The untold history

With Los Angeles it is like with New York: without having visited them, they are cities that anyone knows from movies and magazines. Los Angeles is the giant white letters of Hollywood on top of a hill, and at its feet, the movie studios, the mansions with swimming pools of the moguls of the industry and the names of the stars on the Walk of Fame.

Los Angeles are also streets, avenues and boulevards that, parallel or perpendicular, extend until they get lost in the horizon, beyond what the eye can see; streets, avenues and boulevards, many of them with unmistakably Spanish names: La Ciénaga, Montecito, La Brea, Las Palmas, Tijera, Santa Rosita, Alvarado, Figueroa or Olvera.

On the latter street there is a park called La Placita with a statue of a Spanish gentleman. He is Don Felipe de Neve, a native of Bailén, in the province of Jaén, distant predecessor in the position of Governor of California of figures such as Ronald Reagan or Arnold Schwarznegger and founder of that city we all know from movies and magazines: Los Angeles.

Every year on the 4th of July, the United States celebrates its big day, with parades and fireworks all over the country. On July 4, 1776, delegates from the 13 British colonies met in Philadelphia to unilaterally adopt the Declaration of Independence. Little by little, the key involvement of Spain on the side of the rebels is becoming known. Little by little, the names of Spanish military men who played an important role in the conflict are also becoming familiar. That is the case of Fernando de Leyba.

You can now listen to the eighth episode of “The Untold History”, the podcast of The Hispanic Council, in collaboration with the Secretaría General de Política de Defensa. In this new episode we talk about Gaspar de Portolá. 

Whoever visits the Parador de Arties, in the Valle de Arán, will be able to contemplate a statue and a painting of a hardened officer and chief of the Dragoons. He is Don Gaspar de Portolá y Rovira, an aristocrat born in 1717 and former owner of the place where the tourist complex stands today. More than that, Portolá was a veteran of the Italian and Portuguese campaigns. And while he performed with efficiency and honor on the battlefields of Europe, his place in history was guaranteed by his adventure in the New World. To be exact: the expansion of the empires borders along the coasts of the North Pacific.

You can now listen to the seventh episode of "The Untold History", the podcast of The Hispanic Council, in collaboration with the Secretaría General de Política de Defensa. In this new episode, we talk about Juan Bautista de Anza.

As a child, Juan Bautista de Anza never played at living surrounded by Apache Indians. He experienced the sensation firsthand, anticipating a century and a half before the premiere of ' The Great Train Robbery ', considered the first western in the history of cinema. Before Juan Bautista, his father had lived in danger and before his father, his grandfather. The son and grandson of military men, Anza had no choice but to follow a career in arms. It is likely that he never wished for anything else.

You can now listen to the sixth episode of "The Untold History", the podcast of The Hispanic Council, in collaboration with the Secretaría General de Política de Defensa. In this new episode we talk about Juan de Oñate Salazar.

If we can speak of a New World aristocracy, few people personalize it better than Juan de Oñate Salazar and his descendants. Juan was Gonzalo Salazar's grandson on his mother´s side, who was Royal Treasury and son of Don Cristóbal de Oñate, one of the founders of the city of Zacatecas (Mexico). Juan was born there, where he also met his future wife, a granddaughter of Hernan Cortés and great granddaughter of Moctezuma, the last Mexica Emperor.

You can now listen to the fifth episode of "The Untold History", the podcast of The Hispanic Council, in collaboration with the Secretaría General de Política de Defensa. In this new episode we talk about Pedro Menéndez de Avilés.

The life of this Asturian was practically the script of an adventure novel. His legacy in the USA is still alive, as he is the founder of the oldest city in the USA: St. Augustine, Florida.

You can now listen to the fourth episode of "The Untold History", a podcast by The Hispanic Council, in collaboration with the General Secretariat for Defense Policy. In this new episode we talk about Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo.

Cabrillo was the first European to reach the west coast of what is now the United States in 1542. However, this explorer and navigator was protagonist in many other feats in America. Discover his story in this new episode of our podcast.

Now you can listen to the third episode of "The Untold History", the podcast by The Hispanic Council, in collaboration with the Secretary General of Defense Policy. Today we talk about Francisco Vazquez de Coronado. Born in Salamanca in 1510, he was the leader of one of the most important expeditions in the American Southwest.

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a native of Jerez, starred in one of the most incredible adventures of the Spanish presence in North America. A castaway from Narváez's expedition, he overcame the misfortunes he faced during an impressive journey through the southeast and south of what is now the United States.

This is "The Untold History", a podcast to tell the story of the feats of unknown Spanish characters who have helped to shape the history of the United States. 

This new initiative begins with an episode about Juan Ponce de León: the first European to set foot in the current territory of the United States in 1513. Previously he had been the first governor of Puerto Rico and thanks to him the state of Florida receives this name.