Spanish Virginia: Ajacán - Virginia’s First European Colony 1570

By Thomas T. Wiatt

In 1570, a group of Spanish missionaries established a settlement in eastern Virginia, 36 years before the English founded the first permanent English colony at Jamestown. They called it The St. Mary’s Mission. The Native Americans called it Ajacan.

The next year the entire Spanish mission was massacred by the Native Americans, except for one young boy who lived to tell the story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 5, 2024
• ISBN: 9781446164860

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Spanish Virginia

Ajacán - Virginia’s First European Colony 1570

By

Thomas T. Wiatt

First published by Limelight Publishing 2024

Copyright © 2024 Thomas T. Wiatt

All Rights Reserved.

ISBN (e): 978-1-4461-6486-0

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means; electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the copyright owner and publisher.

Cover design: Thomas T. Wiatt

Layout and typesetting: Limelight Publishing

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Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge The Mariners Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia and The National Geographic Society of Washington, D.C. for the photographs that they were able to provide. The image on the front cover was drawn by the late Alex F. Harmer. The image on the back cover was painted by the late John Berkey.  A great deal of thanks goes to Vincent DeMasi, Gary Smith, Debbie McCall Smith, and Alex Wiatt for their amazing editing skills.

Preface

Seventeen-years before the failed English Lost Colony of Roanoke Island, North Carolina, thirty-seven years before the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia, and fifty-years before the English colony at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, the Spanish made a serious attempt to colonize the Virginia Peninsula near Yorktown.

Most of this story comes from the written accounts of Spanish explorers who got their information from a traumatized Spanish boy, who had lived with the Native Americans for nearly two years and had forgotten much of the Spanish language. These explorer’s narratives were sometimes contradictory, inconsistent, or distorted to make themselves look more altruistic than they actually were.

As for the young lad, who actually witnessed the events, he relearned Spanish and told and retold his story over the years, adding to it or remembering more as he matured.

It is my intention to tell an accurate as possible story. In my research, I used the consensus of more respected historians and discounted less reliable sources. I have also taken some liberties in the portrayal of the characters’ innermost thoughts and emotions.

For the purpose of clarity, English name places are used in telling this story in spite of the fact these names did not exist during the time of the events.

Thomas T. Wiatt 2024

Introduction

Modern American history actually began with the marriage of two teenagers. In 1469 eighteen-year-old Isabella of Castile¹ wed her second cousin seventeen-year-old Ferdinand of Aragon.² They were each the monarchs of their respective kingdoms on Europe’s Iberian Peninsula. Their marriage united the kingdoms, and they were successful in uniting several other smaller kingdoms into what was to become the Kingdom of Spain. Isabella and Ferdinand ruled this kingdom as co-monarchs. They soon got busy driving out all the Muslims, Jews, and other so-called heathens who would not convert to Catholicism.

Queen Isabella had a vision of Spanish world domination. Her vision was that of a vast united overseas Catholic empire before the continent of America was even known about by any Europeans. This was an opportunity for an Italian sailor named Christopher Columbus. Columbus believed that India could be reached by sailing west from Spain. The co-monarchs were hard to convince at first, but when a Spanish bank agreed to finance the voyage, Isabella and Ferdinand agreed to send Columbus on his way.