Between Ponce de Leon (1521) and Menendez (1565) in La Florida was the 
short-lived settlement of Lucas Vazquez de Allyon established in 1526 
somewhere on the Georgia or South Carolina coast (current scholarship names 
Georgia's Sapelo Sound area) which included African slaves among the 600 or 
so settlers.

See Jane Landers, 1992 in "Columbus and the Land of Ayllon" or Paul Hoffman, 
1990, "A New Andalucia and a Way to the Orient." for more on the Ayllon 
colony.

Norma Harris
Univ of West Florida


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Thompson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 6:00 PM
Subject: Mystery of Va.'s First Slaves Is Unlocked 400 Years Later


Tim Baumann wrote - see my response below:

Date:    Mon, 13 Nov 2006 10:50:09 -0600
Tim Baumann <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Mystery of Va.'s First Slaves Is Unlocked 400 Years Later
For nearly 400 years, historians believed the first slaves to set foot
in North America were transported to Virginia from the West Indies on a
Dutch warship._ But new scholarship and detective work have solved the
puzzle of who they were and where their journey began.

As a resident of Virginia, and occasional musical partner of Bill Kelso, I'm
trying to get in the swing of this 400th anniverseray Jamestown thing.
However, having grown up in Florida -- and even 'impersonated' Ponce de Leon
at the 1965 New York World's Fair, I get a little annoyed at statements like
that above. Even if you discount the West Indies and Mexico (commonly
regarded as part of North America) slaves were imported to La Florida (also
part of North Ameriica) 40 or years or so before Jamestown was founded, and
probably before the Roanoke Colony, where I don't recall any mention of
slaves, as distinguished from indentured servants. Please note the
following:

"On Easter Sunday (Pascua Florida) in 1513, Juan Ponce de León claimed and
named new North American lands for Spain--Florida. Settlement proved
difficult due to Native American resistance (de León died of wounds from a
1521 encounter in Florida), climate, and terrain. It was not until 1565,
when Pedro Menéndez de Avilés established San Agustín (St. Augustine), that
the Spanish had a permanent settlement in Florida. Under the terms of the
asiento (agreement to settle Florida) issued by Philip II, Menéndez had
three years to import 500 Africans slaves to the new colony to cultivate and
mill sugar, as well as to assist in constructing towns and performing
agricultural work. Evidence suggests that enslaved African artisans and
agricultural laborers from Cuba arrived with Menéndez in 1565; a second
phase of settlement in 1568 records one female slave and one male slave
among 200 new settlers
(http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_florida_slavery.htm)."

The anglophile prejudice results in numerous un-historical "facts" and
professional scholars who deal with history should know better. The post
above should be amended to read:

"For nearly 400 years, historians believed the first slaves to set foot
in [the territory that composed the 13 original English colonies] were
transported to Virginia from the West Indies on a Dutch warship."

Do our western colleagues know of (probably Native American) slaves in Santa
Fe or other 16th Century Spanish settlements above the Rio Grande?

Let's be careful out there, folks; if we can't get the simple facts straight
no one will believe us when we try to go beyond them.

Tim T.
Perpetual Pedant