So who were the people who really deserve to be called the first Americans? Michael Bawaya, the editor of the magazine American Archaeology said that they came here from Asia probably "no later than about 15,000 years ago." They walked across the Bering land bridge that back in the day connected what is now the U.S. state of Alaska and Siberia. Fifteen-thousand years ago, ocean levels were much lower and the land between the continents was hundreds of kilometers wide.
(Kevin Enochs. “The Real Story: Who Discovered America”? Voice of America. October 12, 2020.)
Kevin Enochs of VOA says …
“But there's more. Today, it's widely believed that before the Clovis people, there were others, and as Bawaya says, "they haven't really been identified." But there are remants of them in places as far-flung as the U.S. states of Texas and Virginia, and as far south as Peru and Chile. We call them, for lack of a better name, the Pre-Clovis people.
“And to make things more complicated, recent discoveries are threatening to push back the arrival of humans in North America even further back in time. Perhaps as far back as 20,000 years or more. But the science on this is far from settled.”
Another population who probably visited America way before Columbus are the Polynesians. The main clue for this behavior is the inconspicuous sweet potato (yam).
This humble pinkish-red tuber is native to South America. And yet, there have been sweet potatoes on the menu in Polynesia as far back as 1,000 years ago. So how did it get there?
By comparing the DNA of Polynesian and South American sweet potatoes, scientists think it's clear that someone either brought them back to Polynesia after visiting South America, or islanders brought them from South America when they were exploring the Pacific Ocean. Either way, it suggests that about the same time Nordic sailors were cutting trees in Canada, someone in Polynesia was trying sweet potatoes from South America for the first time.
Speaking of genetics, a 2014 study of the DNA of natives on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, found a fair amount of Native American genes in the mix. The entry of American DNA into the genetics of the Rapa Nui natives suggests that the two peoples were living together around 1280 AD.
It seems very likely that Polynesians did reach America and established some kind of trade route. If this happened, it was before Columbus’ time, but it’s not clear if it was before the Vikings.
(Mihai Andrei. “Who really discovered America? (Spoiler: it’s not Columbus).” ZME Science. October 14, 2019.)
History is not just what-really-happened-in-the-past, but a complex intersection of truths, bias and hopes. Professional historians know that the reality of history is hardly so unproblematical. But because the answers are hard to come by doesn't mean we should give up pursuing historical truth, only that we must approach it with realistic expectations of what history can deliver.
“And even if a recording provided every essential fact, it would still leave open matters of motivation, such as why these things happened and why later ages did not preserve the full truth. The tape would, no doubt, fan the flames of controversy more than stifling them, and the result would only be more smoke and greater historical asthma. After the circus surrounding the speculations about President Kennedy's assassination—even when a film of it exists!—who can deny some people's capacity to question what's standing right in front of them?”
– Mark Damon, “History and What-Really-Happened”
But, Who Was the First American Born of European Ancestry?
The birth of the first white child is a widely used concept to mark the establishment of a European colony in the New World, especially in the historiography of the United States. Historiography examines the secondary sources written by historians as books and articles, evaluates the primary sources they use, and provides a critical examination of the methodology of historical study.
Who was the first European child born in America? You say it doesn't matter? What if the inability of Americans to agree on our shared history – and on the right way to teach it – is a cause of our current polarization and political dysfunction, rather than a symptom?
Sam Wineburg, a professor of education and history at Stanford University, attempts to connect the dots between history education and citizenship. Wineburg says …
“If this polyglot country doesn’t have a set of ideals and a broad narrative, we don’t have much of a hope. It is not popular to talk about in an era of identity politics, but history teaching in school has a civic purpose, not only a disciplinary purpose.”
Virginia Dare, born on August 18, 1587, at Roanoke Island in what is now North Carolina was the first English child born in the New World. Many credit Dare with being the first European born in America. However, a large body of research disputes this claim … well, it's complicated for some obvious reasons.
