Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer, conquistador and governor of several Spanish colonies, also known as ‘El conquistador de las tres Américas’.
In the New World, De Soto took part in several important expeditions across present-day Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua and was a key player in Pizarro’s conquest of the Inca Empire.
However, Hernando de Soto is probably best remembered for being the first European to discover -and cross- the Mississippi river and leading the first expedition of this kind across the current states of Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and North and South Carolina.
Click play to learn more about this intrepid explorer: