Paul E. Hoffman (1) (1943–)

While Hoffman's argument for the idea of a Northwest Passage being a big draw for explorers in the 16th century is cogent, the argument that the legend of "Chicora" was also a big draw is not. There were several factors which drew Europeans, especially the Spanish, to the New World. "Chicora" was not one of them, in my estimation. The prospect of the kinds of riches which the Spanish had unearthed in Peru and Mexico, the idea of adventure and conquest and self-aggrandizement, the role of myth and legend 600 years in the making, and strategic military considerations played a more important role. A major player in the story is Lucas Vasquez de Allyón. Allyón had a manservant, an Indian taken in a slave-hunting expedition in 1521, financed by Allyón. The Indian had been baptized Francisco, learned Spanish, and may have turned out to be rather more clever than Allyón -- or Hoffman -- thought. Hoffman mounts a discussion on page 11 of the edition I have, of the nickname "el Chicorano," which he, through painful gyrations, concludes meant "frog-boy." No such. "-ano" or "-ana" is merely a suffix in Spanish indicating an individual from a particular place -- Mexicano, Mexicana; Peruano, Peruana; Sevillano, Sevillana. All that "el Chicorano" meant was "the guy from Chicora."

Francisco "el Chicorano" spent many evenings beguiling his master with tales of the wonders of his native land. My thought is that Francisco was clever enough, and fluent enough in Spanish, to have learned of the urge Spanish males had for exploration and adventure. He probably overheard discussions Allyón had with his friends Peter Martyr, an Italian living in Seville, who was a member of the Council of the Indies (Consejo de Indias), and Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, historian of the era. Francisco told Allyón fabulous tales. Oviedo warned Allyón not to believe the Indian's stories. Allyón apparently did, for he mounted his own expedition in 1526, and took Francisco with him. When the ships made landfall on the Carolina coast, close to the place where Francisco had been captured, "el Chicorano" took to his heels and vanished into the woods, never to be seen by Europeans again. His spinning of yarns to his master, creating the so-called "legend of 'Chicora'", was nothing more than a scheme by a clever man to get himself back home. It worked.… (mehr)