For over four hundred years, Dare has become a prominent figure in American myth and folklore, symbolizing different things to different groups of people. She has been featured as a main character in books, poems, songs, comic books, television programs, and films. Her name has been used to sell different types of goods, from vanilla products to soft drinks, as well as wine and spirits. Many places in North Carolina and elsewhere in the Southern United States have been named in her honor.
Should our American history books include alternate stories of first settlement? Who were the first Europeans who crossed the Atlantic, disembarked on land unsettled by Europeans, found a suitable site, and began to build with the intention of staying, not merely exploring. Many scholars understand that traditional texts often define “American” as White and only as White. Anything that was less than an Anglo Saxon was not a true American.
Virginia Dare
The first voyage to Roanoke was in 1584. Explorers Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe were the first known Europeans to set eyes on the island. They had been sent to the area by Sir Walter Raleigh with the mission of scouting the broad sounds and estuaries in search of an ideal location for settlement.
The Roanoke Colonies were an ambitious attempt by England's Sir Walter Raleigh to establish a permanent North American settlement with the purpose of harassing Spanish shipping, mining for gold and silver, discovering a passage to the Pacific Ocean, and Christianizing the Indians.
The voyage was described by Arthur Barlowe – one of two British captains (the other was Philip Amadas) – in this report written to Sir Walter Raleigh …
“the first voyage made to the coasts of America, with two barks, wherein were Captains M. Philip Amadas and M. Arthur Barlowe, who discovered part of the countrey now called Virginia, anno 1584. Written by one of the said captaines, and sent to Sir Walter Ralegh, Knight, at whose charge and direction, the said voyage was set forth.”
The History of North Carolina confirms the following:
“Elenora, daughter to the governor of the city and wife to Ananias Dare, one of the assistants, was delivered of a daughter in Roanoke … and because this chld was the first Christian born in Virginia, she was named Virginia.”
(Francis Lister Hawks. History of North Carolina: Embracing the period between the first voyage to the colony in 1584, to the last in 1591. Largely reprinted from Hakluyt's Voyages.” 1859.)
Little is known of the lives of either of her parents. Her mother Eleanor was born in London around 1563, and was the daughter of John White, the governor of the ill-fated Roanoke Colony. Eleanor married Ananias Dare (born c. 1560), a London tiler and bricklayer, at St Bride's Church on Fleet Street in the City of London. He, too, was part of the Roanoke expedition. Virginia Dare was one of two infants born to the colonists in 1587 and the only female child born to the settlers.
(Lee Miller. Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony. 2000.)
(Dewi Morgan. Phoenix of Fleet St – 2,000 years of St Bride's, Charles Knight & Co.1973)
Nothing else is known of Virginia Dare's life, as the Roanoke Colony did not endure.
John White, Virginia's grandfather and governor of the colony, sailed for England for fresh supplies at the end of 1587. He was unable to return to Roanoke until August 18, 1590 due to England's war with Spain and the pressing need for ships to defend against the Spanish Armada – by which time he found that the settlement had been long deserted. The buildings had collapsed and "the houses [were] taken down". Worse, White was unable to find any trace of his daughter or granddaughter, or indeed any of the 80 men, 17 women, and 11 children who made up the "Lost Colony".
(Giles Milton. Big Chief Elizabeth – How England's Adventurers Gambled and Won the New World, Hodder & Stoughton, London. 2000)
Snorri Thorfinnsson
Norway or Scandinavia – One must consider these were northern European countries. Did early Norse explorers actually venture into the present confines of the United States?
After all, an 11th century Norwegian coin – a Norse penny, made between 1065 and 1093 – was found in Maine in 1957, and it has been suggested as evidence of Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact. And, on a hillside that overlooks Narragansett Bay in Newport, Rhode Island, sits a stone tower. Normally such a structure would not be so shrouded in mystery, but the discovery of a rune marker stone in 1946 on one of the legs of the tower has created debate for over seventy years.
