Russians gradually build
alliances with the Indians unlike the other European
countries. Russians and Indians inter-marry regularly.
They are allies in the fur trade. Indians who convert to
the Russian Orthodox religion can become priests in it.
The Spanish colonial
missions stand in sharp contrast: Indians who convert to
Catholicism are whipped and put to work. Religion is a
means of thought control.
But the Russian
colonies run into trouble by over-hunting the sea otters.
They spread further and further south. Desperate during a
particularly harsh year, 1806, Baranov sends Count
Rezanov south to beg the Spanish for food. He is refused
for weeks, but (perhaps inspired by Baranov’s
marriage to the Aleut Princess) Rezanov succeeds by
marrying the daughter of the Spanish Commander.
Rezanov returns to
Alaska, then sails directly to Saint Petersburg for
permission to marry a Roman Catholic. He dies on the way
... but so isolated is the Russian settlement that Dona
Concepcion does not learn of her husband’s death for
36 years.
In 1812, Baranov
sends another group of soldiers south to establish Fort
Ross in what they call New Albion (California). The fort
is a mere 90 miles north of San Francisco – a
day’s sail. The Spanish and Russians co-exist
peacefully but tensely for many years.
World events largely
pass this part of the world by ... Napoleon, the War of
1812, the establishment of the 49th parallel
as the border of Canada... before the 1840s there were
only a few thousand Europeans in California.
But that is about to
change. In 1841, the Russians sold Fort Ross to a local
farmer named John Sutter.
Seven years later,
Sutter discovers gold in California, and the real
conquest of the Northwest finally begins.
Style:
As in “The
Lord of the Rings” the stories of individual
adventurers will be tied together by highly visual
montage sequences with dramatic narration (in the recent
Lord of the Rings movies, these sections were read by
Cate Blanchett who helped give the narration a powerful
mythic force).
The imagery in these
narrated montages will come from all available sources:
maps, paintings, drawings, breathtaking location scenery,
and evocative reenacments. Narratively, these sections
will set up the historical backstory so that our audience
will be able to focus on the “Heroic Journey”
of our individual explorers.
The tales of
individual explorers will make up the bulk of our screen
time. They will be told in the words of eyewitnesses as
much as possible, with the help of historians and
narration when necessary for clarity and perspective.
These exploration sections will rely heavily on bold but
accurate dramatizations with dialogue derived from
original source material.
Each of the four
episodes will be shot on location. New Mexico and
California for the Southwest, “Quest for Gold,”
the story of Coronado’s epic march through the
Southwest in 1540. Florida for the Southeast:
“Massacre at Matanzas,” the struggle between
the French and the Spaniards in 1565 over control of
Florida. The Hudson River and Newfoundland for the
Northeast: “Mutiny!” The story of Henry
Hudson’s voyages of discovery between 1607 and 1610,
and Alaska for the Northwest: “Alaskan
Cossacks,” the story of the Russian fur trade in the
18th and 19th century.
Breathtaking
scenery, compelling dramatizations, Native American
Indian participation, horses and replica ships will make
the CONQUEST OF NORTH AMERICA, THC’s marquee series
event of MARCH 2005.
Episode One –
The Southwest (Airs March 28 at 9:00 PM ET/PT)
By 1540 the Spanish
have conquered the Aztecs and Incas of Mexico and Peru. A
conquistador looking for new lands has only one way to go
– North. Indians tell the conquerors of wealthy
civilizations, which the Spanish believe are the fabled
lost cities of gold. The assignment to find them goes to
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, the young governor of a
province in northern Mexico.
On February 22,
1540, Vazquez de Coronado mounts the largest expedition
of conquest yet assembled in North America. Over 300
Europeans and a thousand Mexican Indian allies set out to
find the Seven Golden Cities of Cibola. Vazquez de
Coronado pledges that violence will not be used against
native tribes. But, that will end up an empty promise.
After about three months and just days away from Cibola,
he comes under attack. He manages to fight them off and
presses towards his mark. Upon arrival in Cibola, he
claims it for the Spanish crown. But there is no gold.
And the natives have no intention of cooperating. Two
civilizations with their own traditions and rules of
warfare, with no way to communicate with one another and
no common ground, are about to face off.
On July 7, the
Battle of Cibola takes place. Vazquez de Coronado is
wounded but survives, and the Spanish prevail. Determined
to find riches, he sends his men in all directions,
"to find if there is anything worthwhile, to suffer
every hardship rather than abandon this enterprise."
Vazquez de Coronado's men—in search of the Pacific
Ocean—discover the Grand Canyon, but look at it as
an obstacle, not with awe.
The quest continues
into winter. Desperate for food and clothing, the
conquistadors begin raiding Indian villages, and a war
breaks out that lasts through the winter. The Spanish lay
siege to the Indian pueblos. Hundreds of natives perish.
Vazquez de Coronado ruthlessly cuts off the hands and
noses of warriors from various pueblos, making them
examples for anyone who would defy the Spanish.
