Silvestre Velez de Escalante
Silvestre Vélez de Escalante (* 1750 in Trenceño , Spain , † 1780 near Mexico City ) was a Spanish Franciscan who worked in the 18th century as a missionary and explorer in the southwest of today's USA .
Life
The missionary Escalante made trips to the southwest of the United States, about which he wrote. The most famous of these trips is the Dominguez Escalante Expedition, which was carried out in 1776 . Together with his superior Francisco Atanasio Domínguez , the cartographer Bernardo Miera y Pacheco and eight other travel companions Escalante left Santa Fe in what is now New Mexico with the goal of Monterey in what is now California , which they did not reach. Rather, after moving through the southwest of what is now Colorado, what is now Utah , the group returned to Santa Fe via what is now Arizona . In the course of the journey they came across the eastern edge of the Grand Canyon and crossed the impassable El Malpais in what is now New Mexico. The expedition participants were probably the first Europeans to reach Utah.
Namesake
The Escalante River and the Escalante Desert in Utah, as well as the city of Escalante , also located in Utah, are named after Escalante .
swell
- Bolton, Herbert E. (Ed.): Pageant in the Wilderness: The Story of the Escalante Expedition to the Interior Basin, 1776. Including the diary and itinerary of Father Escalante. Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City 1951.
Web links
- Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Article (FactMonster)
- American Journeys: Text of Escalante's travelogues from Bolton, pp. 133-239.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Velez de Escalante, Silvestre |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Spanish Franciscan, missionary and explorer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1750 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Trenceño , Spain |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1780 |
| Place of death | near Mexico City |