TheNewWorld.us: Eye-witness Accounts of Ancient America: Page 3

The Great Fort Caroline Debate to be held at University of North Florida

This Saturday the University of North Florida will hold a debate between two sets of scholars to hopefully resolve the true location of Fort Caroline. This year marks the 450th anniversary of the founding of the French colony of Fort Caroline in America. Fort Caroline was the first permanent European colony in what would later […]

Juan Ortiz Captivity Narrative by El Inca

This is a second and more extensive version of the captivity and rescue of the Spaniard Juan Ortiz who lived among the Indians of La Florida for 12 years. This version by El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega is considered the first piece of literature written by someone born in the Americas. El Inca was […]

Juan Ortiz Captivity Narrative by Elvas

When Hernando de Soto landed in southwest Florida to begin his exploration of the Southeast, he did so without the aid of his local native interpreters who had escaped upon sighting land. This would certainly have doomed the expedition but as luck would have it De Soto found a Spanish captive named Juan Ortiz who […]

Raccoon Key in Georgia site of first Fort St. Augustine?

If the French fort of La Caroline was actually on the Altamaha River in Georgia and not the St. John’s River in Florida then from where did the Spanish launch their assault on the fort? Clearly this attack could not have been launched from modern-day St. Augustine, Florida because the distances involved are too great […]

The Founding of St. Augustine by Francisco Lopez de Mendoza

Original Source: “The Founding of St. Augustine.” In Old South Leaflets Volume IV. Boston: Directors of the Old South work. Old South Meeting House. MEMOIR OF THE HAPPY RESULT AND PROSPEROUS VOYAGE OF THE FLEET COMMANED BY THE ILLUSTRIOUS CAPTAIN-GENERAL PEDRO MENEDEZ DE AVILES, WHICH SAILED FROM CADIZ ON THE MORNING OF THURSDAY, JUNE 28TH, FOR THE […]

Review: Anchieta, José do Brasil

Anchieta, José do Brasil is a Brazilian movie produced in 1974 about the interaction between a Spanish priest and the native Tupi Indians. There is evidence that Tupi Indians had also migrated to Georgia and South Carolina and were one of the tribes the first French and Spanish met. Since this film was very well […]

Review: Como Era Gostoso o meu Frances (1971)

Como Era Gostoso o meu Frances translates into English as How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman. This movie was produced in 1971 about the experiences of a French captive among the Tupi Indians in Brazil. There is strong evidence that there were Tupi immigrants living in coastal Georgia and South Carolina at the time of first European contact. […]

How Natives Conducted Their Warfare at St. Augustine

Spanish eyewitness accounts of the tactics used by Indian tribes when attacking their outpost of St. Augustine give a fascinating new view of Native American life at the time of first contact. The typical view is that Native Americans were outmatched by the European’s superior weapons and tactics but these eyewitness accounts contradict these views. It […]

River of May in GA or FL?

The French claimed that their colony of La Caroline (Fort Caroline) was built along the banks of a river they named the River of May. Thus finding this river is the first task one must undertake to locate Fort Caroline and the many Native American villages they interacted with. The River of May was first discovered and […]

The Whole and True Discouerye of Terra Florida by Jean Ribault

From a manuscript copy in the British Museum. (Archive.org) HERE AS in the yeare 1562 it pleased God to move your grace f to chose and appoynt us to discover and vieu a certen long coste of the West Indea, from the hed of the lande called la Florida, drawing towardes the northe parte untill || the […]

The Letters of Pedro Menendez Aviles

Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society (January Meeting, 1894, pp. 416-468) Florida. Years 1565 and 1566. F. 14. D. N° 40. Seven letters written to the King by the General Pero Menendez de Aviles, from the 13th of August 1565, to the 30th of the next January, giving a report to him of the success […]

Original Fort St. Augustine in Georgia not Florida, researcher claims

On February 21, 2014 academics Crowe and Spring from Florida State University and the University of Florida made the shocking announcement that the French colony of Fort Caroline was located on the Altamaha River near Darien, Georgia not the St. John’s River in Jacksonville, Florida as has been believed for the past 150 years. Now new evidence published yesterday […]