Hernando de Soto, b. c.1500 - 1542, is the Spanish explorer in America credited with discovery of the Mississippi River. Born in the southwest region of Extremadura, both Barcarrota and Jerez de los Caballeros claim him as their native son.       De Soto served under Pedrarias Davila in Central America and joined the expeditions of Diego de Almagro and Francisco Pizarro that conquered the Incas of Peru. In 1537 he was named governor of Cuba and given permission to conquer Florida.      Sailing from Spain in 1538, de Soto landed on the Florida coast south of Tampa Bay on May 30, 1539. He advanced northward through the present states of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. After wintering in Florida, de Soto's force marched through Georgia and Tennessee into Alabama. After a bloody battle with the Indians at Maubilla in October, the greatly depleted force made its way into Mississippi, where it spent the winter of 1540-41.      In May 1541, de Soto's expedition reached the Mississippi River, which it crossed, either in the vicinity of Memphis or at Sunflower Landing. De Soto and his men were perhaps the first Europeans to see that river inland, although Alvarez de Pineda had discovered its tidal bore in the Gulf of Mexico in 1519. The expedition continued into Arkansas and made its winter camp, perhaps in the vicinity of Fort Smith, near the present Arkansas-Oklahoma border. It then returned to the Mississippi, where de Soto died on May 21, 1542. His men weighted his body and buried it in the river.  De Soto's expedition failed in its goal of bringing fabulous new riches to Spain. It did, however, blaze trails throughout the southeastern part of North America. After his death his men built boats and traveled down the Mississippi.  They skirted the Texas coast and finally made there way to Mexico City.  Half the men return safetly from the ordeal, which was the highest survival rate for any expedition at that time. Hernando de Soto gave his life in the exploration of America. Bibliography: Albornoz, M., Hernando De Soto: Knight of the Americas (1986); Bourne, E. G., ed., Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto, 2 vols. (1904; repr. 1923); Duncan, David Ewing, Hernando De Soto: A Savage Quest in the Americas (1995); Maynard, T., De Soto and the Conquistadores (1930; repr. 1969).

Hernando de Soto