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KF5JRV > TODAY 08.05.19 13:31l 69 Lines 3744 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 35952_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - May 08
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KF5JRV
Sent: 190508/1124Z 35952@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
On May 8, 1541, south of present-day Memphis, Tennessee, Spanish
conquistador Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River, one of the
first European explorers to ever do so. After building flatboats, de
Soto and his 400 ragged troops crossed the great river under the cover
of night, in order to avoid the armed Native Americans who patrolled the
river daily in war canoes. From there the conquistadors headed into
present-day Arkansas, continuing their fruitless two-year-old search for
gold and silver in the American wilderness.
Born in the last years of the 15th century, de Soto first came to the
New World in 1514. By then, the Spanish had established bases in the
Caribbean and on the coasts of the American mainland. A fine horseman
and a daring adventurer, de Soto explored Central America and
accumulated considerable wealth through the Indian slave trade. In 1532,
he joined Francisco Pizarro in the conquest of Peru. Pizarro, de Soto,
and 167 other Spaniards succeeding in conquering the Inca empire, and de
Soto became a rich man. He returned to Spain in 1536 but soon grew
restless and jealous of Pizarro and Hernando Cortes, whose fame as
conquistadors overshadowed his own. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
responded by making de Soto governor of Cuba with a right to conquer
Florida, and thus the North American mainland.
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 Georgia. Decisive conquest 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
ill-treated and enslaved the natives he encountered. For the most part,
the Indian warriors they met 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 Soto’s men. Several hundred
Spaniards were wounded. In addition, the Indian conscripts they had come
to depend on to bear their supplies fled with the baggage.
De Soto could have marched south to reconvene with his ships along the
Gulf Coast, but instead he ordered his expedition northwest in search of
America’s 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 present-day 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. In
order that Indians would not learn of his death, and thus disprove de
Soto’s claims of divinity, his men buried his body in the Mississippi
River.
The Spaniards, now under the command of Luis de Moscoso, 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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