American Travel Journal: De Soto National Memorial

The final stop on our mid-February, 2013, Florida trip was the De Soto National Memorial in Bradenton near the mouth of the Manatee River. A stone marker commemorating the landing was placed at this location in 1939. While not claiming the exact landing location, the marker states:

Near here Hernando De Soto with his men landed May 30, 1539 and began his march westward to the Mississippi River. This marker commemorates the 400^thanniversary of his arrival on the shores of Florida.

The national memorial was established on March 11, 1948. The actual landing site for the 1539 expedition has not been found. According to The Final Report of the United States De Soto Expedition Commission published in 1939, the landing was in Tampa Bay. However, scholarly review of historical records since then has pointed to other potential landing locations, possibly as far south as Charlotte Harbor at the mouth of the Peace River.

As a veteran conquistador of the Inca campaigns, De Soto was already immensely wealthy. However, he had heard rumors of gold in North America and set out to find it. He led an army of over 620 men and 220 horses as well as dozens of war dogs and a herd of pigs. He utilized the same ruthless methods that had worked in Peru with the natives in Florida and throughout his four year expedition. These included holding the tribal chief captive until a ransom was paid, but since the natives did not have any gold the chief was often killed. Natives that were captured were put in chains and used to haul all manner of cargo. The natives that converted to Catholicism faced somewhat better circumstances, but were exposed to European diseases that wiped out 90 to 95% of the indigenous people in what is now the southeastern United States over the next 150 years.

Depending on how the various journals are interpreted, De Soto marched at least as far north as North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas and, after his death near the Mississippi River, his men marched as far west as Texas. The expedition was considered a failure by Spain because no gold was found.

There is no entrance fee to visit the memorial, which is open to foot traffic from dawn to dusk. The parking area and visitor center are open from 9 AM until 5 PM. The visitor center contains restrooms, an exhibit area, bookstore, information counter and theater. The exhibits do a good job of interpreting the expedition to modern visitors. The portion of the movie that was presented was excellent, but it was stopped due to what was described as "technical issues". Since the movie was still showing at 4:30 when the lights came on and the screen retracted, we believe that a volunteer or ranger was just a bit too eager to make sure everyone was out of the parking lot by 5 PM. Outside exhibits include a replica village and several interpretive signs.