In recent years no single Spanish conquistador has received greater attention from historians, archaeologists and various government agencies, than Hernando de Soto. Efforts to trace and mark his expedition's wanderings through the southeast of the present day United States have been extensive. Intensive scholarly research, focused on the expedition, has sought to reveal the nature of early contact with indigenous peoples. Archaeologists, working closely with historians, have examined artifactual evidence to better understand the nature of the expedition, its day to day existence, and its interaction with native Americans.

With several exceptions, the historical documents used in this renewed research are the same employed by the renowned U. S. De Soto Commission of the 1930s. Although this reexamination is useful, the general effort has failed to bring to light new information about the expedition. Therefore, it is with considerable pleasure that the P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History, University of Florida Libraries, publishes Mr. Ignacio Avellaneda's Los Sobrevivientes. Mr. Avellaneda is the first scholar to use new De Soto materials located and acquired on microfilm by the Yonge Library. These documents are drawn from the Archivo General de Indias in Sevilla, Spain and have allowed Avellaneda to revise many previous conceptions about the expedition. His work and the questions it raises will lead to further studies of this significant event in the Spanish Borderlands.

Mr. Avellaneda is a native born Colombian scholar currently in residence at the University of Florida. His extensive research has taken him to the archives of the United States, Spain, and Latin America. He received his bachelors degree at the University of Illinois and his masters degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After a distinguished business career he has chosen to complete the Ph.D. program in history at the University of Florida.

Mr. Avellaneda has published numerous historical studies in Latin America and United States periodicals and has had several book length manuscripts accepted for publication. His major field of expertise is the early period of conquest and settlement in the Nuevo Reino de Granada.

Elizabeth Alexander, Librarian
P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History
University of Florida Libraries