Hernando de Soto, born about 1500, was a nobleman, conquistador, and Governor of Cuba who held rights to conquer Florida and traveled in 1540 through what later became Georgia on an expedition to find gold. His exact route is unknown, and certain landmarks mentioned by the expedition’s scribe remain unidentified. De Soto’s success as a conquistador in Pizarro’s conquest of Peru in 1531 won the support of Emperor Charles V of Spain for this expedition. In April 1538, de Soto sailed for Cuba from San Lucar, Spain, with nine ships and 600 men, then spent a year preparing to invade the Florida mainland. Landing on the west coast of Florida, perhaps at Tampa Bay, in May 1539, the expedition followed a northerly course, wintered near Tallahassee, and in March 1540 began an indefinite route across Georgia. According to Dr. John R. Swanton, chairman of the U.S. De Soto Expedition Commission, Alligator Spring near Arlington “has the best claims of existing springs to identification with the ‘White Spring’ (Fuente Blanca) at which Hernando de Soto and his army encamped on the night of March 17-18, 1540.” Crossing the Flint, Ocmulgee, Oconee, Ogeechee, and Savannah Rivers in their search for Yupaha, a woman-ruled land of gold, de Soto and his men reached Cofitachiqui, an Indian town near the future site of Augusta, in May 1540. Continuing his quest for gold, de Soto reached the Mississippi River, where he died from fever in May 1542.