The
Villasur expedition of 1720 was a
Spanish military expeditionThe Spanish colonization of the Americas was the settlement and political rule over much of the western hemisphere which was initiated by the Spanish conquistadors and fought mostly by their native allies...
intended to check the growing
FrenchNew France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River, by Jacques Cartier in 1534, to the cession of New France to Spain and Britain in 1763...
presence on the
Great PlainsThe Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
of central
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. Led by Lieutenant-General Pedro de Villasur, the expedition ended with a defeat at the hands of the
PawneeThe Pawnee are a Native American tribe that historically lived along the Platte, Loup and Republican Rivers in present-day Nebraska and in Northern Kansas...
.
In the first part of the 18th century, French explorers and traders began to enter the plains west of the
Missouri RiverThe Missouri River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, and is the longest river in the United States of America. The Missouri likely originates at Brower's Spring at the upper reaches of the Jefferson, before joining the confluence of the Madison, Jefferson, and Gallatin rivers in Montana....
. In 1714,
Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de BourgmontÉtienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont was a French explorer who made the first maps and documented his travels on the Missouri and Platte rivers. He wrote two accounts of his travels with descriptions of the Native American tribes he encountered...
became the first European to reach the
Platte RiverThe Platte River is a river in the Western United States, approximately long. It is a tributary of the Missouri River, which in turn is a tributary of the Mississippi River. The Platte is one of the most significant river systems in the watershed of the Missouri, draining a large portion of the...
. Spain, which had claimed ownership of the Great Plains since the
Coronado expeditionFrancisco Vázquez de Coronado y Luján was a Spanish conquistador, who visited New Mexico and other parts of what are now the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542...
, was wary of this expansion of French influence. In 1718, the
War of the Quadruple AllianceThe War of the Quadruple Alliance was a result of the ambitions of King Philip V of Spain, his wife, Isabella Farnese, and his chief minister Giulio Alberoni to retake territories in Italy and to claim the French throne. It saw the defeat of Spain by an alliance of Britain, France, Austria, and...
broke out between France and Spain; at this time of heightened tension, Villasur was sent by the governor of the Spanish colony of
Nuevo MéxicoSanta Fe de Nuevo México was a province of New Spain that existed from the late 16th century up through the early 19th century. It was centered on the upper valley of the Rio Grande , in an area that included most of the present-day U.S. state of New Mexico...
to capture French traders. By doing so, Spanish authorities could gather intelligence about French ambitions in the region.
Villasur left
Santa FeSanta Fe is the capital of the state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 62,203 at the April 1, 2000 census; the estimate for July 1, 2006, is 72,056...
on June 16, 1720, leading an expedition that included about 40 soldiers, 60-70
PuebloThe Pueblo people are a Native American people in the Southwestern United States. Their traditional economy is based on agriculture and trade. When first encountered by the Spanish in the 16th century, they were living in villages that the Spanish called pueblos, meaning "villages"...
scouts, and approximately 12
ApacheApache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the American Southwest. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, and are related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
guides. The expedition also included Jose Naranjo, as scout, war captain for the Indian auxiliaries and explorer who had visited the Platte River region several times in the past, a priest, and a Spanish trader. The expedition made its way northeast through present-day
ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. It may also be considered to be part of the Western and Southwestern regions of the United States. Colorado entered statehood in 1876 and was nicknamed the “Centennial State”...
,
KansasKansas is a state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was...
and
NebraskaNebraska is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha....
. In August, the expedition made contact with Pawnees and
OtoesThe Otoe or Oto are a Native American people. The Otoe language, Chiwere, is closely related to that of the Iowa and Missouri.The Otoe were once part of the Siouan tribes of the Great Lakes region, commonly known as the Winnebago. At some point, a large group separated themselves and began to...
along the Platte and
LoupThe Loup River is a tributary of the Platte River, approximately long, in central Nebraska in the United States. The river drains a sparsely populated rural agricultural area on the eastern edge of the Great Plains southeast of the Sandhills...
rivers. Using a captured Pawnee slave, Francisco Sistaca, several attempts were made to negotiate with Indians in the area. On August 13, Sistaca disappeared. Villasur, nervous about the possibility of attack, camped that night just south of the Loup/Platte confluence, near what is now
ColumbusColumbus is a city in Platte County, Nebraska, United States, 80 miles west by north of Omaha on the Loup River, a short distance above the confluence with the Platte. In 1900, 3,522 people lived in Columbus, Nebraska; in 1910, 5,014; and in 1940, 7,632. The population was 20,971 at the 2000...
.
The following morning (August 14) a large Pawnee force (possibly aided by French traders) attacked the Spanish camp. Villasur, 34 of his soldiers, and 11 Pueblo scouts were killed after a brief battle. The remaining survivors returned to Santa Fe on September 6.
The expedition, which had journeyed farther to the north and east than any other Spanish military expedition, marked the end of Spanish influence on the central Great Plains.
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