FAILED COLONIES OF NORTH AMERICA

The New World promised riches and expanded empires, but often it was the poorest who paid the price

- David J Williamson

Explorers and settlers from Europe had been travelling to North America, intentionally or not, to seek refuge and new opportunities for centuries before the first colonies were established. The Vikings had made a brief and unsuccessful attempt at settlement in the far north around 1000 CE. But, following on from Columbus and his Spanish-funded voyages to the New World, the earliest concerted attempts at colonisation were by the Spanish. Following several expeditions, in 1526 the conquistador Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon, with six ships and 600 colonists (along with a number of African slaves), funded his own attempt to set up a permanent settlement. A suitable spot was difficult to find, but eventually they settled somewhere in the region of what is now South Carolina or Georgia, calling their new home San Miguel de Gualdape.

It wasn't long before bad weather destroyed their flagship and supplies. The weather was also colder than expected and disease began to run through the settlement. Ayllon himself died, and without leadership the decision to stay or leave split the colony. Infighting and conflict with the local indigenous population was the final straw. The settlement that was formed in September 1526 was abandoned by November of the same year.

Of the original 600 inhabitants, only 150 survived. It would be many years before the Spanish made further attempts to create a colony in North America, and in the meantime their arch-rivals the French and the English were beginning to eye the New World for themselves.

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