'Eastern- and Anglo-Centric Misconceptions of American History'

choi

Gerald Helferich, Looking South, Finding America; The story of a forward-looking scholar who showed that the US, in its formation and ultimate identity, owed a debt to Spain as well as to England. Wall Street Journal, June 27, 2012
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 83050593803144.html
(book review on Albert L Hurtado, Herbert Eugene Bolton; Historian of the American borderlands. University of California Press, 2012)

Note:
(a)
(i) The Spanish surname Hurtado is "from the past participle of hurtar ‘to rob or conceal’ (Late Latin furtare). The reference was probably to an illegitimate child, whose existence was concealed." Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press.
(ii) Bolton: from Old English boðl ‘dwelling’, ‘house’ + tun ‘enclosure’

The English surname Bolton is after the town in Lancashire:
Bolton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolton
(section 1.1 Toponymy)

(b) The review stated, "Spain was building cities in Florida and Mexico decades before the English landed at Jamestown in 1607. The oldest university in the hemisphere was chartered in Lima, Peru, in 1551."

(i) Spanish Florida
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Florida
(sectin 1 Discovery and early exploration: 1513)

Quoet:

"Menéndez de Avilés reached Florida in 1565 and established a base at San Agustín (St Augustine in English) which became the first permanent European settlement in what is now the continental United States and the oldest which has been continuously occupied.

"In 1763, Spain traded Florida to Great Britain in exchange for control of Havana, Cuba, which had been captured by the British during the Seven Years' War. Also as a result of the war Britain received all of French Louisiana east of the Mississippi River except for New Orleans.

* St Augustine, Florida
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine,_Florida
(founded in 1565 by Spain as San Agustín; now a city just south of Jacksonville)

(ii) National University of San Marcos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_University_of_San_Marcos
(chartered on May 12, 1551 by a royal decree signed by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, which makes it the oldest officially established university in the Americas and, as such, one of the oldest universities in the world; Academically, the University of San Marcos ranks first in Peru; now a public university)

* Not to be confused with
University of Lima
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Lima
(a private university in Lima, the capital of Peru; founded in 1962)

(c) nativism (n):
"1: a policy of favoring native inhabitants as opposed to immigrants
2: the revival or perpetuation of an indigenous culture especially in opposition to acculturation"

* acculturation (n):
"cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture; also : a merging of cultures as a result of prolonged contact"

All definitions are from www.m-w.com except otherwise noted.

(d) The review remarked, "Even with this doughty defense, Mr Hurtado escapes hagiography, and he avoids the turgid prose for which academics are notorious."
(i) doughy (adj): "resembling dough in consistency, colour, etc; soft, pallid, or flabby"
Collins Dictionary
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/doughy
(ii) turgid (adj; Latin turgidus, from turgēre to be swollen):
"1: being in a state of distension : SWOLLE, TUMID <turgid limbs>
2: excessively embellished in style or language : BOMBASTIC, POMPOUS <turgid prose>"

(e) Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Vásquez_de_Coronado
(1510-1554; a Spanish conquistador; map with the heading "The Coronado Expedition 1540–1542")

* The Spanish surname Coronado is "from coronado ‘crowned’, past participle of coronare ‘to crown’, applied as a nickname for someone who behaved in an imperious manner."