Mexican and early American style painted gourds near the Estudillo House in the Old Town San Diego State Historic Park; The Forty Acre's Service Station where César Chávez completed his first public fast.
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De Soto National Memorial

Florida


1847 Painting by William H. Powell depicting Hernando de Soto’s discovery of the Mississippi

1847 Painting by William H. Powell
depicting Hernando de Soto’s discovery of the Mississippi
Courtesy of the Architect of the Capitol through Creative Commons
Hernando de Soto is famous in Latin American history as the Spanish conquistador who joined Francisco Pizarro in the invasion of the Inca Empire, but he is also a critical player in American history as the first European to discover the Mississippi River. Located on Shaw’s Point, which is the general area historians believe was the landing place of De Soto’s 1539 expedition, De Soto National Memorial commemorates de Soto’s landing in Florida and his northwestward expedition into North America. De Soto National Memorial is also an archeological site with artifacts and trails left behind by American Indians who guided de Soto’s expedition through Florida to the Mississippi.

The Spanish provinces of Badajoz and Barcarrota both lay claim to hometown status; while de Soto spent time in both as a child, he willed that he be buried in a Badajoz town named Jerez de los Caballeros, or City of the Knights (Templar). Given de Soto’s eventual career as a conquistador and avid horseman, it would seem fitting that he likely came from a town that both idolized knighthood and was noteworthy for its distinguished equestrian training. Born soon after the expulsion of the last Muslims in 1492, de Soto was raised in an atmosphere influenced by the eight centuries of struggle that followed the Moorish conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. This period, known as La Reconquista (the Reconquest), bred a distinct class of fighters who epitomized the medieval knighthood and fought to unify the Christian kingdoms by reclaiming the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslim invaders. Influenced by the military and religious crusades that defeated the Moors, and inspired by the discoveries of Christopher Columbus’ voyage, de Soto -- like many Spaniards of his generation -- became eager at a very young age to become a conquering explorer. By the time Hernando de Soto reached the age of 14 he had become a skilled equestrian, and in 1519 he joined the ranks of the famous conquistadores of the New World.

De Soto National Memorial offers many living history programs at Camp Uzita
De Soto National Memorial offers many living history programs at Camp Uzita
Courtesy of the National Park Service

In 1525, following the successful expedition to Panama with Juan Ponce de León and Pedro Arias de Ávila, de Soto gained control of Nicaragua and acquired a vast fortune from American Indian gold and slave trading. During this period de Soto met Francisco Pizarro, a conquistador who informed de Soto of the wealth he had heard of in the native empire that lay south of Panama. In 1531, after receiving permission from the Spanish Crown to conquer Peru, de Soto and Pizarro successfully landed on the coast of modern day Ecuador. Making their way into Peru, the conquistadores found themselves in the middle of the struggle between the Inca ruler of Quito, Atahuallpa, and his half brother Huascar, the ruler of the Inca capital of Cuzco. Using the distraction of the Inca civil war, Pizarro managed to seize Peru after Atahuallpa’s army defeated and executed Huascar. In 1532, Pizarro and de Soto -- like Cortes in Mexico with Monteczuma -- captured and executed Atahuallpa after he rejected the Spaniards' demand for the Inca emperor to convert to Christianity. After learning of Atahuallpa’s death the Inca army eventually surrendered, and the Spaniards gained control of the Inca territories and ransacked the empire’s fortune.

Following the successful conquest of the Inca Empire, de Soto returned to Spain in 1536 and sought an audience with the emperor to request permission to become governor of Quito. Since the Spanish Crown would take a year to grant his request, de Soto took advantage of his time in Spain to marry Inès de Bobadilla, the daughter of his Panama expedition partner, Pedro Arias de Ávila. In the same year, he became a member of the Spanish Order of Santiago, and by 1537, he reached an agreement with Charles I of Spain to conquer Florida. Although the Spanish Crown did not grant his original petition to become governor of Quito, the emperor agreed to make de Soto the governor of Cuba if he returned victorious from his expedition through Florida. In 1539, two years after their departure from Spain, de Soto and his crew landed on the west coast of Florida in the area historians believe is the location of present day Tampa.

Expecting to find great treasures as he did on his previous expeditions to Central and South America, de Soto approached his conquest of Florida with the same mentality and techniques that Pizarro and de Ávila applied in their conquests of Peru and Panama. When de Soto reached Florida, he found that the natives of the Coosa towns did not possess gold and could only offer the Spaniards the richness of their agricultural harvest. De Soto, convinced that he would find monetary treasure, continued to travel northwest from one village to the next terrorizing native towns that did not cooperate by throwing natives to the dogs, burning them alive, enslaving and raping them, and cutting off their noses and hands. Those who did cooperate became servants who helped feed the Spaniards and guide them on the American Indian trails. Both the tribes and the Spaniards suffered losses caused by disease and battles, but despite losing half of his soldiers, de Soto was determined to find the treasures he sought. The journey ended in 1543, when de Soto died from a fever, having reached the Mississippi River at the time of his death. His men buried him in the river and built boats to return to Mexico by floating down to the Gulf of Mexico on the river.

De Soto beach along the Manatee River
De Soto beach along the Manatee River
Courtesy of the National Park Service

De Soto never came across fortune throughout his voyage, but historians credit him with the European discovery of the Mississippi River. De Soto’s troops were the first Europeans to explore deep into North America, and the details of their travels helped future explorers of the area by offering them information about the land and the natives. By the time later explorers reached the territory de Soto had explored, however, the Florida they found was not the land that de Soto’s men encountered in 1539. When other explorers reached the area of the Coosa towns 20 years later, they found abandoned villages that demonstrated the negative impact the Spaniards had on the native people who were destroyed by raids and disease. Evidence of native life in the Southeast today from this period comes from the sites and artifacts discovered by archeologists, and the Indian trails throughout De Soto National Memorial.

In 1948, the National Park Service acquired 30 acres of Shaw’s point--the area the United States De Soto Expedition Commission declared in 1939 as de Soto’s landing point--to establish a National Memorial commemorating de Soto’s expedition in Florida and his discovery of the Mississippi River. The year 2009 marked the 470th anniversary of the Spaniard’s expedition into North America.

Visitors to De Soto National Memorial can enjoy both indoor and outdoor activities. The visitor center includes displays of historic armor, weapons, and related period items and provides helmets and armor to try on. An orientation film depicts the de Soto expedition and the native people it encountered.

Plan your visit

De Soto National Memorial, a unit of the National Park System, is located at 75th St. NW in Bradenton, FL. Click here for the National Register of Historic Places file: text and photos. The visitor center at the Memorial offers free admission and is open daily from 9:00am to 5:00pm. The Memorial is closed on New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. For more information, visit the National Park Service De Soto National Memorial website or call 941-792-0458. Click here for information regarding the De Soto trail.

De Soto National Memorial is also featured in the National Park Service Places Reflecting America's Diverse Cultures: Explore their Stories in the National Park System Travel Itinerary.

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