Hernando De Soto Hernando De Soto started like many others as a young boy with big dreams, but little did he know he would become the most well known conquistador of his time. He traveled all the way from his homeland in Spain to Arkansas, Florida, and all the states in between. De Soto received a great amount of riches from his exploration and was the leader of many expeditions. Hernando De Soto, an aspiring conquistador, founded and ruled new lands, which some believed was unthinkable, until his trail ended with his death at the Mississippi River. Hernando De Soto was born in 1496 at Jerez de Los Caballeros, Bajadoz province (Hernando De Soto). At the time of DeSotos birth, Spain was undergoing massive transformations that would lead …show more content…
After the battle, he was told that six ships would arrive at Ochuse for them and take them on a six day journey to find fresh supplies (McLemore 94). He next went on an expedition with Francisco Pizarro in 1531 in search of gold on the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua (Hernando De Soto). De Soto and his men found a man named Juan Ortiz while on their expedition, and he was very valuable. De Soto wrote “Indeed I do not know what would have become of us if we had not been so fortunate as to have met him” (McLemore 93). Juan told Desoto that he had not seen gold, but he had heard of it thirty leagues inland at a place called Calle; story says “they wore hats of gold” (McLemore 94). At one point in De Soto’s journey he was less than 300 miles from a similar expedition trekked by Francisco de Coronado (Bowman). Hernando De Soto, being one of the greatest know conquistadors, has many great accomplishments. In 1532 Hernando De Soto became the second in command of an expedition to Peru (Bowman). He served under Francisco Pizarro while on this expedition (Sansing 69). At the age of 36 De Soto was named Adelantado of Florida. He was described as a “man of blood and iron” with a “swarthy, strongly lined face and burning black eyes” (McLemore 93). Following the Cordoba expedition De Soto’s reputation was a soldier and administrator