Susan Harrison's Blog
Posted by Susan Harrison
In 1520, the Spaniard Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon sent an expedition into the area now known as South Carolina. By the end of the century, six European exploration expeditions would find their way to SC. Long before SC was settled and claimed by the English, the Spanish and French found interests in the area.
Having lived in SC for over fifty years, I can vouch for the influences of the various European, African and Native American groups who shaped the modern history off the state. Later blogs will touch on the cultural diffusion of each of the above groups. This blog will outline European explorers of the 16th century.
De Allyon's men explored along the SC coast where we still call the moss "Spanish moss." Finding no gold, the men claimed the land for Spain and left taking about 150 Indians with them. In 1526, Allyon captained another expedition to find gold--this time he came to SC himself. He established a fort along Winyah Bay, but found no gold. Sickness, perhaps malaria killed many of the men, including Allyon. Friendly Indians became hostile and the fort was abandoned. The few remaining men sailed back to the West Indies.
For over a decade, no European expeditions touched SC until Spaniard Hernando DeSoto led a battalion of soldiers through the state in 1540. DeSoto traveled along the Savannah River through the mountains but found no gold. He claimed all the land for Spain. The French would have something to say about this.
In 1562, Jean Ribaut sailed into an area that he named Port Royal Sound. The waters still bear the name given by Ribaut. Ribaut built a fort on land now a part of the Parris Island Marine Base. Though the French had better relations with the Indians than did the Spanish, the fort was abandoned.
In 1566, Spain returned to SC to counter the French threat. Pedro Menenedez built a fort near Port Royal Sound. For ten years Spain remained a presence but were driven out by the Indians of the area.
The final attempt by Spain to establish a colony in SC was begun in 1576 on Parris Island. A settlement of 60 houses existed until Philip II of Spain ordered the site abandoned in 1586--two years before the Spanish Armada.
Posted by Susan Harrison
On June 15, 1300, Italian poet Dante Alighieri was named one of the priors of Florence. Exiled from Florence in 1302, he then wrote The Divine Comedy.
A native of Florence, Dante was known for writing in the vernacular Italian language rather than traditional Latin.
Dante was known for his love for Beatrice Portinari, a woman he met before he entered his teens. If Beatrice knew of Dante, she did return his ardor, and Dante married another woman in 1285. His greatest love poems were written for Beatrice, however, not his wife.
Dante's Divine Comedy--a journey through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven--provided the modern world with some prevailing concepts.
Dante's quote relating to Hell, "Leave hope, ye who enter...", is still a part of modern lexicon. His descriptions of the horrors of Hades and Lucifer are still widely used.
From his love poetry to The Divine Comedy, Dante is considered by many as the greatest medieval poet of Western Europe.
Links in Suite 101:
Posted by Susan Harrison
June 6, 1944--62 years ago--Allied forces led by American General Dwight Eisenhower established a beach-head along the Normandy coast of France. A prelude to the liberation of Europe from Axis occupation, the D-Day land and sea forces were the largest the world had seen at the time.
American forces--called "the pride of our nation" by President Roosevelt--were joined by British, French and Canadian forces. Allied troops landed along a 60 mile span of beaches nicknamed Utah, Omaha, Juno, Sword and Gold. Meticulously planned, the invasion was code named "Operation Overlord" and featured a phantom army stationed in England to convince the enemy that the invasion would take place at Calais rather than Normandy.
Though the Allies were successful at establishing a beach-head, it came at a cost of over 2,700 casualties--about the same number lost at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and on September 11, 2001.
The war in Europe would continue until May 1945. Of the Allied and Axis nations,the greatest total military casualties were: the USSR: over 15 million troops, Germany: over 3 million, Japan: over 1 million, the USA: over 292,000, Britain: over 272,000 and France 200,000.
Posted by Susan Harrison
Outlaws: By What definition? Outlaws in Western Europe are, by definition controversial. William Tell, Fouke le Fitz Waryn and others were considered outlaws by some and
heroic reformers by others. We will examine some of the more controversial figures of western European history in the coming weeks and see if "outlaw" or "hero of the common man" better fits.
Our scope of discussion will span the era from the late Middle Ages to the modern era and will focus on those figures deemed outlaw in both fact and myth. We'll try to separate the facts from the myth and legend. We'll begin with William Tell and who knows where we might end up.
Posted by Susan Harrison
Metternich, who helped arrange the marriage of Napoleon to Austrian duchess Marie Louis, was the architect of the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815. He hoped to prevent any one nation from becoming too powerful and thereby avoid another Napoleon. Though the Congress did redraw the boundaries of European nations, the goal of preventing future revolutions was not met.
Metternich was ousted from power in the Revolution of 1848. He died 11 years later.
Posted by Susan Harrison
Today, May 8, 2006 marks the 61st anniversary of VE Day--Victory in Europe Day. World War II was over--at least in Europe. The war would not end in the Pacific until September of 1945.
I was thinking of the more than 30 million who died in World War II this morning. I also thought of my great uncles who fought in the conflict and a friend who still talks about landing on the Normandy coast in June of 1944. This friend went back to France for the 50th anniversary celebrations of D-Day in 1994.
This same friend admitted going AWOL to celebrate in Paris on the day the city was liberated. MUCH champagne was consumed--that's the "on tap" segment of this entry.
If you encounter WWII vets, thank them and remind them that you do remember VE Day.