Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando De Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms - Tapa dura

Hovering between specialized archaeological research and compelling lay history, this work is destined for textbook status in the field of de Soto studies, and may shift some roadside markers along the way.--Oxford American

Between 1539 and 1542 Hernando de Soto led a small army on a journey of exploration of almost four thousand miles across the Southeast. Until now, his path has been one of history's most intriguing mysteries. With Knights of Spain Warriors of the Sun, anthropologist Charles Hudson offers a solution to the question "where did De Soto go?" Using a new route reconstruction for the first time the story of the De Soto expedition can be laid on a map, and in many instances it can be tied to specific archaeological sites. Arguably the most important event in the history of the Southeast in the sixteenth century, De Soto's journey cut a bloody and indelible swath across both the landscape and native cultures in a quest for gold and personal glory. The desperate Spanish army followed the sunset from Florida to Texas before abandoning its mission. De Soto's one triumph was that he was the first European to explore the vast region that would be the American South, but he died on the banks of the Mississippi River a broken man in 1542.