The Spanish in Trinidad 250 Years Ago

Cost: $45

Dates

• Wed., July 30, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Location: In person: Trinidad

With Patricia Fleschner, President, Trinidad Museum Society

The Spanish sailed into Trinidad Bay 250 years ago on June 9, 1775. It was the first European contact with the Yurok people of Tsurai. Bruno Hezeta, Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, Antonio Mourelle, Juan Perez, and Father Campa wrote about their 10-day stay in Trinidad, and the claiming of Trinidad for King Carlos III of Spain on June 11, 1775, which was Trinity Sunday. The perilous voyage of discovery on the frigate Santiago and the schooner Sonora along the uncharted Pacific Coast began in San Blas in March 1775 and lasted over six months. Searching for the Northwest Passage and Russian or English encroachments along the coast, finding and charting safe ports, learning the ethnology of indigenous peoples were some of the instructions from the Viceroy of New Spain. The set-backs of the journey in uncharted waters seem unimaginable today. Trinidad proved to be a short but remarkable respite in an era when the Spanish Empire grew to its zenith.

Class #: 31236

REGISTRATION OPENS JULY 1.

Register by July 25.

Patricia Fleschner

Patricia Fleschner is director of Trinidad Museum. She holds an M.A. in
history and has a keen interest in Spanish exploration in the Pacific
Northwest between 1769 and 1795. She has presented several OLLI and
Humboldt County Historical Society classes on the subject of the Spanish
landings, discoveries, and mapping of the coast by Spanish mariners.