Hernando de Soto

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For the Peruvian economist, see Hernando de Soto (economist).
Hernando de Soto
File:Hernando de Soto.jpg
3rd Adelantado of La Florida
In office
1537  –  May 21, 1542
MonarchCharles I of Spain
Preceded byPánfilo de Narváez
Succeeded byPedro Menéndez de Avilés
2nd Governor of Cuba
In office
March 20, 1537  –  May 12, 1539
MonarchsCharles I of Spain
Preceded byTwo previous:
Succeeded byIsabel de Bobadilla (interim)
2nd Lieutenant Governor General
of Cuzco
In office
August 25, 1534  –  early 1536
MonarchCharles I of Spain
Preceded byFrancisco Beltrán de Castro
Succeeded byHernando Pizarro
Personal details
Born1500
Badajoz, Jerez de los Caballeros or Villanueva de Barcarrota[1] in Leonese Extremadura, Kingdom of León
Crown of Castile
DiedMay 21, 1542 (aged 41–42)
Mississippi River in North America, Spanish America
Spanish Empire
SpouseIsabel de Bobadilla
OccupationConquistador, explorer and colonial ruler
ProfessionSoldier, entrepreneur, politician

Hernando de Soto y García de Paredes (Barcarrota, Extremadura; 1500 – Mississippi River; May 21, 1542) was a Spanish adelantado, explorer and conquistador who traveled to Spanish America and took part in 1524 in the expedition of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba that discovered the coast of Nicaragua. He also took part in the conquest of Peru, and was one of the first Europeans to venture into the territory of the present-day United States. He is known as the conqueror of the three Americas.

In 1532, he came under the command of Francisco Pizarro in the Conquest of Peru. He was Governor of the island of Cuba between 1538 and 1539, the year in which he set out for the conquest of Florida.

Beginnings in exploration

Hernando de Soto's parents were hidalgos from the region of Extremadura. There is a dispute over his birthplace between the towns of Jerez de los Caballeros and Barcarrota (both in the Province of Badajoz), the latter thesis being supported by the historians Esteban Mira Caballos and Fernando Serrano Mangas. The first money he earned in Peru he sent to his brothers living in Barcarrota, where the estate making up the family entail was located. However, he stipulated that his body be buried in Jerez de los Caballeros because other members of his family were already buried there.

In 1514, Soto accompanied Pedro Arias Dávila to the Spanish colonies, landing in Panama. His possessions at that time were only a shield and his sword. In 1523, he became Captain of a cavalry unit and went with Francisco Hernández de Córdoba on his voyage of exploration and colonization through Nicaragua and Honduras.

Soto gained fame as a horseman and as a fighter of excellent tactics. In a conflict over supremacy in Nicaragua, Soto fought for Pedro Arias Dávila "Pedrarias" against Gil González Dávila, who held authorization for exploration and conquest from the Spanish Crown. Coming from Santo Domingo, González had entered through Paso Caballos in Honduras on his overland route to Nicaragua. Hernando de Soto went to meet him, setting out from Nicaragua, and was defeated by González at Toreba, Honduras, and then released, under the promise not to attack him again.

First expedition: South America

Hernando de Soto displaying horsemanship before the Inca Atahualpa. Interview of Pultumarca.

In 1528, Soto led his own expedition along the coast of Yucatán, hoping to find a direct sea connection between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific. He then accompanied Francisco Pizarro, as Captain, in his enterprise in Peru. Soto discovered the city of Caxas.

After Atahualpa had been arrested during the ambush of Cajamarca in 1532, Soto visited him often during his confinement, and a friendship emerged there between the two men. He was sent north to search for the army of Rumiñahui and to join up with Sebastián de Belalcázar, but what was really sought was to send him away in order to avoid the presence of one of the defenders of the Inca.

With an advance group of fifty men, he was sent by Pizarro to the city of Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire, in order to open the way for the rest of the troops. On the way he clashed numerous times with the army of Quizquiz, winning several battles and losing some. He was relieved by Diego de Almagro and together they entered the imperial city.

On August 25, 1534, he was received in Cuzco as Lieutenant Governor General, and finally decided to withdraw from Peru in early 1536 to seek new adventures when Diego de Almagro chose Rodrigo Orgóñez as his Captain in his place for the fruitless expedition he undertook to the mysterious kingdom of Chile.

Return to Spain

He returned to Spain in that same year of 1536, bringing with him approximately 100,000 gold pesos —his share of the conquest of the Inca Empire—. At this time, Soto was famous as the hero of the capture of Atahualpa. He went to Seville, where he married, in 1537, Isabel de Bobadilla, the daughter of Pedro Arias Dávila, who belonged to one of the most respectable families of Castile, with influence at the Spanish court under Charles I. This period was the peak of Soto's reputation and wealth.

