Following the Explorers
Though nothing spectacular survives, travelers can find many rewarding historical places that conjure up the Spanish conquistadores and the natives they encountered. The four principal NPS sites are described briefly in the following pages. Many other parks and several Indian communities also preserve landscapes directly associated with the explorations. They are listed below. All these places are well worth a visit and several are worth a journey to anyone interested in the beginnings of North American history.
| Ocmulgee National Monument Macon, GA 31201 | Ancient mounds built by people of the Mississippian culture. De Soto passed through this region in 1540. |
| Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site Cartersville, GA 30120 | De Soto visited this town (called Itaba) in August 1540. |
| Mound State Monument Moundville, AL 35474 | A farming town which flourished AD 1000-1500; representative of the powerful chiefdoms found by De Soto. |
| Parkin Archeological State Park Parkin, AR 72373 | Believed to be a center of an important chiefdom (Casqui) visited by De Soto in 1541. |
| Coronado State Monument P.O. Box 95 Bernalillo, NM 87004 | A Pueblo village visited by the Coronado expedition in 1540. Polychrome murals in the kiva are a prize exhibit. |
| Pueblo of Acoma P.O. Box 309 New Mexico 87034 | A fortress town inhabited by descendents of the Pueblo people who befriended the Alvarado party in 1540. |
| Zuni Pueblo Box 339 Zuni, NM 87327 | The original Cibola of Spanish legend. Háwikuh, the place of Coronado’s first encounter with Pueblo Indians, is now a ruin. |
De Soto National Memorial, Florida
De Soto’s army may well have come ashore at a spot on Tampa Bay that resembled this beach within the park. Below: replica armor and an early marker commemorating De Soto’s bold march.
De Soto National Memorial commemorates the first major European penetration of the southeastern United States. De Soto’s purpose, sanctioned by the King, was to conquer the land Spaniards called La Florida and settle it for Spain. He failed in both objects. There was no rich empire in the north, only a succession of chiefdoms, and his practice of looting villages and grabbing hostages alienated native inhabitants and turned his march into a siege. The lasting significance of the expedition was the information it yielded about the land and its Mississippian people in a late stage of that remarkable civilization.
The park was established in 1949 on the south shore of Tampa Bay. De Soto’s fleet may very well have sailed by this point in May 1539 to a landing spot farther around the bay. Attractions at the park include replicas of the type of weapons carried by the expedition and thickets of red mangrove, the so-called Florida land-builder. The journals tell of De Soto’s men cutting their way inland through mangrove tangles.
For more information about the park and its programs, write:
Superintendent
De Soto National Memorial
P.O. Box 15390
Bradenton, FL 34280
Demonstrations in winter give insight into military life and the Spanish world-view in the 16th century.
Coronado National Memorial, Arizona
The Huachucas rise like islands above the surrounding Sonoran desert. This landscape is little changed from Coronado’s day.
Following an ancient Indian trade path up the San Pedro valley, the Coronado expedition crossed the present Mexico-United States border just east of this park. Hikers on the Coronado Peak Trail looking down Montezuma Canyon can see in the far distance cottonwood trees that mark Coronado’s line of march.
The national memorial was established in 1941, 400th anniversary of the expedition. Its setting high in the Huachuca Mountains is a fitting place to recall the first major Spanish entrada into the American Southwest in all its color and fire: the gathering of the army at Compostela, arduous marches across wilderness, encounters with native cultures of great subtlety and art, discovery of a land of vast expanse and power, and above all the record of where they had been and what they had seen.
This is a park to see on foot. Trails lead to good viewing points and connect with others in Coronado National Forest, which surrounds the park.
For information about the park and its programs, write:
Superintendent
Coronado National Memorial
4104 E. Montezuma Canyon
Road, Hereford AZ 85615
The expedition traveled along the San Pedro River, east of the park.