Dromo's Den

[Up] [Dromo's Den]

De Soto Biography

De Soto Image

SOTO, Hernando (or Fernando) de (c.1500–42). A Spanish adventurer and explorer in America, born at Villanueva de la Serena, Badajoz. In 1514 he accompanied Pedrarias de Avila, his patron, to the Isthmus of Darien, distinguishing himself by daring and independence. In 1524 he joined Córdoba in the expedition to conquer Nicaragua, but remained loyal to Pedrarias when Córdoba rebelled. Leaving Pedrarias in 1528 he explored the coast of Guatemala and Yucatan, seeking for a supposed water communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific. In 1532 he was in Pizarro’s expedition for the conquest of Peru, and used all his influence to prevent the murder of the Peruvian Inca. De Soto returned to Spain with a fortune and married the daughter of his former patron, Pedrarias. This was in 1536; De Soto was soon after appointed Governor of Cuba and Florida by Charles V, to whom he had advanced money. Florida had not been thoroughly explored. On May 12, 1539, De Soto sailed from Havana with nearly 600 men. Landing at Tampa Bay, May 25, 1539, he started inland on July 15. For over three years the little army of Spaniards explored the wild country, first penetrating as far north as the two Carolinas, then moving down the Alabama River, then north again, crossing the Mississippi at Chickasaw Bluffs, and finally returning southward to where the Red River joins the Mississippi. The Indians were everywhere brutally treated, the result being constant warfare. Several battles were fought, the most important near Mobile Bay, October, 1540, and, though the Spaniards were uniformly successful, yet over 200 of De Soto’s men perished. He himself, worn out and discouraged, succumbed to a fever on the banks of the Mississippi, May 21 or June 25, 1542. His body was secretly sunk in the river lest the hostile Indians should get at it, and the shattered remnants of the expedition, after many further privations, succeeded in floating down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico and reaching their countrymen at Pánuco.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XXI (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 299.