Conquest Of North America


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"CONQUEST OF NORTH AMERICA"
A Four-Hour Mini-Series

By Lone Wolf Documentary Group for

THE HISTORY CHANNEL.


CONQUEST OF AMERICA airs Monday, March 28 and Tuesday, 29 at 9:00 – 11:00 ET/PT on The History Channel.-- a four-part special presentation, tells the story of the exploration of North America through the words of the men who undertook the journeys.

“We, who live in the United States, we like our country and we think it's a great place. But, it's a little hard for us sometimes to imagine that to a 16th century European the bulk of North America seemed to be an inhospitable, savage land that had very little value, that in fact was a major inconvenience because it stood in their way of a convenient sea route to get to Asia. And so, it is kind of a blow to our egos to realize that for the most part, the early conclusions about North America was that it was not only useless but it was highly inconvenient that it even existed. It is one of the great ironies of history.”



Historian, Ron Fritze, author of “The New World”:

This is an epic saga full of slaves and kings; science and magic; great adventures and foolish quests; unspeakable cruelty, unimaginable bravery and an unquenchable thirst for gold, power and fame. This is a story of Lost Cities of Gold, legendary sea passages to China, and sea monsters guarding the edge of a flat earth.



It is an epic worthy of J.R.R. Tolkien. As in "The Lord of the Rings" the will of nations and the forces of destiny fall on just a few. Perhaps it is always this way. In our own space race, the weight of international Cold War politics fell ultimately onto the shoulders of Yuri Gagarin, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong and a handful of others.

In the CONQUEST OF AMERICA the Europeans with the right stuff are Coronado, Menendez, Ribault, Hudson, and Bering.

They are not all heroes. They do not all perform admirably. But they are all in the right place at the right time. If one trait unites them, it is that they are the type of man who never gives up. Each of the European explorer’s stories (taken from their own journals, and the letters, writings and drawings of eyewitnesses) is a wild action-adventure tale.

CONQUEST OF AMERICA is a story of five European nations and five hundred American Indian nations, large and small. Each is engaged in nearly constant war with each other, although allegiances shift like the wind. Virtually all of these many nations become caught up in their own civil wars during the 400-year span of our plot.

Many of these civil wars are fought over religion, because this was the age of the Spanish Inquisition, the Reformation, the Counter-Reformation, and the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Religious faith cuts across national boundaries, sometimes making strange bedfellows. Catholics and Protestants rarely hesitate to rob, plunder, rape and murder one another in the name of their God and King.

Holding our far-reaching plot together is a single through-line which we will develop slowly over four hours: The early Europeans conquerors of North America were motivated by stories of fabulous wealth, perhaps surpassing that found in South America by Cortes and others. When they did not find it, their motivation changed: Now North America became an obstacle at best in the way of a legendary sea passage to the Orient and all the riches of the Spice trade. And so, our heroes devote their lives in unfulfilled quests, unaware that they have found and have begun the conquest of a continent far richer than anything in their wildest dreams. Our series ends with the dawning realization by the European invaders of the early 19th century in the Pacific Northwest that AMERICA is a land of limitless natural resources and economic potential.

Our story of conquest paves the way for colonization. America was first explored by adventurers from the nobility (remnants of the feudal knight class) who were looking for instant wealth, countries to lord over, and pagans to convert. But America was ultimately conquered by a new class of farmers, artisans, and merchants who did the slow, painstaking groundwork necessary to build new lives in a new land. In hour three: the story of Henry Hudson’s voyages of discovery, our hour ends with the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, a vibrant, polyglot community that will someday become one of the most powerful cities in the world: New York City.



The episodes:


We will focus on the stories of just a handful of individual Europeans (and their Native American counterparts, such as the infamous, “el Turk” in the Southwest episode and the powerful Chief Saturiba in the Southeast episode) whose stories have come down to us in writing, allowing us to tell this sweeping tale.


Hour one: Conquest of the Southwest: “Coronado’s Quest for Gold.”

Some have claimed that Frenchmen, Irish, Welsh, Africans, Chinese or maybe Norse Vikings made it to North America before 1492. But it was Columbus’ discovery of the Caribbean Islands that touched off a mad European scramble for conquest and possession of the new continent.

By 1535, Spain is the dominant colonial power in South America and Mexico. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado is the young governor of a Mexican Province.

But no European country has yet succeeded in conquering the lands to the north. English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch sailors have explored parts of the East Coast, but few have set foot on shore and only a couple have ventured inland.

One of those few is Cabeza de Vaca, treasurer of an early mission to conquer Florida until a shipwreck landed him in Texas. For eight years de Vaca lived in the desert as a captive of Indians.

Coronado sends Fray Marcos de Niza on a journey to the north, to New Mexico, to explore the lands that de Vaca has told him about. When Marcos returns he brings legends of a wealthy, golden, “Asian” city, called Cibola. Coronado immediately puts together an expedition to take the gold from these Indians, just as Cortes and Pisarro had taken gold from the Aztecs and Maya in Mexico and Peru. Coronado rides north with 340 Spanish soldiers, 300 Indian allies, women, children, and 1000 Native American and African slaves.

