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SOTO, FERDINANDO [FERNANDO, Or HERNAN...

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 436 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SOTO, FERDINANDO [FERNANDO, Or HERNANDO] DE (1496?—1542) , See also:Spanish See also:captain and explorer, often, though wrongly, called the discoverer of the See also:Mississippi (first sighted by Alonzo de Pineda in 1519), was See also:born at Jerez de los Caballeros, in Extremadura, of an impoverished See also:family of See also:good position, and was indebted to the favour of Pedrarias d'See also:Avila for the means of pursuing his studies at the university. In 1519 he accompanied d'Avila on his second expedition to See also:Darien. In 1528 he explored the See also:coast of See also:Guatemala and See also:Yucatan, and in 1532 he led 300 See also:volunteers to reinforce See also:Pizarro in See also:Peru. He played a prominent See also:part in the See also:conquest of the Incas' See also:kingdom (helping to seize and guard the See also:person of Atahualpa, discovering a pass through the mountains to See also:Cuzco, &c.), and returned to See also:Spain with a See also:fortune of 18o,000 ducats, which enabled him to marry the daughter of his old See also:patron d'Avila, and to maintain the See also:state of a nobleman. Excited by the reports of Alvaro See also:Nunez (Cabeza de Vaca) and others as to the See also:wealth of See also:Florida (a See also:term then commonly used in a much wider See also:extension than subsequently), he sold See also:great part of his See also:property, gathered a force of 62o See also:foot and 123 See also:horse, armed four See also:ships, and obtained from See also:Charles V. a See also:commission as " adelantado of the Lands of Florida" and See also:governor of See also:Cuba. Sailing from See also:San Lucar in See also:April 1538, he first went to See also:Havana, his advanced See also:base of operations; starting thence on the 12th of May 1539 he landed in the same See also:month in Espiritu Santo See also:Bay, on the See also:west coast of the See also:present state of Florida. For nearly four years he led his men in fruitless See also:search of See also:gold hither and thither over the See also:south-See also:east of the See also:North See also:American See also:continent. His exact route is often doubtful; but it seems to have passed north into See also:Georgia as far as 35' N., then south to the neighbourhood of See also:Mobile, and finally north-west towards the Mississippi. This See also:river was reached See also:early in 1541, and the following See also:winter was spent on the Ouachita, in See also:modern See also:Arkansas and See also:Louisiana, west of the Mississippi. As they were returning in 1542 along the Mississippi, De Soto died (either in May or See also:June; the 25th of June is perhaps the true date), and his See also:body was sunk in its See also:waters. Failing in an See also:attempt to push westwards again, De Soto's men, under Luis Moscoso de See also:Alvarado, descended the Mississippi to the See also:sea in nineteen days from a point See also:close to the junction of the Arkansas with the great river, and thence coasted along the Gulf of See also:Mexico to Panuco. Of this unfortunate expedition three very different narratives are extant, of seemingly See also:independent origin.

The first was published in 1557 at See also:

Evora, and professes to be the See also:work of a Portuguese See also:gentleman of See also:Elvas, who had accompanied the expedition: Relacam verdadeira dos trabalhos ho gouernador do Fernado d'Souto certos fidalgos portugueses passarom no d'scobrimeto da Provincia da Florida. See also:Agora nouamete feita per hu fidalgo Deluas. An See also:English See also:translation was published by See also:Hakluyt in 1609 (reprinted from the 1611 edition by the Hakluyt Society [See also:London, 1851]), and another by an See also:anonymous translator in 1686, the latter being based on a See also:French version by Citri de la Guette (See also:Paris, 1685). The second narrative is the famous See also:history of Florida by the Inca, Garcilasso de la See also:Vega, who obtained his See also:information from a Spanish See also:cavalier engaged in the enterprise; it was completed in 1591, first appeared at See also:Lisbon in 1605 under the See also:title of La Florida del Ynca, and has since passed through many See also:editions in various See also:languages. The third is a See also:report presented to Charles V. of Spain in his See also:Council of the Indies in 1544, by Luis Hernandez de Biedma, who had accompanied De Soto as His See also:Majesty's See also:factor. It is to be found in Ternaux-Compans' " Recueil de pieces sur la Floride " in the See also:Historical Collections of Louisiana (See also:Philadelphia, 185o) and in W. B. See also:Rye's reprint for the Hakluyt Society of Hakluyt's translation of the Portuguese narrative (The See also:Discovery and Conquest of Terra Florida, London, 1851). See also See also:Bancroft's History of the See also:United States, vol. i.; J. H. M'Culloch, Researches concerning the aboriginal history of See also:America (See also:Baltimore, 1829) ; See also:Albert See also:Gallatin, Synopsis of the See also:Indian Tribes," in Archaeologic americana, vol. ii. (See also:Cambridge, See also:Mass., 1836) ; E.

G. See also:

Bourne (ed.), Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto in the See also:Con See also:nest of Florida (2 v., New See also:York, 19o4); J. W. Monette, History of the Discovery and See also:Settlement of the Valley of the Mississippi (New York, 1846, 2 vols.).

End of Article: SOTO, FERDINANDO [FERNANDO, Or HERNANDO] DE (1496?—1542)

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