Much of what we know of Hernando de Soto's 16th century expedition into North America comes from three first-hand narratives (called Elvas, Rangel and Biedma after their writers) written shortly after their return to Spain; and a literary tale of the expedition assembled by the ethnographer-renaissance man Garcilaso de la Vega, about 50 years later.
Scholars suspect that three of the four tales are cross-pollinated. It is possible that the Elvas account is based in part on the Rangel account, with some additions by a Portuguese survivor. It is also possible that the main source of de la Vega's account is Elvas as well. Biedma's account is the only surviving manuscript, signed by its author.
The Elvas Account
The Elvas account was written by an unnamed participant in the expedition, a man who was from the Portuguese municipality of Elvas. The text was written in Portuguese, first published in that language in 1557. It was translated into English in 1933 by James Alexander Robertson, and that version was reprinted in 1993 (Clayton et al.).
The text is approximately 50,000 words long, in 44 chapters. Elvas's text begins with a biography of de Soto, and describes the circumstances under which de Soto obtained the permission from the King of Spain, collected his men and prepared to leave. The action closes with the expedition's welcome in Mexico City, and Elvas includes a final chapter with a general description of the countryside of the journey.
- "[de Soto] reached Coça [Coosa] on Friday, July 16 [1540]. The cacique came out to welcome him two crossbow flights from the town in a carrying chair borne on the shoulders of his principal men, seated on a cushion, and covered with a robe of marten skins of the form and size of a woman's shawl. He wore a crown of feathers on his head; and around about him were many Indians playing and singing." De Soto meets the Chief of the Coosa. Account of the Gentleman of Elvas, De Soto Chronicles Vol I:92. Translated from the Portuguese by James Alexander Robertson.
The Rangel Account
Rodrigo Rangel was a native of Almendralejo, Spain, and he was de Soto's private secretary, who kept a detailed diary during the expedition. Rangel gave a deposition in Santo Domingo shortly after returning, but the Spanish text was not published until 1851. It made up several chapters of the massive Historia general y natural de las Indias, edited by Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdez; Rangel's text may well have been edited by Oviedo. Rangel's document was first translated into English in 1904, and in 1993, a translation by James E. Worth was published.
Rangel's 20,000 word essay begins, after a brief biography of de Soto, with the expedition's exit from Havana. It ends, or rather the surviving text ends (there are two chapters missing), with the expedition's arrival in Utiangue.
- "... on Friday, the Governor [de Soto] entered in Coça. This is a great cacique with much land...and the cacique came forth to receive the Governor on a litter, covered with white blankets of the land. Sixty or seventy of his principal Indians carried the litter on their shoulders, and none was an Indian of the plebeians or commoners, and those that carried him took turns from time to time, with great ceremony in their manner". De Soto meets the Chief of the Coosa. Account of Rodrigo Rangel, De Soto Chronicles Vol I: 284. Translated from the Spanish by John E. Worth.
Biedma's Record
Luys Hernández de Biedma, the King's representative during the expedition, was in charge of keeping the official record of the voyage. His Spanish account was presented in 1544 to the King of Spain. The original manuscript of this document survives, although it was not published until 1857. Biedma's manuscript was translated in 1866 and again in 1993.
Beidma's account, currently in the General Archives of the Indies in Seville, is about 20 pages long and about 10,000 words or so. It is written in an even hand and personally signed by Biedma. It begins with the arrival of the expedition in what is today Tampa Bay, and ends with the journey along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to the Panuca river in Mexico. Included with the manuscript is a list of survivors, written in a different hand.
- "From [Coste] we went to the province of Coça, which is one of the lands that we came upon in Florida. Its cacique came forth to receive us on a litter with great festivity and many people, because he has many subject towns." De Soto meets the Chief of the Coosa. Account of Luys Hernández de Biedma, De Soto Chronicles Vol I:323. Translated from the Spanish by John E. Worth.
La Florida, by Garcilaso de la Vega, the Inca
The most literary of the manuscripts is by "the Inca", Peruvian born Garcilaso de la Vega. De la Vega was born Gomez Suarez de Figuroa, the son of a Spanish conquistador and an Incan noblewoman, the granddaughter of the Inca emperor Tupac Inca Yupanqui. As a young man in Cusco, de la Vega studied Spanish culture and the classics, as well as Incan folklore and oral tradition. In 1560 he traveled to Spain and Portugal, where he spent most of the rest of his life.
In the early 1570s, de la Vega began interviewing and compiling the classic literary account of the de Soto expedition called La Florida. The text is primarily based on interviews from surviving crew members Juan Coles, Alsonso de Carmona, and Gonzalo Silvestre. The massive undertaking was completed 1591, and in 1605, the 230,000 word text was published. La Florida has since been translated many times in many different languages. Second edition 1723. Clair Charmion Shelby translated it into English in 1935.
The ~230,000 word book begins with de Soto's request to the King of Spain for the concession to America, and ends with the return to Spain: it includes 82 legends collected on the trip from the people of North America.
- "...they reached the chief pueblo, called Coça, from which the whole province took its name, and where its lord was. He advanced a long league to receive the governor [de Soto], accompanied by more than a thousand nobles much adorned with mantles made of various kinds of skins. Many of them were of fine marten-skins that gave off a strong odor of musk. They wore long plumes on their head, which are the decoration and adornment that the Indians of this great kingdom most value. These men were well disposed, as those of that country generally are; their plumes stood up half a fathom high and were of many and varied colors; and they were stationed in the field in order in the form of a squadron, with twenty men to a file." De Soto meets the Chief of the Coosa. La Florida, written by Garcilaso de la Vega. De Soto Chronicles Vol II:322. Translated from the Spanish by Clair Charmion Shelby.
But are they Historical?
Lankford has recently detailed the problems with each of the four main chronicles and come to the conclusion that the most trustworthy is Biedma. This document was apparently based on his own notes taken during the expedition, it is available in the original manuscript, and it was published in a relatively short time after Biedma's return to Spain.
Rangel's manuscript is second most reliable: Lankford reports that there is evidence that the text was heavily edited by its publisher, and it was not published until three centuries after the journey. Elvas' manuscript was published anonymously, and Lankford believes the story was enhanced for entertainment purposes by its Portuguese publisher, Andre de Burgos.
Finally, Garcilaso de la Vega's massive La Florida is not to be trusted, except for what it is: a literary collection of legends, hung on a skeleton of dates and events collected from the other manuscripts.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to the Mississippian Culture, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Clayton LA, Knight Jr. VJ, and Moore EC, editors. 1993. The De Soto Chronicles: The expedition of Hernando de Soto to North America in 1539-1543. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. Two volumes.
Hudson C. 1997. Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando de Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms. Athens: The University of Georgia Press.
Lankford GE. 2009. How historical are the De Soto Chronicles? In: Knight Jr. VJ, editor. The Search for Mabila: The Decisive Battle between Hernando de Soto and Chief Tascalusa. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p 31-44.
Swanton JR. 1952. Hernando De Soto's Route through Arkansas. American Antiquity 18(2):156-162.
