Spanish Explorer Biographies

Our library has some awesome biographies about Spanish explorers.  They offer much more detail then our Social Studies book. 

Magellan
by Michael Burgan
921 MAG 


This book has a ton of detail about Magellan's trip around the world.  My favorite parts were the quotes from one of his crewman's journal.  It was also interesting to see how much trouble he had with his own crew. They didn't like that he was Portuguese.




Hernan Cortes
by Thomas Streissguth
921 Cortes


This Cortes biography has a strong focus on his conquest of the Aztecs. It really shows how it was a long drawn out process and not a simple conquest.






Hernan Cortes 
by Jeff Donaldson-Forbes 
921 Cortes


This Cortes biography also covers his conquest of the Aztecs but provides more information about his pre-Aztec adventures. He conquered more tribes than just the Aztecs. 




Juan Ponce De Leon 
by Marc Tyler Nobleman
921 Ponce De Leon


This version covers Ponce de Leon's life from young adulthood until death. It talks a lot about what he did before exploring Florida. He actually conquered the island that is now Puerto Rico.  This book argues that he was not searching for the Fountain of Youth while in Florida. 


Ponce De Leon
by Ann Heinrichs
921 Pon 


This Ponce de Leon biography is more detailed than Nobleman's.  It covers his life from birth until death.  He led two expeditions to Florida.  The first was to explore and the second was to set up a colony. It also argues that Ponce de Leon wasn't searching for the Fountain of Youth when he was in Florida. 




Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
by Kristin Petrie
921 Coronado


This biography covers Coronado's entire life. It primarily focuses on his expedition to find the Seven Cities of Gold.  The Native Americans that he met weren't fond of him and often told him that they knew were golden cities were to get him to leave. 




Hernando De Soto
by Peggy Pancella
921 De Soto


De Soto's biography is broken into two main parts. First it covers De Soto's life as an underling where he fight the native peoples in Central America and South America.  Second it covers his life as a leader and provides details about his exploration through North America. The book also has an informative paragraph on page 29 about why Spain quit exploring North America.