San Antonio College Library

Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States (Florida, Georgia, Alabama and most likely Arkansas), and the first documented European to have crossed the Mississippi River. A vast undertaking, de Soto's North American expedition ranged throughout the southeastern United States searching for gold, silver and a passage to China. De Soto died in 1542...

"This monumental work, a blending of archeology and history, is the most thorough study of De Soto's expedition produced since the 1930s. For the first time De Soto's journey can be laid on a map and tied to specific archeological sites"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.

Professor Miller introduces A Biography of America and its team of historians. The program looks at the beginnings of American history from west to east, following the first Ice Age migrations through the corn civilizations of Middle America, and the explorations of Columbus, DeSoto, and the Spanish.