The Other States of America: History Podcast

Long ago in the American South great paramount chiefs constructed large mounds to glorify their families and host their temples. One chiefdom gave way to another, until the invasion of Hernando DeSoto in the 1540's beginning an era in time known as the Mississippian Shatter Zone. Emerging from this time of disease and war these former Mound Builders created a new society culminating in the cre...

Spanish Florida was once the only European colony on the East Coast. Now, Spanish Florida will be lucky to exist at all, as the English hordes and their Muscogee Creek allies, devastate and depopulate massive parts of the South East.

After the settlement, abandonment, resettlement and relocation of Charles Towne, within the unified Province of Carolina, the southern portion of the Province rapidly grew, and through wars and the native slave trade, completely reshaped the human landscape of the South East, the effects of which reverberate over to the Mississippi and down into the Florida peninsula.

The Province of Carolina, from its' inception was a tale of two halves. This is the story of the Northern half, and the turbulent journey toward the creation of North Carolina.

The Province of Carolina is a tale of two separate regions settled by very different Englishmen, as such, the subjects in this history of Carolina range from kings and the philosopher John Locke, to indentured servants and the enslaved. Taking place in England, Virginia, Spanish Florida, Barbados, and most certainly what today would be North and South Carolina. The history of Carolina in the perio...

The tale of the Province of Carolana is a story full of more myths and dreams than realities. A story full of twists and turns in England, Virginia and Barbados. Carolana led the way to Carolina, but caused intrigue in Florida, Louisiana and strangely put to bed over land in the Mohawk Valley of New York.

Spanish Florida is nearly abandoned until clandestine information of the English settlement of Jamestown is spirited away to Spain. The Floridanos were now to hunt down the English, and extend Spanish influence up the coast, to areas where they had previously been violently ejected.

Pocahontas’ peace falls apart and two devastating wars follow. As the Powhatan struggle to maintain their way of life and territory in the face of massive population loss. The colony of Virginia is booming. The Paramount Chiefdom is pressed to a breaking point, the effect of which has consequences echoing through time to the modern day.

Chief Powhatan and the settlers of Jamestown find themselves in a conflict only Pocahontas can end. The peace that follows however, will create greater challenges for the Powhatan that are only realized in hindsight. The Peace of Pocahontas will not hold for long.

The Great Chief Powhatan reigned over a Paramount Chiefdom of perhaps 22,000 people. Then suddenly a group of strangers arrive and settle within Powhatan’s domain, they have desirable goods to trade, but are otherwise a difficult bunch to assimilate. This is the story of Pocahontas, John Smith and Jamestown, as can best be told from the point of view of Chief Powhatan the Great Werowances of Werow...

In the land of Tsenacomoco, a young man named Wahunsenacawh inherits six chiefdoms, he and his brothers will go on to create the Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom, consisting of 30 or more villages, each with its own traditions and folk-ways. 

With the English Empire on the rise the Spanish consolidate their holdings in Florida and prepare for the worst, but the largest threat will prove to come from mother nature and the neighboring Natives. All of this is happening as the founding generation of Saint Augustine passes on.

The full story of Roanoke begins years before the foundation of the infamously “lost” colony of Roanoke, and involves the takeover of Newfoundland and Privateers in the Caribbean. This episode is the story of the first colony of Roanoke, the colony that set into motion many of the factors that led to the disappearance of the next colony, making it very clear where the lost colonists could seek saf...

Pedro Menendez, the true founder of Spanish Florida has died leading to a number of governors in rapid succession, all the while the natives reduce the colony down to a single settlement. With recovery in sight, Sir Francis Drake attacks Saint Augustine with overwhelming force… 

In 1567 Pedro Menéndez de Avilés left Florida for Spain, having planted Spaniards at twelve or so sites from the Miami area to modern day Tennessee. The hero of our last two episodes, his attention will be divided from this point on, as Spanish Florida endures the return of the French and the rath of Chief Carlos, Chief Felipe, Chief Saturiwa and the cunning Paquiquineo.

In the wake of 40 years of failure, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, an Admiral, not a Conquistador, is the first Spaniard to successfully settle Florida. Now he will try to rapidly expand Spanish Florida, all the while fighting the great Timucua Chief Saturiwa, putting down constant mutinies, and hunting down Chief Carlos II of the Calusa, who sacrifices shipwrecked Spaniards to an Idol.

French Hugeonots have made a secret colony in the land the Spanish call Florida and claim as their own. The King of Spain calls upon Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to oust the French and finally create a Spanish settlement in Florida, a feat many have tried and most have died undertaking, all ending in massive failure. Menendez will now have to quickly raise a fleet, gather colonists and race th...

Tristán de Luna y Arellano is ordered by the Viceroy of New Spain to construct a series of forts and settlements from the Gulf, to the Mound Builders at Coosa, to Santa Elena in modern day South Carolina. With 1500 settlers, only an act of God could derail, De Luna's plans. For more information on the archeological finds related to De Luna see this wonderful podcast: https://thehistoryoftheame...

Hernando De Soto came to so-called Spanish Florida on orders to plant settlements and build fortifications along the coast. Instead he chased rumors of golden empires into the interior of North America, all for nothing. In late 1540, De Soto had the option to travel to Pensacola, where his boats awaited, but decided to set out in the direction of the setting sun in search of possibilities…

Hernando De Soto invades the Mississippians Chiefdoms of the South in search of gold, forgoing his orders to build a seaside colony. He begins a period of time known in the archaeological records as the Mississippian Shatter Zone, and fights the deadliest battle on American soil until the U.S. Civil War.

Hernando de Soto returns to Spain as one of the richest men in the Empire, from his share of the spoils toppling the Incan Empire. Now he seeks to sail to the New World once more to conquer the Natives of the land the Spanish call Florida convinced the venture will make him the richest man in the world.

From Florida to Mexico, a large force under Narváez lands at, or near, Tampa Bay in 1528, a few survivors appear in Mexico 8 years later. Along the way they were conquerors, castaways, beggars, shamans, surgeons, unwilling cult leaders and slaves. The primary account by De Vaca is a true story of transformation, or perhaps just an elaborate resume.

A judge named Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón meets a man from the land of Chicora who fills his head with tales of gold, pearls, domesticated deer and men with tails who only eat raw fish. De Ayllón brings the man to the King of Spain, and according to the historian Peter Martyr captivates the attention of the restless masses, 600 of whom will go with de Ayllón to the American South East. Suggested Readi...

Juan Ponce de León is more famous today for the myths that surround him rather than the man that he was. Living in a brutal time, hot on the heels of the Reconquista and the voyages of Christopher Columbus, de León will leave a mark on the island of Puerto Rico and plant the seed for Spanish Florida. A life of high risk, high reward, violent behavior that will not make de León a modern man, but wi...

Before the Age of Exploration the Mississippian Chiefdoms in North America vied for influence, cultivated vast stretches of land, created Hierarchies and elevated their leaders to sem-divine figures honored with massive earthen mounds. The Chiefdoms of Etowah and Coosa in modern day North-Western Georgia, had influence and reputation from the gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, and are a source of...