The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1940-03-28

! World. The main settlement was
on the Island of Hispaniola,
known as Haiti or Santo Domin-
go, on the northern border of the
Caribbean sea.
The imports from the mother
country were designed to suit
the needs of colonists and includ-
ed such articles as grain, provi-
sionS, arms, ammunition, clothes,
seeds, instruments of agriculture,
as well as cattle and horses, and
even black and white slaves. The
exports consisted of brazil and
other native woods, dye stuffs,
medicinal herbs, cotton, hides,
native handicraft wares, silver
and gold.
1t is impossible to evaluate ex-
actly the precious metals export
ed from America in Spanish
colonial times but estimates made
at the beginning of the seven
teenth century indicate that up
wards to two billions of dollars
worth of registered gold and sill
yer had poured into Spain since
the discovery of the West Indies.
This is tidy sum when it is con-
Sidered that the purchasing pow
er of gold probably was at least
four times that of today. Further
more, this estimate does not in
clude the untold wealth that was
transported through surreptitious
channels and concerning which
no governmental records are
available.
When the knowledge of the ORR
gin of this immense store of treas
ure began to seep through the
channels of communication into
the Old World, the Spaniards
adopted a policy of rigid secrecy
regarding the location of the
routes to and from their golden
bonanza. No maps or charts were
permitted to be published which
would indicate the way to New
Spain and all foreigners were
banned from the crews of vessels
sailing for the West Indies. This
studied SecretivenesS accounts for
the fact that no official map of the
western discoveries was published
: in Spain before the year 1890.
Also it explains why naval ma
RAIDERS searched the Spanish gal
Icons for the precious maps al
most as eagerly as for the gold
stored in hidden compartments.
Furthermore, this secretive con-
duct answers the question as to
why it is difficult today to find
reliable Spanish maps showing in
detail the land routes used by the
conquiStadores to connect their
ports in the New World with the
various land settlement.
From the foregoing remarks it
may be seen that the main Span
ish Los Caminos Reales leading
northward may be likened in their
direction and arrangement to the
branches of an immense date palm
tree rooted at the beautiful City
of Mexico. 1t seems permissible
to use this figure because even
though the date palm is not ma
tive to this locality, neverthe-
less, many of these trees do give
color to the local landscape.
The central branch of this fig
urative tree reaches almost due
north and the foliage covers the
western tip of the region now
called Texas and central New
Mexico. The left branch projects
northwestward and the leaves
hide portion of Southern Ari-
iona and California. The princi-
pal right branch arches gracefully
eastward and its luxurious fol-
iage screens from view land areas
now embraced in eastern Texas,
Louisiana, southern Mississippi.
and Alabama and northern Flori-
da. In the categorical sense the
dates on this imaginary palm
tree may be used to represent
the localities in which occurred
important historical events.
The cluster of dates near the
trunk of the tree may be aSsum-
ed to portray Texas, the largest
state in area in the Union. The
large dates farther to the east
which almost touch the waters of
the Gulf of Mexico represent New
Orleans, second largest seaport in
the United States and the gate
way to the Mississippi valley, the
richest agricultural region in the
world Further, to the north is
Natchez, founded by the French
as Fort RoSalie, in 1716, at a
strategic crossing of the Missis-
sippi river at the northern margin
of the swampy region to the south.
To the southeast is Biloxi, Missis-
sippi, founded in 1899, the first
French settlement within the pres
ent boundaries of the United
States. Still further east is Mobile,
Alabama, established in 1902 as
the French entrepot to Indian
trade in the interior among the
ChickasawS Ito the northwes),
the Cherokees Ito the northeasD
and the Creeks Ito the southeast)
along the Tombigbee and Ala
hama riAarc Tho dotn dnr cir, q