HERNANDO DE SOTO TRAIL OF 1539
The Florida de Soto Trail follows the first year of Hernando de Soto's historic expedition through LA FLORIDA in 1539. An excellent National Park Service brochure contains not only the amazing history of that year, but also a very detailed map to assist you in driving the entire trail.
Hernando de Soto is an extremely controversial person in our history. In his own country, and some parts of ours, he is considered a romantic hero and a trailblazing explorer. Central and South America, and many of our own southeastern American Indian tribes regard him as a monster and overzealous. The trail he took tells of the struggle of the pre-Columbian people who lived in Florida during the sixteenth century. These groups were a highly advanced collection of chiefdoms and empires struggling against each other to gain complete control over their regions.
The Trail tells the story of the clash of two societies: the old world of Europe and the New world of the American Indian. Their encounters shaped the course of American history for the next 500 years.
In 1539 the native people of our southeast were experiencing change and strife. The great mound building Mississippian chiefdoms had fallen into decline. New tribal empires were looking to claim the remnants of these once dominant chiefdoms. In Florida, small village societies populated the landscape. The various villages would trade, make alliances, and sometimes wage warfare. Tribal governments were led by chiefs, who inherited power through their mothers' bloodlines. Mounds were built of earth and shell. Their height invoked reverence for the temples erected on top, and signified the importance of elite tribal members who lived there. Some mounds were used for sacred burials, while others were used as refuse piles.
Daily life was mostly peaceful. The men and young boys spent their days in dugout canoes harvesting their night's catch. Warriors patrolled the forest and hunted. Women and young girls made pottery, wove baskets and prepared meals. Extensive trade routes and other networks of commerce stretched throughout Florida. Village routines were broken up by warfare and religious observances.
At the time of de Soto's conquest nearly 350,000 native people lived in Florida. Less than 20 years later, Spanish conquistador Tristan de Luna, traveling parts of the same route as de Soto found many abandoned villages, and scattered people. Great tribes had been decimated by European diseases
Sites located on the trail in our area are numbered 28, 29, and 30 in the brochure. Lafayette Heritage Trail Park is an area de Soto traveled through. The Governor Martin House now occupies the location where De Soto over-wintered. The house was built in the early 1930's by the 24th Governor of Florida, John W. Martin. It's interior decor reminds one of a hunting lodge. The governor called his estate "Apalachee", probably not knowing the significance of the name. It had been partially constructed on the former site of an Apalachee village and the 1539-40 winter encampment of de Soto's expedition, where the first Christmas celebration in America took place. Today, it serves as headquarters for the Bureau of Archaeological Research. An interpretive display about deSoto is located in the lobby.
St. Marks Historic Railroad Trail, which follows the abandoned rail bed of the old Tallahssee-St. Marks Railroad, was another stop for the explorer and his followers.
Hernando de Soto was born around 1500 in the Spanish province of Extremadura. As the second son of a minor noble, he had no claim to the family's wealth or lands, so he decided to try the New World. At the age of 14, he sailed to Central America and enlisted with Davila. They conquered Nicaragua and Panama, using brutal tactics. In 1531, de Soto earned a prominent rank in Pizarro's army. They conqured the mighty native empire in South America, known as the Inca's
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DeSoto returned to Spain with lots of his Incan wealth. He married, but soon grew tired of his sedentary life. Within two years of his return from Peru, he convinced the king to grant him the right to conquer and govern La Florida. He formed an army and embarked on a journery that claimed his life, and changed the history of North America..
