Title: Mr. Nussbaum - Hernando de Soto Biography
Headings: Hernando de Soto Biography
Hernando de Soto Biography
Hernando de Soto
Early Life
Glory and Conquest
Into the Southeast in Search of Gold
Discovery of the Mississippi River
Questionable Legacy

Content: It took over a month to build the appropriate floats to navigate across the river. Once across the river, the expedition continued into Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. They spent the next winter on the Arkansas River. Things began falling apart for de Soto when Juan Ortiz, his faithful interpreter, died. The death of Ortiz made communication with native peoples and the procurement of food much harder. Furthermore, while in Arkansas, de Soto and his men clashed with the Tula people, which took a great toll on the already weakened men. On May 21, 1542, Hernando de Soto himself died of a fever. Questionable Legacy
At the time, the de Soto expedition was seen as a great failure. De Soto failed to establish any permanent colonies, found no gold, and did not find the passage between the two great oceans. Furthermore, his expedition left death and disease wherever it traveled that resulted in the destruction of countless native villages.