Soto, seeing the legendary resources of Peru and having read a report written by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, suspected similar wealth in Florida. Cabeza de Vaca was one of four survivors of the disastrous attempt by Pánfilo de Narváez to conquer Florida. Seeing his chance to carry out a conquest as famous as those of Pizarro and Cortés, Soto sold a large part of his property and equipped himself for the expedition into those unexplored lands. He was appointed Governor of Cuba by Charles I. His mission was to conquer, settle, and "pacify" the unknown territories.

Second exploration: Florida

Main article: Hernando de Soto expedition in La Florida
A proposed map of Soto's expedition, based on the 1997 map by Charles M. Hudson.[2]
Hernando de Soto, engraving by Juan Brunetti after a drawing by José Maea for the Retratos de Españoles Ilustres, 1791

In May 1539, with between 600 and 700 men, 24 priests, 9 ships, and 220 horses, he reached the western coast of Florida, at what would become Bradenton, south of Tampa, Florida. He named the place Espíritu Santo. Hernando de Soto's objective was to colonize the area, preferably by searching for a city like Cuzco or Tenochtitlan. He therefore brought several tons of equipment in the form of tools, weapons, cannons, dogs, and pigs. Besides the sailors, the ships carried priests, blacksmiths, craftsmen, engineers, farmers and merchants. Few of them had traveled outside Spain before, or worse still, had never even left their home villages.

Starting at Espíritu Santo, De Soto explored Florida and much of the southern United States. Once in Florida, his misfortune began. Instead of being full of gold, the country abounded in swamps and was plagued by mosquitoes, being extremely hot and humid. The Indians also complicated his work of advance and exploration.

The most important helper of the troops was Juan Ortiz, who had come to Florida in search of the Narváez expedition and was captured by the Uzita, a Calusa tribe. The daughter of the chief Hirrihigua served as a precursor of Pocahontas by pleading for Ortiz's life, since her father had ordered him burned alive. Ortiz survived captivity and torture, and at the first opportunity joined Hernando de Soto's new expedition.

Ortiz knew the terrain and also helped as an interpreter. As guide for Soto's expedition, Ortiz established a unique method for directing the expedition and for communicating in the different tribal dialects. Paracoxi guides were recruited from each tribe along the route.

The expedition's first winter camp was set up at Anhaica, near lake Tallahas. The site is also near the Bay of Horses, where members of Narváez's troop were forced to eat horses to survive. This is the only place along the entire route at which archaeologists have been able to establish with certainty that Hernando de Soto's expedition was present.

In the north — The Battle of Mauvila (1540)

The expedition ventured along the eastern Appalachian Mountains and came within a step of annihilation. The members of the conquering vanguard sometimes had to trade the pigs they brought in order to obtain other food, and on certain occasions they had to obtain what they needed by force. They crossed Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Hearing of the famous gold treasure of Cofitachequi, and accompanied by their friends, the Ocute, the expedition continued through the Carolinas. They marched for weeks, hungry and thirsty, with porters who did not know the way across the territories of Cofitachequi. Nevertheless, in mid-May, the expedition discovered the tribe's capital, located at the site now known as Columbia, in South Carolina.

They received the Spaniards with a relatively friendly welcome. The peninsulars demanded to see the city's gold immediately. On closer examination the "gold" turned out to be mere copper. They found some pearls and weapons in the city and then continued their search for wealth through the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama.

Afterward they continued with the idea of obtaining more precious metal, which led them to the supposed giant gold reserves in the east. In northern Alabama, they found the City of Mauvila (or Mabila). The Choctaw tribe, under the leadership of the cacique Tascalusa, defended the heavily fortified city. The Spaniards held out for a time, but then the city was attacked repeatedly, over and over again. In a nine-hour battle, twenty Spaniards died, although almost all the rest were wounded, and twenty more died in the following days. All the Choctaw warriors of that area —between 2,000 and 6,000— died fighting or were executed or committed suicide. Mauvila was burned.

Although the Spaniards won the battle, they lost most of their possessions and forty horses. They were wounded, fell ill and found themselves without proper equipment in an unknown and hostile territory, surrounded by enemies. With the Battle of Mauvila, the number of natives in the marching troop also decreased. During the journey the Spaniards were attacked more and more by an intermittent system of guerrillas.

While the men of Soto's troop lost hope and from then on only wished to return to the coast, board their ships and go back to Cuba, de Soto still dreamed, illusorily, of making new discoveries.

In the west — Demoralized (1541)

Discovery of the Mississippi, by William H. Power, 1847. Hernando de Soto seeing the Mississippi River for the first time.