The next spring,
Vazquez de Coronado pushes east toward Quivira, home to
much gold and silver, according to a captured Indian
known only as "The Turk." The three-month
journey leads them into present-day Kansas. But, to his
dismay, there are no riches. The Turk is executed, and
Coronado heads back to Mexico.
As Vazquez de
Coronado's mission limps home, an expedition led by Juan
Rodriguez Cabrillo leaves for California. Cabrillo
becomes a victim of Coronado's cruelty. Many Californian
Indians do not trust any Spaniard because of what they
have heard about Coronado's atrocities, and they take it
out on Cabrillo's men with extreme prejudice.
Two years after
returning to Mexico, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado is put
on trial for cruelty to the Indians. He is eventually
exonerated. While Coronado's mission can be deemed a
failure, it does prove that there are no mythical riches
in the region. It will be almost 60 years before
Spaniards begin building small settlements in New Mexico,
and almost 250 years before more Spaniards establish
missionary outposts in California, (as a response to the
threat of Russian encroachment from the North: see
episode 4.) Thus, one of the first areas in North America
to be explored is the last to be settled.
Episode Two –
The Southeast (Airs March 28 at 10:00 PM ET/PT)
Old World rivalries
spill over onto the virgin soil of Florida as France and
Spain clash over their ambitions for a New World Empire.
Spain’s ability
to amass great wealth in gold and silver from her South
American colonies drives other European countries mad
with envy. But, Spain has yet to establish a colony in
North America, and France sees an opportunity. Although
France and Spain are officially at peace, French
privateers prey on Spain's fleet of treasures, the
economic lifeline of the empire.
In June 1562,
Catherine de Medici, the Queen Regent of France,
sanctions a secret expedition to explore the southeast
coast of North America. The French, led by Jean Ribault,
arrive without alerting the Spanish of their presence. A
handful of men are left behind to start a colony, while
Ribault returns to France to resupply. But, before he can
return, war between Catholics and Protestants (or
Huguenots) breaks out in France and Ribault flees to
England. When relations sour between the two countries,
Ribault is arrested.
By 1563, the
Catholics defeat the Protestants, and France begins
preparations to send a ship back to their North American
colony. The Protestant French believe they can prove
their worth by joining this expedition to expand
France’s empire overseas. With Ribault still a
prisoner in England, Rene de Laudonniére, Ribault's
second in command, is tapped to lead the expedition. But
before he ships out, he is informed by a handful of
colonial survivors who managed to return to France that
the original colony collapsed from starvation and Indian
attacks shortly after Ribault left.
On June 22, 1564,
the French land near present-day Jacksonville, Florida
and establish Fort Caroline. As months go by, food
supplies begin to dwindle, and relations with the Indians
deteriorate. In October, Ribault is released from prison
and returns to France. Meanwhile, mutineers from the
French colony raid Spanish ships, alerting Spain of the
French presence. In 1565, Captain of the Treasure Fleet,
Pedro Menendez, is summoned to exterminate the French
heretics in Florida and build a Spanish settlement.
Two fleets -- one
French and one Spanish -- race across the Atlantic to
confront each other far from the eyes of the world.
Ribault arrives first at Fort Caroline, while Menendez
claims Florida for Spain and digs in to defend against a
French attack at St. Augustine. Ribault leads an attack
against the Spanish, but a hurricane decimates the French
fleet. Menendez stages a daring land raid against the
weakened French and captures Fort Caroline, killing all
but a few French Catholics in the fort. Upon returning to
St. Augustine, he finds the decimated French sailors
defenseless. Ribault and his men are slaughtered, ending
France's dreams of a New World empire.
Menendez rules as
Florida governor for nine years, but his ambitious vision
for Florida is never fully realized. St. Augustine
becomes the first permanent settlement in Florida, and
remains the oldest continuously occupied town in the U.S.
The French shift their attention far to the north to
Canada, and to the interior of the continent down the
Mississippi at New Orleans.
Episode Three –
The Northeast (Airs March 29 at 9:00 pm ET/PT)
The Dutch, English
and French, each want a share of the lucrative East
Indies trade. But, the only way to do that is to find a
northern sea passage to Asia and circumvent the Spanish
and Portuguese controlled southern trade route around
Africa. Conquering America is the last thing on their
mind. One man’s obsession to find the passage lead
to a discovery that will change the course of history.
It is one of the
great intellectual debates of the day: is there a
northern sea route to the East Indies? Henry Hudson is
chosen by a large English merchant company to lead what
will be the first of four epic voyages in search of a
northern passage.
The first voyage
fails in 1607 due to freezing temperatures, snow, and
frozen rigging that makes sailing near impossible. In
April 1608, Hudson tries a different route--this time to
the northeast, and over Russia to the Orient. In Arctic
Canada, ice and a mutinous crew thwart him.
