570
pages, Crown Publishing, ISBN-13: 978-0517582220
David
Duncan has written a full and detailed account of the life of Hernando De Soto,
and although the Florida expedition that consumed the last few years of his
life is what he is best (only?) remembered for, it’s interesting to see the man
during his earlier life and how it made him what he was. Born in Spain in 1500,
little is known about his childhood: he went to Panama as a teenaged soldier
and rose quickly through the ranks, becoming a leader in the conquest of
Nicaragua (one chronicler has stated that De Soto had great skill in “slaying
Indians”); he went with Pizarro to Peru to conquer the Incas and then returned
to Spain a very wealthy man which enabled him to attain the governorship of
Cuba and the right to claim Florida where, with 600 men, he landed somewhere
near Tampa Bay and began his conquest of what would later become the
southeastern area of the United States.
De
Soto’s methods were brutal (thus the word “Savage” in the title), though
typical of the Spanish conquistadors. Natives were either a means to material
riches or would be slaughtered; best would be first the one, then the other.
Anyway, the expedition wandered north through Florida to the panhandle
(Tallahassee is the only sure place anyone knows with certainty that De Soto
actually visited, thanks to archeological finds made a few blocks from the
state house) and then through the heart of Georgia and South Carolina, west
through North Carolina, south through Alabama to near Montgomery, then west
again through Mississippi, where on May 8, 1541, he discovered the Mississippi
River, perhaps just west of present-day Walls or near Friars Point (the mouth of
the river had actually been discovered and mapped by unnamed sailors decades
earlier). For the next year the expedition roamed through Arkansas before
turning back to the Mississippi, where De Soto died (perhaps poisoned, though
Duncan admits the evidence is skimpy to non-existent) on May 21, 1542, and was
entombed in the river. (In a half-page epilogue, Duncan brings the expedition,
reduced by then to 300 men, safely to Mexico 18 months later.)
The
tragedy of this expedition, as Duncan makes clear, is not that the “material
riches” so long sought after were never found, but that so many “real riches”
(the rich, fertile land in particular) went unappreciated. Duncan believes that
De Soto wasn’t interested in gold by then anyway (he was already fabulously wealthy);
what really drove him was an insatiable ambition to be the greatest conquistador
of them all. Duncan’s biography is interesting and vibrant, and offers the
reader a clear picture of the man and his times. The research is thorough and
wide-ranging and includes official documents and first-hand accounts. The book
cleverly incorporates maps, charts, paintings, and other graphics into the
text; furthermore, although it may be tempting to skip the footnotes due to the
length of the text, the reader is well advised not to do so. Buried in these
footnotes are clever thoughts, insights and explanations.
Duncan
sees De Soto as neither a hero nor a villain, only a man consumed by the need
to succeed. And in that he certainly wasn’t a unique individual in the annals
of history.
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