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Download The French Thorn: Rival Explorers in the Spanish Sea, by Robert S. Weddle PDF

By Robert S. Weddle

For nearly centuries following Columbus's discovery of the United States, Spain held undisputed mastery within the Gulf of Mexico, an unique Spanish sea into which few foreigners dared enterprise. In 1682, that mastery was once challenged by way of the French explorer los angeles Salle, attaining the Gulf from Canada through the Mississippi River. l. a. Salle's encroachment served at the Spaniards a twofold discover: exploration of the northern Gulf quarter were too lengthy ignored, and claims to unoccupied territory wouldn't be commemorated.

There 80 years of territorial contention within which Spain and France alternated from symbiotic alliance to genuine struggle. The French presence served again and again as a spur to Spanish exploration and payment of the coastal area from Tampico to peninsular Florida. France, in the meantime, sought enlargement on each side of its Mississippi wedge, deftly pushed among the Spanish claims east and west, till a 3rd rival, the English, terminated the French tenure in America.

The French Thorn--sequel to Weddle's Spanish Sea--is greater than a heritage of exploration competition. In crafty prose the writer recreates the drama and pathos of l. a. Salle; the energy of Iberville and Escandon; and the sprint and bold of Saint-Denis. he's taking the reader on venturesome sea voyages in wood ships; around the coastal plains with colourful Spanish entradas; and up pristine rivers with the French voyageurs.

Reproductions of twenty French and Spanish maps from the 17th and eighteenth centuries improve Weddle's info. Well-documented and readable, The French Thorn will attract a person drawn to this time and position in background, from the formal historian to the exploration enthusiast.

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