Between 1539 and 1542, Hernando de Soto and his little army cut a bloody path through 4,000 miles of the southeastern United States in search of gold and glory. Finding neither, they devastated a great native culture with foreign arms and germs.
While historians have recounted this story many times, Charles Hudson, a professor of anthropology at the University of Georgia, brings the perspectives of an ethnologist and archaeologist to the tale.
Skillfully tying together the Spanish chronicles with modern archaeological research, Hudson retells this epic passage like never before. He links the narrative to known chiefdoms and village sites and applies the most recent archaeological information, giving us a vivid picture of not only the Spanish invaders, but the native chiefdoms that ruled the land.
The first-hand account of long-vanished native cultures recorded by the expedition is an extraordinary ethnographic record. Hudson puts that record into a well-researched context, giving us the clearest picture yet of Indian cultures little touched by Europeans. What Hudson unveils is a highly developed social structure as well as vignettes of everyday life.
De Soto’s exact route through the South is one of the most hotly debated topics of the region. Here, Hudson sets forth the explorer’s route, tying events to local landmarks and archaeological sites. It is a well-rounded, well-articulated route, but one that will inflame many critics. Yet Hudson knows the story is far from complete, and he argues for more archaeological work and site preservation to confirm his hypotheses.
