Hernando de soto why was famous

By the time Hernando de Soto reached the age of 14 he had become a skilled equestrian, and in he joined the ranks of the famous conquistadores of the New World. During this period de Soto met Francisco Pizarro, a conquistador who informed de Soto of the wealth he had heard of in the native empire that lay south of Panama.

In , after receiving permission from the Spanish Crown to conquer Peru, de Soto and Pizarro successfully landed on the coast of modern day Ecuador. Making their way into Peru, the conquistadores found themselves in the middle of the struggle between the Inca ruler of Quito, Atahuallpa, and his half brother Huascar, the ruler of the Inca capital of Cuzco. In , Pizarro and de Soto -- like Cortes in Mexico with Monteczuma -- captured and executed Atahuallpa after he rejected the Spaniards' demand for the Inca emperor to convert to Christianity.

Following the successful conquest of the Inca Empire, de Soto returned to Spain in and sought an audience with the emperor to request permission to become governor of Quito. In the same year, he became a member of the Spanish Order of Santiago, and by , he reached an agreement with Charles I of Spain to conquer Florida.

Although the Spanish Crown did not grant his original petition to become governor of Quito, the emperor agreed to make de Soto the governor of Cuba if he returned victorious from his expedition through Florida. In , two years after their departure from Spain, de Soto and his crew landed on the west coast of Florida in the area historians believe is the location of present day Tampa. When de Soto reached Florida, he found that the natives of the Coosa towns did not possess gold and could only offer the Spaniards the richness of their agricultural harvest.

Enticed by the riches and fertile land de Vaca had allegedly encountered there, de Soto sold all his belongings and used the money to prepare for an expedition to North America. He assembled a fleet of 10 ships and selected a crew of men based on their fighting prowess.

On their way to the United States, de Soto and his fleet stopped in Cuba. While there, they were delayed by helping the city of Havana recover after the French sacked and burned it. By May 18, , de Soto and his fleet at last set out for Florida. On May 25 they landed at Tampa Bay. For the next three years, de Soto and his men explored the southeastern United States, facing ambushes and enslaving natives along the way.

After Florida came Georgia and then Alabama. In Alabama, de Soto encountered his worst battle yet, against Indians in Tuscaloosa. Victorious, de Soto and his men next headed westward, serendipitously discovering the mouth of the Mississippi River in the process. De Soto's voyage would, in fact, mark the first time that a European team of explorers had traveled via the Mississippi River.

After crossing the Mississippi de Soto was struck with fever. During his exploration of North America them believed to be Eastern Asia , he encountered the river Mississippi , becoming the first European who crossed it. De Soto was born in either Barcarrota or Badajoz, in Extremadura, Spain as a son of the middle class family of hidalgos Spanish nobility. After his initial education that lasted to his age of 14, he joined the military.

Several years later Spanish finished their long lasting conflict against the Moors and the Islamic lands in Iberian Peninsula, and majority of Spanish youth and military personel set their sights on exploring, claiming the newfound lands and finding glory in New Indies , which were discovered several decades ago. During the several next years he took part in several important exploratory missions in both North and South America.

Between his arrival and he explored the South America Panama where he received his first command over ship, charted the waters around Nicaragua with Francisco de Cordoba, and was engaged in profitable slave trade between Africa and Nicaragua.