Profile of Juan Pardo on Famous Like Me

Joara was a large Native American settlement located in what is now Burke County, North Carolina. The location of the archaeological site is northwest of Morganton on Henderson Mill Road and portions have been excavated by the Upper Catawba Valley Archaeology Project, consisting of archaeologists from Warren Wilson College, Southern Illinois University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Settlement

Joara is thought to have been settled sometime after A.D. 1000. It was established on the west bank of Upper Creek and within sight of Table Rock, a dominate geographical feature of the area. The Joara natives comprised the northeastern extent of Mississipian mound builder cultural identity.

By the time of the first European contact with the Native Americans in the foothills of the southern Appalachians, Joara had already grown to be the largest native settlement in present day North Carolina. The town served as the political center of a chiefdom that controlled many of the surrounding native settlements.

Spanish exploration

Hernando de Soto

In 1540, Hernando de Soto led a Spanish expedition up the eastern edge of the Appalachian mountains through present day Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. This expedition recorded the first documented European contact with the people of Joara, and soon departed to continue their exploration of la Florida's interior. It would be another 26 years before the Spanish would begin their attempts to enforce their claim over the land and its native inhabitants.

Captain Juan Pardo

On December 1, 1566, Captain Juan Pardo and 125 men departed from Santa Elena, La Florida (located on present day Parris Island, South Carolina) under orders from Governor Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to claim the interior for Spain, pacify native inhabitants, convert native inhabitants to Catholicism, and establish a route to Spanish silver mines near Zacatecas, Mexico. In order to stay close to food sources, the Spanish traveled northwest to live off of the native inhabitants' food supplies. The small Spanish force stopped at Otari (near present day Charlotte) and Yssa (near present day Denver, North Carolina) before arriving at Joara.

Captain Pardo and his men arrived at Joara in January 1567 and renamed it Cuenca after his hometown Cuenca, Spain. Snow in the Appalachian mountains forced the Spanish to establish a winter base in the foothills at Joara. The explorers built a wooden fort at the north end of Joara and named it Fort San Juan. The fort became the first European settlement of present day North Carolina, predating the establishment of the first English colony at Roanoke Island by 18 years.

The Spanish based in Fort San Juan and continued on to claim sovereignty over several other settlements in the region including Guaquiri (near present day Hickory, Catawba County, North Carolina) and Quinahaqui (in present day Catawba County, North Carolina). In February 1567, Captain Pardo established Fort Santiago at Guatari, a smaller town of Guatari natives located in present day Rowan County, North Carolina.

When Captain Pardo received word of a possible French invasion of Santa Elena, he left 30 of his soldiers to occupy Joara, 4 soldiers and his chaplain Father Sebastian Montero to occupy Guatari and departed with the remainder of his force. He returned to Fort San Juan that autumn and found the local inhabitants were angered by the Spanish demands for food, women, and canoes as well as the effect of newly introduced diseases. Instead of continuing his mission to Mexico, Captain Pardo left another garrison at Fort San Juan and returned to Santa Elena.

Shortly after May 1568, news reached Santa Elena that the native population had burned all five of the Spanish forts established by Juan Pardo's men and had killed all of the Spanish stationed in those garrisons. Captain Pardo never returned to the area and Spain ended all attempts to colonize the southeastern interior.

Demise and abandonment

At the time of the first Spanish contact, the native people of the area were identified by their villages of residence and were not part of large tribes. Death from European diseases and conquest and assimilation by large tribes such as the Catawba and Cherokee caused many of these smaller native groups to disappear. By the time the English, Moravian, Scotch Irish, and German settlers arrived in the area, Joara and many of the other towns in the region were abandoned.

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