The Landing

Late in the afternoon of May 29, 1539, DeSoto's armada of nine ships anchored in a deep Florida bay. Its decks and holds carried 700 men, 350 horses, packs of bloodhounds and Irish greyhounds, a herd of pigs, and a profusion of arms and equipment needed to sustain the expedition of conquest. The following day, indifferent to plumes of Indian signal smoke rising from the dense thickets, the men disembarked with high expectations, having heard rumors that these lands would yield even more gold, silver, precious gems, and slaves than all of Mexico and Peru.

Florida · United States