The First Thanksgiving was Held Where?

Where was the first Thanksgiving held in North America? If you guessed Plymouth, Massachusetts, guess again.

On April 30, 1598, Spanish nobleman Don Juan de Oñate and a group of settlers traveling northward from Zacatecas, Nueva España (now Mexico), reached the banks of El Rio Bravo (Rio Grande). The first recorded act of thanksgiving by colonizing Europeans on this continent occurred on that April day in 1598 in Nuevo Mexico, about 25 miles south of what is now El Paso, Texas.

After having begun their northward trek in March of that same year, the entire caravan was gathered at this point. The 400-person expedition included soldiers, families, servants, personal belongings, and livestock. Two thirds of the colonizers were from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, and the Canary Islands). There was even one from Greece and another from Flanders. The rest were Mexican Indians and mestizos (mixed bloods).

Pauline Chavez Bent has written an interesting account of this first Thanksgiving, which you can read on the New Mexico Genealogical Society's Web site at: http://www.nmgs.org/art1stThanks.htm

Many Americans mistakenly believe that the Pilgrims were the first to settle in this new land. However, the following all preceded the Pilgrims of 1620:

• Several settlements and temporary villages were established by the Vikings and possibly by the Irish more than 1,000 years ago. None of the settlements survived. In 1559, Tristan de Luna y Arellano led an attempt by Europeans to colonize Florida. He established a settlement at Pensacola Bay, but a series of misfortunes caused his efforts to be abandoned after two years.
• Pedro Menéndez de Avilés arrived in 1565 at a place he called San Augustín (St. Augustine, Florida) and established the first permanent European settlement in what is now the United States.
• Spanish settlers mentioned earlier settled in what is now the western tip of Texas and New Mexico in the 1590s.
• In 1604, Samuel de Champlain, along with Sieur de Mont, established what is now known as the first Acadian settlement on the North American continent on the Isle-of-St.-Croix, at St. Croix River near Calais, Maine. After experiencing a harsh winter and extreme cold on this small island, they moved their settlement into the rich agricultural area of the Bay of Fundy, which subsequently became known as Acadia. The permanent French colony of Port Royal was established in 1605.
• The islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon were colonized by France in 1604. The colony survived and still exists today on these tiny islands ten miles south of Newfoundland, Canada. The islands still belong to France. Many people today are unaware that France still has territory in North America.
• In 1607, some 100 men and boys sailed from England and landed in present-day Virginia and founded Jamestown. They found a hostile environment that probably would have destroyed the colony but for the resourcefulness of Captain John Smith, who managed to organize and motivate the settlers and save them from starvation.
• In 1608 Samuel de Champlain established what is now known as Quebec City.

With several colonies already established prior to the Pilgrims' later arrival in 1620, one can assume that others also celebrated an occasional thanksgiving feast. The only surviving record of such a feast, however, is the one in 1598 by Don Juan de Oñate and his group of Spanish settlers.

Comments

[Edward Truslow]

The first documented Thanksgiving held by English colonists in America occured in 1619 at Berkley Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia.

[soccermom]

Also, there were two attempts at establishing permanent English colonies in "Virginia," 1585-6 (rescued by Sir Francis Drake) and the Lost Colony of 1587, supported by Sir Walter Raleigh.

See National Geographic News: http://tinyurl.com/2rynt

and NC State Library:

http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/ncsites/english1.htm

[Chris Dunham]

A brief Thanksgiving ceremony was held in Maine on August 9, 1607, by members of the Popham expedition. From a contemporary account: "Sunday, being the 9th of August, in the morning the most part of our whole company of both our ships landed on this island, the which we call St. George's island, ... and there we heard a sermon delivered unto us by our preacher, giving God thanks for our happy meeting and safe arrival into the country, and so returned aboard again."

[Faith Bracken]

I dont know exactly why the conquistadors left and traveled so far to the rio grande?? And by the way to the person that wrote this my tacher (7th grade) has your paper he made us all read it and now we have to do an essay. And I need this question answered so help please!

[Fr. Juan Romero]

From: juanrvi@aol.com
Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 15:18:20 EST

TO: Chris Dunham

What a lucky guy you are to have so fine a teacher. Makes you study and WRITE too, right? You might not like it now so much, but believe me, someday you will appreciate it very much. In grade school and first year
high,we had to "diagram" twenty sentences a day, outline a chapter of general science a day, and write a composition every week. I did not like it then--way too much work--got in the way of basketball practice.

However, I am grateful for the foundation it gave me in communication skills. I did OK in history, but was not very good in geography.
Nevertheless, I'll give you my "take" on why the first Europeans came up into what is now the U.S. through what we call the Rio Grande. (From the Mexican side of the border,they call it the Rio Bravo.)

Don't forget that the Spanish, not the English, were the first ones to come into "the new world." Actually, Eric the Red and some Vikings probably beat Columbus. They landed up in the Newfoundland and Greenland (and
Maine?)areas because that was closer to the place in the Vikingdom where they came from.

In the same way, the Rio Grande was closer to where the Spanish were
coming from. One group came to Florida in 1513 under the leadership of Ponce de Leon--about a century before Jamestown and Plymouth Rock were
founded!--and another group under the leadership of Hernan Cortes came to Mexico in 1521.
After some bloody nights and days, and over a period of years, the Spanish traveled up and down the new world that became part of the Spanish Empire. At the time, of course, there were no real borders. Those were to come later.

By 1540, some of the explorers came up into New Mexico, and traveled through the plains of Kansas. The word got out about "seven cities of Gold."

To imaginative and hopeful adventurers who knew about gold found in Mexico
and Peru, the glint from straw in the adobe made some buildings look as
though it was made of gold.

By 1598, the Spanish Empire did not want to send explorers, but families, clergy, animals and clergy to establish a colony in the "northern territories."

The Great River marked the boundary, and so when they crossed on April 30, 1598 and took possession of the land for God and King, it was a big deal. They were lucky enough to be greeted by friendly Indians with whom the people shared a meal, giving Thanks to God!

I invite you to thank God for your own folks and heritage--whatever it be--and to thank God for your good teacher.

Fr. Juan Romero
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
Palm Springs, California