Answer:
The nine-tenths of North America lying north and east of Mexico was another matter. In the early 1500s, Spain made a few attempts to explore Florida and the Gulf coast. Around 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon, conqueror of Puerto Rico, conducted the first reconnaissance of the area. In 1519 Alonso Alvarez de Pineda explored and mapped the Gulf of Mexico. Two years later, Ponce de Leon died in a disastrous attempt to build a settlement in Florida, and Spain withdrew from further serious efforts to establish a permanent presence there for another half-century.
The first Spanish town in what is now the United States was not in Florida, but somewhere between 30 degrees and 34 degrees North. It was built in 1526, by Luis Vasquez de Ayllon, a Spanish official based on Hispaniola. In 1520, Ayllon had ordered a slaving expedition, and in 1526, set out himself with approximately 500 Spanish colonists--including women, children, and three Dominican friars--and a number of African slaves. After a false start, Ayllon built the town of San Miguel de Guadalupe. His venture was doomed from the outset. The principals of the colony quarreled, Indians attacked, slaves rebelled, and Ayllon died. Only 150 survivors returned to Hispaniola. Later, in 1528 a slightly smaller group under Narvaez plundered and skirmished along the Gulf coast from Yampa Bay to Texas, where it disintegrated. Cabeza de Vaca and three other members finally reached Mexico in 1536. From 1539 to 1543 de Soto and, after his death, Moscoso led an ever-shrinking party on a circuitous route through the southeastern and southcentral United States. From 1540 to 1542 Coronado explored the Southwest. In all cases, these Spanish explorers antagonized the Indians and failed to entice settlers to the higher latitudes.
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