CONQUEST OF AMERICA

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Saturday March 19, 2005

 

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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