Hernando de Soto

Landing of De Soto in Florida.
Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, 1855.

In 1537 the king of Spain granted Hernando de Soto the governorship of Cuba and the right to conquer Florida. Within a few years, De Soto had assembled an army of soldiers, priests and craftsmen. They landed in Tampa Bay and began a four-year expedition through Florida and the Southeast.

In 1542 De Soto died of fever near the Mississippi River. Of the 700 men in the expedition, 311 made it back to a Spanish settlement in Mexico.

Image no. 1983-097-17

Reproductions

Back