Staking Their Claim
— 1539-1540 —
( Left panel )You are standing along the historic route of the conquistador Hernando de Soto and his expedition through the Florida Native American territories in his quest for gold and glory
?[ Map ]"The Florida Expedition"
Legend: · You are here
← E. G. Simmons Park (Native American Village of Uzita) · Sea Routes
· Foot/Horse Trail
· Scout Party Trail
( Right panel )It's June 1, 1539...Hernando de Soto and his men have established a fortified base camp in this area -
We are occupying an abandoned Indian village. To defend the site, we constructed a wooden palisade around the perimeter. I dispatched cavalry to search the area for Indians to use as guides and interpreters. After several minor skirmishes, the men returned with prisoners. They tell us this village is know as
Ucita.
"The land round about was greatly encumbered and choked with a vast lofty forest. The Governor [De Soto] ordered it to the cut down for the space of a crossbow shot about the town, in order that the horses might run and the Christians have the advantage of the Indians if the latter should by chance try to attack by night."
- Account by Rodrigo Rangel
The De Soto Chronicles
The Native PathThe coastal people of Florida lived in village societies governed by a hereditary chief, or
cacique. Archaeological evidence shows these people traded seafood, shells, and game with tribes to the north for goods like corn, pottery, and stone arrow points.
The Conquistador TrailThe territory known as
La Florida was larger than present-day Florida. According to 16th-century Spanish maps,
La Florida encompassed all of the American Southeast, as far north as Virginia and as far west as Texas.
?[ Images ] · "Calusa"
(painting), by Dean Quigley -
Coastal Florida Indian village in the 16th century · Native American silver hair decoration
· Replica of a Spanish navigational map from 1584 of the territory of La Florida, sometimes referred to as the De Soto map
· Spanish coins found at the De Soto winter encampment site in Tallahassee, Florida
?www.floridadesototrail.com
The Florida De Soto Trail is a cooperative project between
the Florida Department of Transportation, the Florida Park Service, and the National Park Service.
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