Hernando de Soto's Florida Expedition

By Joe Marzo

Hernando de Soto’s Expedition: The Journey for Gold and Glory

In 1539, Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto embarked on one of the most ambitious expeditions ever undertaken in North America. His journey, beginning in Florida, would take him and his men through the Southeastern United States in search of gold, new territories to claim for Spain, and perhaps even a passage to the Pacific Ocean. What de Soto and his expedition encountered, however, was a landscape of dense forests, swamps, and native societies that forever shaped the course of history for the indigenous peoples of the region.

De Soto was no stranger to exploration. A veteran of expeditions in Central and South America, he had played a key role in Francisco Pizarro’s conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru.

Like many conquistadors of his time, de Soto had gained immense wealth and fame from his exploits. But for de Soto, the quest for glory and riches was never over. In the 1530s, he petitioned the Spanish crown for permission to lead an expedition to Florida, a land that had already been claimed by Spain but largely unexplored beyond the coastline.

Armed with the title of “Adelantado of Florida,” de Soto set sail from Cuba in May of 1539 with a large contingent of over 600 men, including soldiers, artisans, priests, and slaves. They landed near what is now Tampa Bay in May of that year, marking the beginning of an arduous trek through a vast and mostly unknown land.

De Soto’s ambitions were clear from the start: find gold and wealth similar to what had been discovered in the Inca and Aztec empires. He and his men expected to encounter vast cities of wealth, but what they found was far different. The indigenous peoples they encountered, including the Apalachee and the Timucua, were not the powerful empires they had envisioned, and the riches they sought eluded them.

What makes de Soto’s expedition so notable is the sheer scale of the journey. Over the course of four years, de Soto’s group traversed thousands of miles, making their way through present-day Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Along the way, they faced extreme hardships, from disease and hunger to hostile encounters with Native American tribes.

One of the most famous moments of de Soto’s expedition came when he and his men became the first Europeans to cross the Mississippi River in 1541. Though they did not realize it at the time, the river would become a defining geographic feature of North America, and de Soto’s crossing marked an important moment in the continent’s history of exploration.

The journey through Florida and the Southeast was marked by violence and devastation for the native populations. De Soto’s men enslaved many indigenous people and raided villages for supplies. Armed with superior weapons, including horses and firearms, the Spanish frequently clashed with local tribes. These encounters often ended tragically for the native populations, as Spanish diseases such as smallpox spread rapidly through the region.

Despite the violence, de Soto’s expedition also encountered highly organized and complex native societies. In northern Florida, de Soto spent his first winter in the Apalachee region, where the native people lived in settled villages and practiced agriculture. Further north, in present-day Georgia and Tennessee, de Soto came into contact with the Mississippian culture, known for its large, mound-building cities and sophisticated political systems.

As the expedition moved deeper into the interior of North America, the hardships mounted. Supplies ran low, men died from disease and exhaustion, and the expedition became increasingly desperate. By 1542, de Soto himself fell ill. On May 21, 1542, Hernando de Soto died of a fever along the banks of the Mississippi River, having never found the wealth or glory he sought. His men buried him in secret in the river, fearing that the native people they had encountered would desecrate his body if they knew of his death.

After de Soto’s death, the remaining members of the expedition, now severely reduced in number, attempted to continue the journey. Realizing the futility of their mission, they eventually made their way down the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico, where they were rescued by Spanish ships. Of the original 600 men who had set out with de Soto, fewer than half survived.

The legacy of de Soto’s expedition is a complicated one. On one hand, it marked a significant moment in the European exploration of North America. De Soto and his men were the first Europeans to explore vast portions of what is now the southern United States, and their journey provided valuable knowledge of the geography and indigenous peoples of the region.

However, de Soto’s expedition also left a devastating impact on the native populations. The violence and diseases brought by the Spanish decimated entire communities, and the disruption of native societies would have long-lasting consequences for the indigenous peoples of the Southeast. De Soto’s failure to find gold or establish any lasting settlements in the region meant that his expedition was ultimately deemed unsuccessful by the Spanish crown, but its effects on the indigenous peoples of Florida and beyond were profound and lasting.

Today, Hernando de Soto is remembered both as a bold explorer and a symbol of the destructive impact of European colonization on Native American cultures. His name is commemorated in places like De Soto National Memorial in Florida, and his expedition remains a key chapter in the history of both Florida and the broader United States.

Sources:

• Clayton, Lawrence A., Vernon James Knight, and Edward C. Moore, eds. The De Soto Chronicles: The Expedition of Hernando de Soto to North America in 1539-1543. University of Alabama Press, 1993.

• Milanich, Jerald T. Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe. University Press of Florida, 1995.

• Hudson, Charles. Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando de Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms. University of Georgia Press, 1997.

• Hann, John H. A History of the Timucua Indians and Missions. University Press of Florida, 1996.