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography claims Snorri Thorfinnsson was the first white child born on the North American continent. Archaeological evidence of the only known Norse site in North America (outside Greenland) was found at L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland. Before the discovery of archaeological evidence, Vinland was known only from the sagas and medieval historiography.
(Helge Ingstad, Helge; Anne Stine. The Viking Discovery of America: The Excavation of a Norse Settlement in L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. 2001)
During their stay in North America. a son was born to Thorfinnr and Gudridr Thorfinnsson and given the name of Snorri.
There is speculation about the birth date of Snorri Thorfinnsson. Birth years such as 1005, 1009, and 1012 have been postulated, but all sources agree that he was born between 1005 and 1013.
(Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson, Hermann. The Vinland Sagas. 1965.)
The Saga of Eric the Red, supplemented by the Saga of the Greenlanders, is the main source of the few facts known about Snorri. His father, Thorfinnr, went from Iceland to Greenland. There he became interested in the new lands in North America to which the sons of Eirikr Thorvaldsson (Eric the Red) – Leifr heppni Eiriksson, Thorvaldr, and Thorsteinn – had made expeditions in the years following a.d. 1000.
According to the Vinland sagas, when Snorri was 3 years old, his family left Vinland because of hostilities with indigenous peoples (called Skrælingar by the settlers, meaning "barbarians"). His father was determined to lead a colonizing expedition and set sail with 60 men and 5 women (Saga of the Greenlanders), accompanied by two other ships, some time during the years 1003–10 (Saga of Eric the Red).
Where Thorfinnr established his colony is not known. Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Massachusetts are among the many regions that have been suggested, although the likeliest spot is probably the vicinity of Cape Cod.
The colony lasted for three years, and during the summers exploratory voyages were undertaken both north and south. Many scholars believe that the explorers sailed a considerable distance up the St. Lawrence River, and, according to the Saga of Eric the Red, even reached the “land of the Unipeds”-- Unipeds are one-legged Norse mythical creatures.
The peace of the colony, however, was disturbed by troubles with the aborigines of the region, although there is no agreement among historians on whether these were First Nations or Inuit. Bloody fighting broke out. Whether because of this or for some other reason, the settlement was abandoned after three years and the settlers returned to Greenland and the Glaumbær farm in Seyluhreppur.
Thorfinnr later sailed to Norway and sold a boatload of goods from Vinland, which made him relatively rich.
Gudridr, described in the sagas as "the most attractive of women and one to be reckoned with in all her dealings", made one or more trips between Iceland and Greenland and eventually travelled to Rome to meet the pope. She became a nun and returned to Iceland, where she established a church.
"She was probably one of the most well-travelled women of the period - and all of it in an open boat," said historian Elisabeth Ward of the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History.
(“Archaeology team unlocks the saga of Snorri Thorfinnsson.” The Age. September 17, 2002.)
Thus, evidence shows that Snorri was taken to Iceland by his parents two years after the colony came to an end.
Snorri lived out his life there, but the date of his death is unknown. However, it is known that a “great and goodly lineage” sprang from him, including “several of the early bishops of Iceland.” He had two children; a daughter named Hallfrid, and a son named Thorgeir. Hallfrid was the mother of Thorlak Runolfsson, bishop of Skálholt in the south of Iceland. Thorgeir was the father of Yngvild who was the mother of Brand Sæmundarsson, bishop of Hólar.
(T. J. Oleson. Dictionary of Canadian Biography Volume I – 1000-1700.)
Martín de Argüelles, Jr.
From 1513 to 1559, the Spanish sent several major expeditions to Florida, but each one ended in complete failure. Juan Ponce de León’s colonization attempt, for example, was cut short by a Native American arrow that mortally wounded him, whereas Hernando de Soto died of disease after three years of aimless wandering.
