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Lecture Three, The Great American Desert, took us through the first Europeans encounters on the Great Plains. We looked at the Spanish conquistadors and their search for wealth, the French, such as the Verendryes, and their search for trade, and finally the Americans, such as Lewis and Clark. The Spanish were the first Europeans to reach the plains but when they found no riches they thought there was no reason to stay on the plains. While they searched for the Seven Cities of Cibola the Turk led the Spanish party astray and they never found anything. The French also saw no place for development on the plains. The Verendryes travelled from Canada as far as the Mandan villages but found little value. Americans saw the plains as nothing more than land that would connect the east with the west. Because they used the plains to travel, eventually towns and trade posts sprang up. The most famous American exploration was the Corps of Discovery led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Their goal was to find the Northwest passage and various other myths of the plains. A couple of these myths were of salt mountain and Welsh indians.
I thought this was an interesting lecture to listen to. It was interesting because the conquistadoes tie into another class that I have and it was nice to hear a different perspective about them. I was also glad that Prof. Isern stressed that these men were the first Europeans to cross the plains not the first men. Many people forget that the indians were here long before any of us.