Internet Resources
- The Ages of ExplorationSpanish explorer and conquistador who helped conquer parts of Central and South America, explored the southeastern region of the United States, and is credited as the first European to cross the Mississippi River
- ConquistadorsSoon after Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492, the Spanish began to hear stories of civilizations with immense riches. Hoping to claim this wealth and territory for Spain and themselves, conquistadors, or “conquerors,” sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.
- The Fountain of YouthFind out how the Spanish explorer's name became inextricably linked with the Fountain of Youth.
- Hernando DeSoto in America- Podcast"Hernando DeSoto in America" is a 20 minute documentary produced by the National Park Service that brings to life the story of the Spanish exploration of the Southeast United States from 1539 to 1542.
- Into the Interior: The SpanishWithin several decades of the earliest coastal explorations of North America, European adventurers headed into the interior. "Adventurers" is the fitting word here, for more cautious men would have balked at heading into such vast unknowns. And the unknown brought misery—intense cold and exhausting heat, vast plains and unfordable rivers, antagonized Indians and wily guides, hunger and thirst, disease and death, and often incapacitating discouragement. But they learned the landscape of this New World, enabling them to act upon hard-won experience rather than fables, dreams, and plain naïveté
- Jaun Ponce de Leon: History.comBorn into Spanish nobility, Juan Ponce de León (1460-1521) may have accompanied Christopher Columbus on his 1493 voyage to the New World. A decade later, he was serving as governor of the eastern province of Hispaniola when he decided to explore a nearby island, which became Puerto Rico. In pursuit of a rumored fountain of youth located on an island known as Bimini, Ponce de León led an expedition to the coast of what is now Florida in 1513. Thinking it was the island he sought, he sailed back to colonize the region in 1521, but was fatally wounded in an Indian attack soon after his arrival.
- Ponce de Leon and the Fountain of YouthA further discussion of maps of the world. Just what did the early explorers have in their hands? I end with the partial exploration of Florida by Juan Ponce de Leon.
- Pánfilo de Narváez and the Narváez ExpeditionSpanish conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez arrived in modern-day Florida intent on finding and conquering a rich native empire – just like Cortes had done earlier in the decade. The Narváez Expedition is notable in that it marked the beginning of the amazing story of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca – whose life is covered in another podcast series.
- Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca- PodcastIn 1528, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca would wash up on the shores of modern-day Texas – a survivor of the ill-fated Narváez expedition. His story is really not one of exploration – but of survival – as he would spend eight years living and traveling the southwest of the United States and northern Mexico. It is an incredible journey – one of the most unusual in the history of exploration
Journals & Reference Materials (Log in Required)
- Hernando de Soto- Britannica AcademicThis database gives encyclopedic articles about Hernando de Soto.
- Hernando de Soto- Credo ReferenceAfter serving under Pedro Arias de Ávila in Central America and under Francisco Pizarro in Peru, the dashing young conquistador was made governor of Cuba by Emperor Charles V, with the right to conquer Florida (meaning the North American mainland). He led an expedition that left Spain in 1538 and landed on the Florida coast, probably near Tampa Bay, in 1539.
- Jaun Ponce de Leon- Britannica AcademicThis database gives many encyclopedic articles on Juan Ponce de Leon.
- Jaun Ponce de Leon- Credo Reference(born 1460?, Santervás de Campos, Valladolid, León [Spain]—died 1521, Havana, Cuba) Spanish explorer. He may have accompanied Christopher Columbus ’s second expedition in 1493. He fought in the West Indies (1502), becoming governor of eastern Hispaniola. He colonized Puerto Rico (1508–09) and founded a settlement near what is now San Juan. He led an expedition in 1513 that landed on the coast of northeastern Florida between modern St. Augustine and Melbourne Beach.
YouTube Videos
Watch a short biography video of Hernando de Soto, the Spanish conquistador who discovered the Mississippi River.
Books & Films: Check Out at McKee Library
Discovering Florida
"Gives voice to a period in U.S. history that remains virtually unknown, even to specialists in the field."--J. Michael Francis, coauthor of Murder and Martyrdom in Spanish Florida "With these transcriptions and translations, Worth provides an important service to ethnohistorians, archaeologists, and others who share an interest in the Spanish colonial explorations of the greater Southeast."--Mariah F. Wade, author of Missions, Missionaries, and Native Americans "A model for how to handle important primary sources. The historical introduction is a treasure in its own right."--Amy Turner Bushnell, author of Situado and Sabana: Spain's Support System for the Presidio and Mission provinces of Florida Florida's lower gulf coast was a key region in the early European exploration of North America, with an extraordinary number of first-time interactions between Spaniards and Florida's indigenous cultures. Discovering Florida compiles all the major writings of Spanish explorers in the area between 1513 and 1566. Including transcriptions of the original Spanish documents as well as English translations, this volume presents--in their own words--the experiences and reactions of Spaniards who came to Florida with Juan Ponce de León, Pánfilo de Narváez, Hernando de Soto, and Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. These accounts, which have never before appeared together in print, provide an astonishing glimpse into a world of indigenous cultures that did not survive colonization. With introductions to the primary sources, extensive notes, and a historical overview of Spanish exploration in the region, this book offers an unprecedented firsthand view of La Florida in the earliest stages of European conquest.
Amerigo
A groundbreaking biography of the man who gave his name to America, Amerigo is delivered by one of the worlds most exciting historians who spins a grand narrative full of character and story. 4 maps.
The Tragic History Of The Search For The Fountain Of Youth
Throughout history, explorers ventured into uncharted territories to source a body of water that could turn back biological clocks, but how seriously did they take their quests for curing waters? Here is the perplexing, sometimes tragic history of the search for the Fountain of Youth.
De Soto versus the Mississippians
In 1539, Hernando de Soto of Spain landed seven ships with 600 men and hundreds of animals in present-day Florida. Follow his fruitless search for another Inca or Aztec Empire, as he instead encounters hundreds of Mississippian cities through which he led a three-year reign of terror across the land - looting, raping, disfiguring, murdering, and enslaving native peoples by the thousands.
Source: Kanopy