Over the next 3 years, Coronado and his men will fight their way through some 7000 miles of hostile wilderness, conquering pueblos in New Mexico, and Arizona. They find the Grand Canyon and some of his men travel as far northeast as Kansas. It is one of the great quests of all times. Coronado will go farther than any man before him into the heart of this strange New World.

While Coronado is still on his quest, Rodriguez Cabrillo sails north from Baja California to explore the coast of what is now the U.S. state of California. He breaks a leg in a skirmish with Indians (who have already heard rumors of the brutal ‘bearded men’ and know not to trust them). Cabrillo dies of gangrene on one of the Channel Islands.

Coronado’s mission is, in many ways, a failure. Coronado proved to Spain that if the desert Southwest is rich in anything, it is not gold but people. The next Spanish efforts in this region would seek to conquer those natives through missionary endeavors. 67 years after Cornado (in 1607, thirteen years before Plymouth Colony was settled by the Mayflower Pilgrims) the town of Santa Fe, New Mexico, was established. Santa Fe is the oldest European community west of the Mississippi.



Hour Two: Conquest of Southeast: “Massacre at Matanzas.”

Ponce de Leon discovered Florida in 1513 ... though he believed it to be an island. He was killed by Indians while trying to build a colony there. Hernando de Soto launched another ill-fated mission to conquer Florida in 1539. In search of gold, he marched through Alabama, Louisiana ... all the way to the Mississippi River, and claimed all this territory for Spain. But he too was killed by the natives who believed the land was theirs.

At this time the Spanish already had enormously profitable colonies in Peru and Mexico. But the land to the North was not so easy to exploit: gold and silver were harder to find. The Indians proved much harder to enslave.

It was French Huguenots in 1565, escaping persecution in Catholic France, who established the first serious attempt at a European colony – with women and children as well as men - in what is now the continental United States. Their leader was a skilled Protestant seaman, Jean Ribault. But the French colony, called Fort Caroline, was located in territory claimed by Spain. Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the dashing Captain General of the Spain’s treasure fleet was sent to put a stop to it.

The dramatic and action-packed story of the French colony at Fort Caroline, in modern Florida, will form the spine of this second hour. This story is the perfect vehicle to tell the story of the conquest of the Southeast because not only is it important in its own right, but this one story encompasses and epitomizes many elements that will be repeated in every early European colony – the reliance of the settlers on local Indians for food; the way the Europeans try to pit various Indian tribes against one another; the constant hope for gold that drives all exploration; the rivalry among European countries for new lands; the political and religious climate at home that often determines the life and death of the colonies; and the raw brutality of life in the American wilderness.

This story also points to the future: it ends with Menendez establishing a settlement at Saint Augustine ... the oldest continuously occupied town in the United States.



Hour Three: Conquest of the Northeast: “Mutiny! Henry Hudson’s Voyages of Discovery.”

By 1600, the Spanish have successfully conquered much of South America ... but nothing north of Mexico and Florida. The French, English and Dutch are vying to conquer the Northeast and to find that legendary passage to Asia that will finally give them an advantage over the Spanish.

Henry Hudson's story epitomizes the burning ambition behind all exploration at that time: the quest for the ultimate prize: the legendary passage to the Orient and easy access to uncalculable wealth. Maps created by Hudson's predecessors: Cabot, Cartier, Drake, Verazzano fuel his dreams to succeed where others have failed.

Henry Hudson's love of adventure leads him through four dramatic voyages of discovery in as many years. The first two, for the English Muscovy Company, are cut short by adverse weather. When the Muscovy Company refuses to sponsor any more expeditions, Hudson turns to the Dutch. In 1609, after a year of clever negotiations, Hudson sets sail for the New World flying Dutch colors in the Halve Maen , or Half Moon.

Hudson’s historic journey will eventually take him up what is now known as the Hudson River as far as Albany.

Hudson’s journey is rife with conflict and intrigue. His crew, led by his nemesis, the embittered navigator, Robert Juet, delight in mistreating, torturing, raping, and killing the native Indians. Juet will eventually lead a mutiny and set Hudson adrift in June of 1611. Hudson is never seen again.

But his discoveries help set in motion the final conquest of what is now the Northeast of the United States. The Dutch colony at Manhattan is a model of multi-culturalism that has a profound impact on the future of American democracy and culture. And in 1620, the Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock to establish their religious colony ... setting in motion another powerful trend that will lead to America becoming a nation of immigrants.



Hour Four: Conquest of the NorthWest: “Alaskan Cossacks”

Russians had begun exploring Alaska and the Pacific Northwest starting in the 1640s. The first “expeditions” were made by fearless Siberian and Cossack fur traders, who managed to reach the Alaskan Islands on rafts made of logs, sap and leather.

But by the time of Catherine the Great, in the 1750s, men like Vitus Bering (discoverer of the Bering Strait) have begun to map out the territory and establish trading posts. The Pacific Northwest, extending down the Canadian Coast to Northern California, possesses something worth more than gold: sea otter pelts. Bought for pennies from the Indians, they were sold in China for 10000% profit.

