 de Soto, reached the River in the area where Arkansas City is now sited.
1540, Garcia Lopez de Cardenas, a Spanish captain, became the first European to see the Grand Canyon. Spanish explorer Hernando de Alarcon discovered the Colorado River.
8/7/1524, Verrazzano's expedition returned to Dieppe.
17/4/1524, Verrazzano's expedition made the first European entry into New York Bay and sighted the island of Manhattan
22/2/1512. The Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who gave America his name, died in Seville.
See South-Central America 1490s for Columbus, exploration of Caribbean
9/3/1454, Amerigo Vespucci, Italian explorer who discovered the mouth of the Amazon and gave his name to America, was born.
Appendix 1 – Amerindian nations (see also Alaska, Florida)
30/6/1980, In the US, the Sioux nation won US$ 122.5 million in compensation and interest for illegal government seizure of their land in 1871.
1924, The US now allowed indigenous Indians to become full citizens. Indigenous Indian, Learned Hand, became the first Native American judge of the US Court of Appeals, serving until 1956.
1923, The Navajos set uo a Tribal Council, intitally to approve an oil and gas lease.
17/2/1909. Geronimo, the last Apache chief to surrender, died at his ranch on an Oklahoma reservation, aged 90.
29/12/1890. The Battle of Wounded Knee in South Dakota. This was the last major conflict between Red Indians, the Sioux, and US troops.
15/12/1890. Chief Sitting Bull, Sioux leader (born ca.1831), was shot dead in a scuffle with police in South Dakota whilst resisting arrest. He had fled to Canada after his victory over General Custer at Little Bighorn in 1876. He returned to the USA in 1881 and was jailed for 2 years. He performed for several years with Buffalo Bill’s travelling Wild West Show, but the suffering of his people led him to join the new Ghost Dance Movement, dedicated to destroying the Whites and restoring the lost Indian world. The US Government sent troops to suppress the Ghost Dance Movement and arrest its leaders; Sitting Bull was shot in the skirmish.
2/5/1890. The Federal Territory of Oklahoma was created; it was formerly known as the Indian Territory. On 22/4/1889 the US government, via a single shot fired at noon, had signalled the start of a great race for land by white settlers. An estimated 200,000 people crossed into the land once home to 75,000 Indians, who had to move on. By nightfall 22/4/1889 almost all of Oklahoma’s 2 million acres had been claimed.
8/2/1887. The USA passed the Dawes Act. This granted US citizenship to Amerindians living outside the reservations, but also allowed the President to overrule Indian governments and sell traditional communally-owned tribal lands to private owners.
4/9/1886. The Apache chief Geronimo surrendered to General Nelson Miles of the US army. He was born in what is now New Mexico in 1829. After returning home to find his wife and three children murdered by Spanish troops from Mexico he terrorized European settlements. He was the leader of the last American Indian force to surrender, and had outwitted the US army with its superior numbers for 10 years. His ten years of guerrilla action was intended to deter white settlers from New Mexico and Arizona. He died a prisoner in 1909, unable to return to his homeland, and was buried in the Apache cemetery at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
10/4/1883, On the instructions of the US Secretary for the Interior (Henry M Teller), the Commissioner for Indian Affairs distributed instructions to eradicate ‘demoralising and barbarous’ traditions. The document defined ‘Indian Offenses’ that included having more than one wife, holding religious feasts and dances such as the Sun Dance, and practising traditional medicine. Other native traditions such as purchasing a wife by leaving property at her father’s house and showing grief by destroying property were also outlawed.
4/10/1877, The Amerindian leader of the Nez Pierce tribe, Chief Joseph, surrendered tp the US Army. His people were cold and exhausted after a long march from the tribe’s lands in Oregon after gol