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Hernando de Soto
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Hernando de Soto Discovery of the Mississippi Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto in Florida Map of the present-day United States showing the routes taken by early European explorers, each route marked in a different color and labeled in the legend. Major expeditions include those of De Soto, Coronado, Jolliet and Marquette, La Salle, Escalante and Dominguez, Lewis and Clark, Pike, Smith, and Walker, with paths traversing regions from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts through the Midwest to California and the Pacific Northwest. Modern state and international boundaries are also shown for ref
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Hernando de Soto
Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto, engraving from Historia general de las Indias Occidentales by Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas.

Hernando de Soto

Spanish explorer
Also known as: Fernando de Soto
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

Hernando de Soto (born c. 1496/97, Jerez de los Caballeros, Badajoz, Spain—died May 21, 1542, along the Mississippi River [in present-day Louisiana, U.S.]) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who participated in the conquests of Central America and Peru and, in the course of exploring what was to become the southeastern United States, discovered the Mississippi River. De Soto spent his youth in the family manor house at Jerez de los Caballeros. His parents intended...

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