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KF5JRV > TODAY 21.05.24 11:00l 45 Lines 2669 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 206_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - May 21
Path: IW8PGT<LU4ECL<JE7YGF<JH4XSY<N3HYM<K7EK<VE3CGR<KF5JRV
Sent: 240521/0931Z 206@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.24
On the banks of the Mississippi River in present-day Louisiana, Spanish conquistador
Hernando de Soto dies, ending a three-year journey for gold that took him halfway across
what is now the United States. In order that local peoples would not learn of his
death, and thus disprove de Sotoâ€Ös claims of divinity, his men buried his body in
the Mississippi River.
In late May 1539, de Soto landed on the west coast of Florida with 600 troops, servants,
and staff, 200 horses and a pack of bloodhounds. From there, the army set about subduing
the natives, seizing any valuables they stumbled upon and preparing the region for
eventual Spanish colonization. Traveling through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, across
the Appalachians, and back to Alabama, de Soto failed to find the gold and silver he
desired, but he did seize a valuable collection of pearls at Cofitachequi, in present-day
South Carolina. Decisive conquest also eluded the Spaniards, as what would become
the United States lacked the large, centralized civilizations of Mexico and Peru.
As was the method of Spanish conquest elsewhere in the Americas, de Soto mistreated
and enslaved the natives he encountered. For the most part, the Indian warriors they
encountered were intimidated by the Spanish horsemen and kept their
distance. In October 1540, however, the tables were turned when a confederation of
Indians attacked the Spaniards at the fortified Indian town of Mabila, near present-day
Mobile, Alabama. All the Indians were killed, along with 20 of de Sotoâ€Ös men. Several
hundred Spaniards were wounded. In addition, the Indian conscripts they had come
to depend on to bear their supplies had all fled with baggage.
De Soto could have marched south to reconvene with his ships along the Gulf Coast,
but instead he ordered his expedition north-westward in search of Americaâ€Ös elusive
riches. In May 1541, the army reached and crossed the Mississippi River, probably
the first Europeans ever to do so. From there, they traveled through Arkansas and
Louisiana, still with few material gains to show for their efforts. Turning back to the
Mississippi, de Soto died of a fever on its banks on May 21, 1542.
The Spaniards, now under the command of Luis de Moscoso Alvarado, traveled
west again, crossing into north Texas before returning to the Mississippi. With nearly
half of the original expedition dead, the Spaniards built rafts and traveled down the
river to the sea, and then made their way down the Texas coast to New Spain,
finally reaching Veracruz, Mexico, in late 1543.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
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