Now that we've discussed Las Casas at greater length, we can begin to understand the context of the Cancer Expedition of 1549. Fray Luis Cancer, a Dominican protege of Las Casas, decided to go to Florida with nothing but a few other priests, in the hopes that the population would convert. High-minded as it may have been, Cancer's idea was impracticable, and led to nothing more than his own martyrdom and the deaths of three of his comrades. We end off the episode with a recounting of the shipwrecks of 1554, wherein three Spanish ships sank off the coast of Texas and of all those who washed up on shore only one would survive the ordeal. These two incidents persuaded those in power back in Spain that the Gulf Coast must be pacified by whatever means necessary...