Mabila was the Mississippian town where a great battle was fought in 1540, between the Spanish conquistador and explorer Hernando de Soto and the Mississippian chief Tascaluza.
De Soto at Tampa Bay, Florida. Drawn by Seth Eastman, engraved by James Smilie in 1853. Library of Congress Illus. in E77 .S382 [Microfilm RR]
The documents chronicling the de Soto expedition through the American deep south are a bit of slog sometimes: De Soto rides into town, demands goods and bearers, kidnaps the leader, then moves on to the next town and repeats the process. But by the time de Soto got to Alabama, word had come down the pike, and Tascaluza had a different plan.
Today, Mabila is known only from historical records--despite decades of searching and a handful of contenders, scholars have not definitively identified the site. Archaeologists consider it one of the great unsolved mysteries of American archaeology.
- Read more about Mabila
- Guide to the Mississippian
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