When his sponsors
back out, he seeks new backing, and finds it in the tiny
but wealthy new Dutch Republic. The Dutch East India
Company is on its way to becoming the largest, richest,
and most powerful company in the world, and it
commissions Hudson to try again. On April 6, 1609, Hudson
sets sail from Amsterdam on his ship, the Half Moon.
Despite harsh conditions, he pushes on, knowing that he
will face severe consequences in Holland if he fails. In
July, he arrives at Nova Scotia, and begins working down
the coast as far as Chesapeake Bay for a strait that will
lead to the Pacific. On his return trip north, he thinks
he’s found it. He sails up what will be known as the
Hudson River, only to realize he has failed again.
In 1610, short-cuts
to Asia take a back seat to the news about the profits
that can be made from the fur trade in North America. But
Hudson never wavers from his goal. A group of English
merchants and financiers provide Hudson with a ship, the
Discovery, the largest ship he has commanded to date. On
August 2, 1610, after a long and arduous voyage, the
Discovery enters what is now known as Hudson Bay. Hudson
is convinced he has found his Northwest Passage. The ship
gets trapped in ice and the men endure a harsh winter. In
May 1611, his crew mutinies, and Hudson is set adrift,
never to be seen again. The survivors announce that they
have conclusively found the Northwest Passage to the
Orient and have the charts to prove it, but the deception
doesn't last long. In 1612, a new expedition explores the
area and exposes the lie: Hudson found a great bay,
Hudson Bay, but he did not find a passage.
Hudson's obsessive
search for a short cut to Asia and his ultimate failure
leads to something far more significant--the conquest and
colonization of Northeast America. The Dutch colony of
New Netherlands, founded in 1624, is a model of
multiculturalism and religious tolerance. By contrast,
the English have only established a shaky beachhead in
Virginia and the Pilgrims won't land for a few more
years. The Dutch and the English soon become enemies, and
the American northeast will experience decades of
Anglo-Dutch conflict before it is resolved in 1664, when
the English take-over the thriving Dutch colony—a
colony that will one day become New York City.
Episode Four –
The Northwest (Airs March 29 at 10:00 PM ET/PT)
By 1725, Russia is
the only major European nation that has not yet taken
part in the conquest of the new world. That is about to
change. Peter the Great is interested in knowing whether
or not Asia and North America are connected at any point,
and just how far Spain’s empire stretches northward
in North America. Peter selects Danish sea captain Vitus
Bering to lead an expedition that will be a direct
challenge to Spanish, English and French dominance in
North America.
After Bering's first
trip ends in failure, he mounts the largest and longest
expedition of discovery ever undertaken, starting in St.
Petersburg, and going across Siberia to the Pacific. On
July 16, 1741, eight years after starting out, he finds
Alaska. However, the glory is short-lived. His men lack
drinking water and many die from scurvy. On November 6,
1741, Bering also perishes.
However, survivors
of Bering's expedition return with something that gets
Russia's attention--a fortune in furs. For the next two
decades, Russia manages to keep its lucrative source of
furs secret. But in 1765, foreign diplomats begin to hear
rumors of a place called "Russian America."
Some say it is Catherine the Great herself who, through a
slip of the tongue, tips off ambassadors from France,
England and Spain.
On June 27, 1776
– six days before the signing of the Declaration of
Independence – two hundred soldiers, missionaries
and poor settlers from Mexico arrive on Indian land near
what is now San Francisco. At the same time, England
sends her greatest explorer to check out Russian
settlements in the North Pacific: Captain James Cook.
Cook's men have no idea until they reach the Orient that
the sea otter pelts they have been using as doormats and
blankets command such a high value. Fur fever spreads
around the world. British, American and French traders
head for Alaska to cash in.
With other colonial
powers now coming to the Pacific Northwest, Russia must
move to protect her assets. The Russian American Company
is given a monopoly in 1799, and in 1806 a company
official -Nicolai Rezanov – comes to Alaska for an
inspection. Dwindling supplies and attacks by the Tlingit
Indians force Rezanov to make a bold maneuver and try to
purchase supplies from Spain. Events back in Europe
complicate matters however; Spain and Russia find
themselves on opposite sides of a Napoleonic war in
Europe. Rezanov’s solution? Propose to the young
Spanish daughter of the California governor. Surely, the
Spanish would not refuse the husband of one of their own?
Rezanov reaches a
trade accord with the Spanish colonies in America, but it
never comes to fruition as he dies while on a return trip
to St. Petersburg. Russia starts its own colonial
plantation 100 miles north of San Francisco, and the two
countries seek a tentative peace while their motherlands
are at war. Facing hostile Indians and lack of support
back home, Russia eventually sells the land to John
Sutter in 1841 for the equivalent of $30,000 dollars.
Seven years later, California becomes part of the United
States, and gold is discovered on Sutter’s land near
Sacramento. The California gold rush will finish what the
sea otter rush has started, the conquest of the last
corner of America, the Pacific Northwest.
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