The Route of the Soto Army through Alabama

Author(s): Caleb Curren

Year: 1987

Summary

The expedition of Hernando de Soto passed through what is now the southeastern United States in A.D. 1539-1541. The expedition consisted of approximately 600 soldiers, 400 slaves and laborers, 200 horses, and a herd of pigs that may have numbered in the hundreds. It was an expedition for gold, glory, and God; in that order. The Spanish Crown wanted to expand its ever growing international power base by occupying "la Florida." As the new governor of "la Florida", Soto wanted to make his mark on his new charge and to expand his business interests.

For over 400 years treasure hunters, curious laymen, and archaeologists have occasionally searched for evidence of the expedition. In Alabama, we could not claim to have found substantial evidence until recently. We now have artifacts from both the expedition of Hernando de Soto and the 1560 colonization attempt of Tristan de Luna. Although we have found less than fifty objects from the expeditions, it is an excellent beginning.

The paper presented here is a technical model of the route of the Soto expedition through Alabama. This model was derived by using written records of the Soto and Luna expeditions, archaeological data, personal observations of present-day terrain, and writings of other researchers.

Cite this Record

The Route of the Soto Army through Alabama. Caleb Curren. 1987 ( tDAR id: 147245) ; doi:10.48512/XCV8147245

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Keywords

Culture
Historic • Spanish

Investigation Types
Archaeological Overview • Collections Research

General
DE Soto Expedition • Discovery and exploration • History • Travel

Geographic Keywords
01999 (Fips Code) • Alabama (State / Territory) • All Counties (County) • North America (Continent) • Southeast • United States of America (Country)

Temporal Keywords
16th Century • To 1819

Spatial Coverage

min long: -88.473; min lat: 30.144 ; max long: -84.888; max lat: 35.008 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Caleb Curren

Prepared By(s): Alabam De Soto Commission

Record Identifiers

lccn(s): 89620528

ddc(s): 976.1 / 01

NADB document id number(s): 475564; 363536

lcc(s): E125.S7 D4 no. 3

NADB citation id number(s): 000000065079; 000000058276

Notes

General Note: Limited edition of 300 copies. Bibliography: p. 58-71.

Administration Note: This resource originated from a citation record migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R). In 2022, a copy of the document was added by the author and the record metadata was updated.

File Information

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