From 1492 to 1702, European exploration and colonization in the region included Columbus visiting Caribbean islands, Pineda visiting the Mobile area, Narváez reaching the Mobile area, De Soto exploring Alabama, De Luna retracing De Soto's route in Alabama, and the French establishing their first permanent colony at Dauphin Island. After 450 years of searching, the exact route of Hernando de Soto through the southeastern United States remains a major historical mystery because his expedition left little physical evidence and did not record accurate latitude and mileage measurements. A major effort to trace the route came in the 1939 United States De Soto Commission report, which presented an official route combining leading hypotheses of the time. Since then, extensive archaeological work, including study of more than 300 Indian sites in Alabama alone, has led many scholars to favor the route proposed by Dr. Charles Hudson and his associates. In Alabama, most scholars agree that this route entered near Piedmont, followed the Coosa River Valley, and continued into the Montgomery-Selma area, but disagreement remains over whether De Soto then went south to the forks of the Alabama-Tombigbee rivers, west from Selma, or northwest.