Hernando de Soto: A Savage Quest in the Americas

by David Ewing Duncan and Duncan

Book Overview

This is the story of a legendary expedition across four thousand miles of the future United States, led by an explorer searching for an illusionary empire of gold. Formerly the second-in-command in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Incas in 1531, Hernando de Soto arrived in the country he called La Florida in 1539, leading a glittering, armored Renaissance-era army of six hundred men on the first major exploration of North America. Obsessed with...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806129778
• ISBN13: 9780806129778
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Length: 612 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

What horrible men.

At a time when the Catholic Church in England was drawing and quartering heretics, a tradition which Henry the 8th carried on after he broke with Rome, the Spanish explorers in the new world were slaughtering, burning alive, and tearing apart with dogs Indians whom they sought to enslave or whose gold they wanted. de Soto was indeed a monster but he was our (Western civilization's) monster. Clever, brutal and determined, how did he and others like Cortez and Pizzaro bring it off? They had superior technology: steel swords and pikes, horses and armor. They had the secret weapon of disease. And they used trickery. But it doesn't add up especially in Mexico and Peru. Duncan's book leaves out disease. He doesn't mention whether, like in Mexico, disease preceded Pizzaro's attacks in the Andes leaving the Incas decimated and disoriented. Otherwise were the Incas so stupid and/or outgunned as to not be able to stop the few hundred Spanish who attacked them. de Soto and Pizzaro seemed to have a winning strategy: use trickery to kidnap the Cacique and pretend to ransom him for total surrender of gold, slave laborers and women. In addition, promise his enemies or conquered peoples a strategic alliance until they were no longer needed and then turn on them. Why did it work and work more than once? It doesn't add up in my mind. Did the Inca just miss opportunity after opportunity? Spanish military technology wasn't that much better to overcome such great odds. Then again de Soto was some Christian. He tortured and slaughtered without the slightest shame or guilt. He whored and made sexual slavery a concomitant of conquest. Certainly the Spanish in reconquering Spain and maintaining dominance in the low country in the face of the Reformation were quite violent, but not as systematically nor to the extent of the Conquistadors. Then there was the Inquisition with the stake and torture but not so extensively nor frivolously. Back in Spain Las Casas and Dias bemoaned de Soto's behavior. But like most frontiersmen, neither Crown nor Church could control him. When Cabeza de Vaca was governor of Uruguay Conquistador in Chains: Cabeza de Vaca and the Indians of the Americas, he reigned in brutal exploitation of Amerindians and was imprisoned by the colonists. It was the same in the cross Appalachian frontier. As much as England and, later, the Federalists tried to institute a paternalist policy towards the natives and their land, they could not stop, the Davey Crockett's and land speculators (among whom were Washington and Jefferson) from driving the Indians out. So de Soto in Central America is a conqueror, slaver, and encomiendero, and in Peru a conquistador who, though booted out, leaves with unimaginable wealth. This is not enough for him. Spurred by a reference of Cabeza de Vaca that there was gold to the north of Cabeza's wanderings in Florida, de Soto uses his fabulous wealth to make an entrada in La Florida. There he ravages

Excellent biography of a man consumed by ambition

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 (Duncan drops the De when giving his name, but it's so uncustomary that it looks and sounds unnatural) 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. From Charles V he was able to get the governorship of Cuba and the right to claim Florida. With 600 men he landed in Florida somewhere near Tampa Bay and began his conquest of what would later become the southeastern area of the US. De Soto's methods were brutal (thus the word "Savage" in the book's title), though typical of the Spanish conquistadores. 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. 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

disturbing history

This book is a biography of the life of Hernando de Soto That is a point which sometimes is disappointing because we often have to leave some exciting events in history as de Soto departs to other places. This is exceptionally true at the end of the book. In between the beginning and end is some very disturbing truths about the conquistadores's savage treatment of the native Americans they encountered in the New World. Author Duncan deserves credit for telling it like it is while knowing that his subject becomes less and less of a heroic figure with every ghastly detail. It is still hard to fathom the incredible destruction of the Incan empire by the small force of Pizarro's men.The author spends a fair amount of time evaluating the available evidence which is helpful. The second half of the book is an excellent view of SouthEast America that our own immigrant culture knows little about; partly because de Soto's men had so severely impacted it that it was essentially gone when our ancesters first encountered it. The story of de Soto is essentially the tragedy of a dynamic life cut short, of a quest that fell short, and of a discovery of wealth that went overlooked. De Soto's focus on gold caused him to overlook a world that would surpass the importance of "wealthier" parts of the New World. Unfortunately, the book ends with the death of de Soto in present-day Arkansas. By giving us a single paragraph to tell what happened to his men after that, we come away feeling as stranded and lost as they were.

Young author produces a masterpiece

Although Hernando De Soto: A Savage Conquest in the Americas is a biography, it reveals as much about the hideous cruelty the Spanish inflicted upon indigenous peoples as it does about the great conquistadors. In doing so, author David Ewing Duncan allows the reader to balance the triumphs of Soto with the vast human destruction he left in his wake. Neither an apologia nor a polemic, this book stays close to the facts and represents the best in popular history.Meticulously researched and beautifully written, De Soto unfolds like a riveting novel as it follows the explorer from his impoverished youth to his anti-climatic death near the Mississippi River. To anyone interested in the European conquest of the Americas (or in the decimation of the Indians and their cultures) this book is a must read. In addition to Soto, the author chronicles the achievements and savageries of such other notables as Cortez, Pizarro, Balboa, and Coronado. The book cleverly references and analyzes the works of American and Spanish historians, including those who were present as the conquerors murdered, raped, pillaged, enslaved, proselytized and bravely explored in South, Central and North America. Where there is a disparity in the record Duncan examines the conflict and suggests the account he considers the more reliable. At times the contemporary American Soto enthusiasts and the Spanish historians who are referenced throughout the book prove almost as intriguing as their subject matter.Given the tremendous undertaking this work represents, Duncan manages to produce a highly readable and lively book. Even if the author can't help but reveal his personal revulsion at Soto's blatant inhumanity, Duncan also is objective enough to acknowledge flashes of true heroism and bravery. The Soto that the author presents is a historic Indiana Jones figure who descends into a Conrad-like Heart of Darkness. The book cleverly incorporates maps, charts, paintings, and other graphics into the text. Further, 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.This book richly deserves five stars and a second look by anyone who skipped it when it was first released.

a very fine young writer

I came to this book because I enjoyed the author's other work: Calendar is a fascinating read, and From Cape to Cairo is really compelling. When I started this biography of Soto, I was surprised about the academicness of the work--lots of footnotes, for example. But as I read on, I found the same qualities which make reading Duncan's other works such a joyful experience present here. Though Soto may not be a "fun" topic, Duncan's prose is a great pleasure. And, as always, I learned a lot.