Hernando de Soto, a rich Spaniard from the 1536 Conquest of Peru, explored North America for a
northern passage to trade Spain's New World Gold with China, the finest market in the world. He followed trails which became our highways. His people described native villages along those trails at places which are cities today. DeSoto's trails thru American States and Cities are detailed here.
  
Cabeza de Vaca explored America's Gulf Coast just prior to DeSoto. While in Houston (circled above), visiting natives convinced Vaca that a "wealthy" tribe and an ocean were located to the north. After meeting Coronado, in Mexico, and DeSoto, in Spain, their trails would lead there. Finding only hostile Indians, both would reverse direction above Houston. Coronado went home, DeSoto would die there.
DeSoto's huge army landed in Florida in 1539. They circled thru Georgia, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, North Georgia and Alabama searching for gold along their way to supply ships at Mobile Bay. They lost their spoils in the fires of battle just above Mobile. DeSoto led his demoralized army due north, away from the ships and into Tennessee, to prevent their escape.
In 1541, DeSoto trekked north thru Kentucky and Indiana; his scouts as far as Chicago. NOT finding an ocean there, and thereby a passage to China as DeSoto had anticipated, but Lake Michigan instead, he marched southwest, thru Illinois, still searching for treasures and an ocean to westward.
When DeSoto sighted the Mississippi River, which obviously drained a continent and NOT an island as he had surmised, in disgust he trudged west thru Missouri, searching for Vaca's legendary "wealthy" tribe.
Finding hostile natives in the Ozark Mountains, DeSoto turned south for escape. He died in Arkansas in 1542. His army fled toward Mexico City, Spain's nearest outpost on the continent. They passed thru Louisiana and Texas; scouts as far as San Antonio. Not finding enough food or water to proceed, they retreated back to Arkansas.
His army built boats then drifted down the Great River, skirting Mississippi. Attacked, the army paddled downstream, thru Louisiana, then along the Texas Coast to Mexico in 1543. Half of the men survived.
Spanish armies were NEVER sent deep into America after DeSoto and Coronado. That is reason enough to suppose that they searched the better part of it. After all, Spain explored and/or colonized ALL of the New World elsewhere. England and France would continue searching for a seaway to China for the next century, allowing Spain to plunder the New World elsewhere.
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NEW: CONQUEST TRAILS ON GOOGLE EARTH and CONQUEST CALENDARS
 Tracking DeSoto's army over such a long distance comes down to tracking them from one place to the next. Starting at Havana, which hasn't moved since they sailed from it, into a port that is the same today, using their well-written directions, one can locate where they landed. Their camp was described in relation to their landing. When they left it they described their next camp in relation to geographic features and their last campsite, and so on.
Those camps, for the most part, are cities and villages today, scattered across America at 10 to 14-mile interval - a day's walk for most, including DeSoto's army. The trails they followed between campsites are roads today, making tracking them simple using Google Earth... but only if you start each day's journey at the right place!
   
THE COMPLETE REPORT
Fast Facts FOR KIDS GRADES: 1-4 5-8 BIOGRAPHY IMAGES:ANCIENT, NEW, COLOR
ENDORSEMENTS FOREWARD TEACHERS SCHOLARS PLACE NAMES TEXT ONLY LINKS
     
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