October 19, 2000
Early Spanish Expeditions to Alaska discussed Friday at UAS

"Spanish Expeditions to Alaska, 1774 -1792" will be discussed by UAS Professor Emeritus Wally Olson as part of the Evening at Egan free fall series at 7 p.m. Friday night (Oct. 20).

"The Spanish explorers were real important," Olson said, "because they were the first Europeans to see and describe the Tlingit people." The Spanish visited what is now Alaska before the Russians.

"The Spanish never stayed and they never made a settlement," Olson said, "but from the time they first arrived, until they stopped coming, The Spanish provide our first picture of the Tlingit Indians by Europeans."

Olson said all Spanish officers were required to keep journals. About 24 journals have survived. Olson studied Spanish at UAS before he retired and later studied in Mexico so he could translate the journals of Alaska expeditions. "That's what I've been doing," he said, "transcribing from handwritten to Spanish and then translating."

Olson will show slides and maps of Spanish expeditions during his Friday presentation. "I'll talk about why the Spanish came, where they went, and what they did."