Meanwhile, the first known European settlement in the continental United States, founded by Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón in 1526 in what’s believed to be present-day Georgia, was abandoned after just a few months. Another Spanish settlement, founded in 1559 in present-day Pensacola, Florida, didn’t do much better, lasting less than two years.
King Philip II changed his mind, however, once French Protestants (known as Huguenots) built Fort Caroline in present-day Jacksonville. Intent on ousting them, the king dispatched Menéndez de Avilés across the Atlantic Ocean in the summer of 1565.
Marching north in a rainstorm within days of founding St.Augustine, he and 500 men easily overran the fort and butchered most of its male inhabitants. Menéndez then learned that a number of French boats had shipwrecked while chasing his flagship down the coast.
Though the castaways surrendered without a fight, the Spanish tied them up and brutally stabbed them to death. A second group of French castaways was similarly massacred two weeks later. Ever since, that site south of St. Augustine has been called Matanzas (Spanish for “Slaughters”). In 1568, French privateers and their Native Americans allies took revenge by destroying Fort Caroline—which had been renamed Fort San Mateo—but never again would France establish a foothold in the area
(Jesse Greenspan. “8 Things You May Not Know About St. Augustine, Florida.” History.com. September 08, 2015)
Martín de Argüelles, Jr., was born in 1566, approximately 21 years before the birth of Virginia Dare in Virginia, in the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, Spanish Florida. Arguelles was the first child of European descent known to be born in what is now the continental United States. Martín's parents were Martín de Argüelles (Sr.) and Leonor Morales.
Author Fredrik de Costa says Arguelle might not have been known at all if he hadn't gone to court to claim salary overdue him from the Spanish army. His petition established his birth, the date (January 4, 1566), his parents, and his identity. It went into Spanish archives to be later discovered.
De Costa says …
“We were led to believe that American history began with Virginia Dare, and this story is published to remind the public that community life in St. Augustine existed well before 1600.”
(Malcolm Johnson. “Firsts.” Boca Ratan News. July 4, 1971.)
Martín de Argüelles, Jr.'s father was an Asturian hidalgo (member of the Spanish nobility) and one of the expeditioners who came to New Spain in the New World with Captain General Menéndez de Avilés in 1565. Argüelles Sr. was the first Alcalde (Mayor) of San Agustín, and had been in charge of munitions in the Florida forts of Santa María, San Agustín (now St. Augustine), and Santa Elena.
Martín Argüelles Jr. served the Spanish crown in Portugal and several garrisons and expeditions which embarked in the Spanish Armada which went in search of corsair Francis Drake. He was later transferred in 1594 from Havana, Cuba, to Mérida, Mexico, where he was appointed Executive Officer of the Mérida fortress and coast. Argüelles was married in Mérida.
The Library of Congress, Hispanic Reference Team Plumio, reports …
“We do not have a death date for Martin de Arguelles. To find it would a very difficult enterprise. As a royal official, there are probably documents about or by him at the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain. There could also be documents in Mexico and Cuba. Perhaps, the best place would be the Archivos de Protocolos and Archivos Notariales in the city of Mérida, México.
“If he ever wrote a
last will and testament, it may be at those places. But going through
those documents would prove to be a very laborious undertaking. We
also checked the Enciplopedia Universal Ilustrada, but could
not find a reference to him.
“He seems to have been a minor
official and information about him would be very hard to come by.”
Argüelles' descendants included José Argüelles, who was one of the colonizers of the Province of New Santander in New Spain in 1749, in what is now the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
What Does It Mean?
No particular recognition of the first child of European ancestry will necessarily build a revisionist national history. Neither will it destroy strong tradition. However, shedding light on other theories could broaden our understandings of the truth. Although historical truth is often frail and can be prone to error, we should strive to lay bare mistakes – unwitting and intentional – and their historical consequences. To minimize misconceptions and to strengthen honest narratives allows us to see a more complete picture … and, to come closer to teaching the truth to our children.
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