Winyah Bay Georgetown South Carolina United States

Sugar planter Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón, auditor of Santo Domingo, has commissioned Francisco Gordillo to make an expedition to the the little-explored mainland of what is now the Southeastern United States.

Stopping n the Bahamas on the way, Gordillo encounters his cousin Pedro de Quexos, who has been trying to capture Arawak to sell as slaves, without success.

Quexos had decided to join Gordilla's expedition, and in June the two strike land at what they call the River of San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist), probably the Pee Dee in present-day South Carolina.

Varying complex cultures of indigenous peoples had lived along the waterways of North Carolina for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans.

A crowd of curious natives gather on the shore to watch the strangers.

The natives flee when the Spanish approach in shallops, but two are caught, taken aboard a ship, given Spanish clothes, and returned ashore.

The natives again swarm the beach, seeing their comrades' return and changed appearance as a wondrous sign, since they had worn only buckskins before.

The chief orders fifty of his subjects to bring food for the Spanish.

Once ashore, the Spanish are given presents and, a twenty-two day-guided tour of the river and nearby Winyah Bay, including a town or people called Chicora.

They claim the land for their king, naming their discovery the Land of St. John the Baptist, and invite the natives aboard to see their ships.

Gordilla had been ordered by Ayllón to cultivate friendly relations with the people to prepare for later colonization.

De Quexos, eager for slaves, persuades him to trick the natives; without warning, the Spaniards suddenly raise anchor and set sail for Santo Domingo with seventy of the natives still aboard, including the man who will eventually be named Francisco de Chicora.

When the Gordillo expedition returns to Santo Domingo from present South Carolina, Ayllón condemns the leaders for their treachery and takes the matter before a commission headed by Diego Columbus.

The commission declares the captive natives to be free, and orders them returned to the mainland, but such a trip will never take place, as it is considered too costly.

The Yenyohol are the Winyaw of Winyah Bay; the identification of the Anica, Xoxi, Huaque, Anoxa is uncertain.

Most of the natives abducted by the Gordillo expedition had died within two years, as recounted by Peter Martyr the court chronicler, according to colonial reports; many wandered the streets of Santo Domingo as vagrants, and the few who survived have become servants.

He described them as white, larger than the average Spaniard, and dressed in animal skins.

One who survived has been baptized Francisco de Chicora; he has learned Spanish and works for Ayllón.

Chicora had accompanied Ayllón on a trip to Spain, where he met the court chronicler, Peter Martyr, to whom he had recounted much about the practices of his people in Chicora and about the neighboring provinces.

Ayllón, having obtained a patent from Charles V in 1523, sends Quexos to explore the coastline further in 1525.

The trader makes peace with the natives and explores as far north as the Delaware Bay.

He persuades two natives from each district to return with him to learn Spanish, and thereafter act as interpreters for the colonists.

Ayllón, after returning to the Caribbean, leads an expedition to North America in 1526 with three ships and six hundred colonists with one hundred horses, bringing Francisco de Chicora with him.

After striking land at what Ayllón names the Jordan River (now the Santee River in South Carolina), one of his ships runs aground.

As the party goes ashore, Chicora immediately abandons the Spanish and flees to rejoin his own people.

He disappears from the historical record.