First European ruler in the Americas?

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First European ruler in the Americas?

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1defaults
Bewerkt: jun 21, 2009, 2:56 pm

Here's a little nut to crack that occurred to me the other day: who was the first European ruler to cross the Atlantic? The earliest event I've found so far is the Portuguese royal family's evacuation to Rio de Janeiro in 1808. Was that in fact the first such case? If so, who was the first in North America?

2fuzzy_patters
jun 21, 2009, 3:00 pm

Surely, there must have been some earlier than 1808. The US had been a country for 32 years by then. One would think they would have had some visiting heads of state by that time.

3lilithcat
jun 21, 2009, 3:15 pm

> 2

Except that travel was neither as easy or as common or as safe as it is now. It is unlikely that a ruling monarch would cross an ocean unless out of dire necessity.

The US had been a country for 32 years by then.

So what? It wasn't a particular powerful or diplomatically important one, such as to induce a European head of state to risk the journey, particularly when most European countries were at war or on the verge thereof.

4walbat
jun 21, 2009, 3:21 pm

The future British King William IV (1765-1837; reigned 1830-37) spent time in occupied New York in the early 1780s while serving in the Royal Navy.

5jbd1
jun 21, 2009, 3:28 pm

I don't think it was until 1860 when the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) visited Canada and the U.S. that even a future British head of state came to North America. There may be an earlier instance of some other prince or other. The first sitting European head of state to visit North America, I'm not quite sure on.

State visits weren't nearly so common then, as lilithcat notes. The first president to leave the United States while in office was T.R., if memory serves (going to Panama?). Wilson then became the first to cross the Atlantic while in office.

6jbd1
jun 21, 2009, 3:30 pm

Ah, yes, walbat is correct, well played! Consider the first sentence of mine in 4 expunged :-)

7walbat
jun 21, 2009, 4:06 pm

Louis Napoleon (1808-73; reigned as Emperor Napoleon III of France, 1852-1870), was briefly exiled to the United States in 1836 after a failed coup attempt against the government of King Louis Philippe. I don't know where he went while in America.

8walbat
jun 21, 2009, 4:10 pm

Ah, it seems Louis Napoleon spent four years in New York (1836-40) before returning to France.

9defaults
jun 22, 2009, 1:37 am

Thanks, everyone!