Voyage to the Bottom of the Earth: Spain’s Struggle for Patagonia November 19, 2010

Francis Drake’s unexpected raids on Spain’s overseas colonies in 1577-80 alarmed the Spanish court. The first official response to those raids was the expedition led by Diego Flores de Valdés and Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa. History has dubbed Sarmiento a hero and Valdés a buffoon or worse, but the documents paint a richer and more complicated picture of the struggle for the South Atlantic.

Carla Rahn Phillips PhD, a University of Minnesota professor specializing in social, economic and maritime history of Early Modern Europe and the Iberian World, sheds new light on the late 16th century struggle for control of Patagonia. In her presentation, “A Voyage to the Bottom of the Earth, 1581-84: Spain’s Ill-Fated Attempt to Colonize Patagonia”, she tells the rich, complicated tale of the Spanish government’s response to British pirate and politician Drake’s surprise attack.

Official Website: http://www.newberry.org/renaissance/seminars/earlymodern.html