The expedition turned north, where they encountered the Chickasaw tribe. De Soto demanded that the indigenous community hand over two hundred men to serve as porters. They refused to accept this demand and instead attacked the Spanish settlement during the night. The Spaniards lost about forty men and the rest of their equipment. According to chroniclers who took part, the expedition came close to being completely destroyed. Fortunately for the vanguard, the Chickasaw allowed them to leave, perhaps intimidated by the success they had achieved.

On May 8, Hernando de Soto's troops reached the Mississippi River. For this reason, de Soto is the first European to sight this river.

De Soto showed very little interest in this discovery because, for him, it represented an obstacle to his mission. He and 400 men had to cross a wide and mighty river that was constantly patrolled by hostile natives. After almost a month, and following the construction of several rafts, he finally crossed the Mississippi with his people and continued his journey westward through present-day Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. In winter he settled at Autiamique, on the Arkansas River.

Statue of Hernando de Soto in Barcarrota, Badajoz, Spain.

After a harsh winter, the Spanish expedition dwindled and pressed on in an increasingly irregular manner. Its faithful interpreter, Juan Ortiz, had died, making it more difficult to find routes and food sources and, in general, to establish communication with the Mississippian natives. The expedition headed into the interior of the territory known as the Caddo River, where they made contact with a native tribe they called Tula, which the Spaniards considered to have the most skilled and dangerous warriors they had ever found. The encounter between Europeans and natives possibly took place at Caddo Gap (a monument stands in that community). Based on the documents of Soto's legacy and on what Garcilaso indicates, the Spaniards later returned to the Mississippi River.

Death of Hernando de Soto

Burial of Hernando de Soto.

On the western bank of the Mississippi River, in the indigenous town of Guachoya,[3] (present-day Ferriday) Hernando de Soto died on May 21, 1542, of fever, leaving Luis de Moscoso in charge of his army.[4] Since de Soto was considered immortal among the natives, his body was concealed by his men in blankets weighted with sand, and they then sank it in the middle of the Mississippi River during the night.[3][5]

Although in his will he expressed his wish to be buried upon his death, next to the remains of his mother, in the Chapel of the Conception of the Parish of San Miguel Arcángel (Jerez de los Caballeros), this never came to pass.

After having traveled on foot through much of the south of what is today the United States and then sailing along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the 300 to 350 survivors commanded by Moscoso managed to return to Mexico City in 1543.

Honors

Emblem of a 1950 DeSoto DeLuxe.

Many parks, cities, counties and institutions in the United States bear the name of Hernando de Soto, the most notable being:

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ There is a debate over whether this Spanish discoverer was born in (Villanueva de) Barcarrota, in Jerez de los Caballeros, both towns in the Province of Badajoz, Extremadura, or in the capital of that province. In his will he expressed his wish to be buried upon his death, next to the remains of his mother, in the Chapel of the Conception of the Parish of San Miguel in Jerez de los Caballeros, Spain.
  2. ↑ Hudson, Charles M. (1997). Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun. University of Georgia Press.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Charles Hudson (1997). Pp. 349-352, "Death of de Soto".
  4. ↑ The Handbook of Texas Online. "Luis de Moscoso Alvarado". Retrieved September 19, 2008.
  5. ↑ The towns of Lake Providence, Louisiana and Lake Village, Arkansas, claim that De Soto is buried in their respective lake.
  6. ↑ Flory, J. Kelly (2004). American Cars, 1960–1972: Every Model, Year by Year. McFarland. p. 97. ISBN 9780786412730.

Bibliography

  • Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Historia del adelantado Hernando de Soto, Madrid 1723.
  • Clayton, Lawrence A. Clayton, Vernon J. Knight and Edward C. Moore (Editor): The de Soto Chronicles: The Expedition of Hernando de Soto to North America in 1539–1543; University of Alabama Press 1996. ISBN 0-8173-0824-5
  • Duncan, David Ewing: Hernando de Soto: A Savage Quest in the Americas; University of Oklahoma Press 1997. ISBN 0-8061-2977-8
  • Hudson, Charles M., Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando De Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms, University of Georgia Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8203-1888-4
  • Milanich, Jeralt T., Charles R. Ewen and John H. Hann: Hernando de Soto Among the Apalachee: The Archaeology of the First Winter Encampment; University Press of Florida, 1998. ISBN 0-8130-1557-X
  • Young, Gloria A. and Michael Hoffmann: The Expedition of Hernando de Soto West of the Mississippi, 1541–1543: Proceedings of the de Soto Symposia, 1988 and 1990 University of Arkansas Press 1999 ISBN 1-55728-580-2
  • Mira Caballos, Esteban: Hernando de Soto. El conquistador de las tres Américas. Badajoz, Fundación Obra Pía de los Pizarro, 2012. ISBN 978-84-616-6040-7
  • Mira Caballos, Esteban: El secreto de Hernando de Soto y otros estudios sobre Barcarrota. Barcarrota, Colección Altozano, 2016. ISBN 978-84-608-9373-8
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