In 1765, in a Saint Petersburg ballroom, Czarina Catherine the Great lets slip to a gathering of French, British and Spanish diplomats that Russia has settlers in America. When pressed by the diplomats, she leaves it at that, saying, “I’ve said too much already.”

This slip of the tongue sends the French, British and especially Spanish scrambling to find out what is really happening in the Northwest: the last un-explored region of North America.

King Charles II of Spain has inherited the colony of Mexico, which is not nearly as profitable since the gold mines ran out. Although Spain has long claimed America’s west coast, in 260 years they have sent no more than a few ships to plant crosses and make ceremonial claims.

That is about to change, as the King orders his governor of Mexico to send troops and missionaries north to confront the Russians. Marching over 500 miles of grizzly-infested desert, mountains and chaparral, Captain Gaspar de Portola and Father Junipero Serra finally arrive in Monterey. They establish a string of tiny missions and forts along the “Camino Real” between San Diego and Carmel. Father Serra flagellates himself with a barbed rope at night, and proselytizes by day.

The northernmost Spanish outpost at San Francisco is established six days before the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Meanwhile, the Russian settlements are growing larger under the leadership of a bear of a man, rugged fur trader Aleksandr Baranov. Baranov marries the daughter of the Indian chief to seal an alliance. They stay loyal to one another for 27 years and have many children.

Britain also has claims to the Pacific Northwest, and in 1778, Captain Cook accidentally discovered the Russians’ secret. Looking for a “northeast passage” to the Atlantic Ocean, he is given some sea otter pelts by the Nootka Indians. He has no idea what it is worth until one of his men sells a single pelt for 10 pounds to a Chinese merchant. His men almost mutiny in their eagerness to return to the Northwest Coast of America (instead they go to Hawaii, where Cook is killed).

The Russian colony is extremely profitable for a time. Baranov builds himself a castle in Sitka, elegantly furnished. There are grand balls with women in silk dresses. Although there are early brutal battles with Indian warriors (Baranov is almost killed in one) the Russians gradually build alliances with the Indians unlike the other European countries. Russians and Indians inter-marry regularly. They are allies in the fur trade. Indians who convert to the Russian Orthodox religion can become priests in it.

The Spanish colonial missions stand in sharp contrast: Indians who convert to Catholicism are whipped and put to work. Religion is a means of thought control.

But the Russian colonies run into trouble by over-hunting the sea otters. They spread further and further south. Desperate during a particularly harsh year, 1806, Baranov sends Count Rezanov south to beg the Spanish for food. He is refused for weeks, but (perhaps inspired by Baranov’s marriage to the Aleut Princess) Rezanov succeeds by marrying the daughter of the Spanish Commander.

Rezanov returns to Alaska, then sails directly to Saint Petersburg for permission to marry a Roman Catholic. He dies on the way ... but so isolated is the Russian settlement that Dona Concepcion does not learn of her husband’s death for 36 years.

In 1812, Baranov sends another group of soldiers south to establish Fort Ross in what they call New Albion (California). The fort is a mere 90 miles north of San Francisco – a day’s sail. The Spanish and Russians co-exist peacefully but tensely for many years.

World events largely pass this part of the world by ... Napoleon, the War of 1812, the establishment of the 49th parallel as the border of Canada... before the 1840s there were only a few thousand Europeans in California.

But that is about to change. In 1841, the Russians sold Fort Ross to a local farmer named John Sutter.

Seven years later, Sutter discovers gold in California, and the real conquest of the Northwest finally begins.



Style:

As in “The Lord of the Rings” the stories of individual adventurers will be tied together by highly visual montage sequences with dramatic narration (in the recent Lord of the Rings movies, these sections were read by Cate Blanchett who helped give the narration a powerful mythic force).

The imagery in these narrated montages will come from all available sources: maps, paintings, drawings, breathtaking location scenery, and evocative reenacments. Narratively, these sections will set up the historical backstory so that our audience will be able to focus on the “Heroic Journey” of our individual explorers.

The tales of individual explorers will make up the bulk of our screen time. They will be told in the words of eyewitnesses as much as possible, with the help of historians and narration when necessary for clarity and perspective. These exploration sections will rely heavily on bold but accurate dramatizations with dialogue derived from original source material.

Each of the four episodes will be shot on location. New Mexico and California for the Southwest, “Quest for Gold,” the story of Coronado’s epic march through the Southwest in 1540. Florida for the Southeast: “Massacre at Matanzas,” the struggle between the French and the Spaniards in 1565 over control of Florida. The Hudson River and Newfoundland for the Northeast: “Mutiny!” The story of Henry Hudson’s voyages of discovery between 1607 and 1610, and Alaska for the Northwest: “Alaskan Cossacks,” the story of the Russian fur trade in the 18th and 19th century.

Breathtaking scenery, compelling dramatizations, Native American Indian participation, horses and replica ships will make the CONQUEST OF NORTH AMERICA, THC’s marquee series event of MARCH 2005.