The De Soto Chronicles Vol 1 & 2: The Expedition of Hernando de Soto to North America in 1539-1543

FIRST BOOK OF THE HISTORY OF LA FLORIDA, BY THE INCA

FIRST BOOK OF THE HISTORY OF LA FLORIDA, BY THE INCA It includes the description ofit; the customs ofits natives; who was its first discoverer, and those who have gone there afterward; the people whom Hernando de Soto took there; the singular events ofhis navigation; that which he ordered and prepared in La Havana; and how he embarked for La Florida. It contains fifteen chapters. I HERNANDO DE SOTO ASKS OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V THE CONQUEST OF LA FLORIDA. HIS MAJESTY GRANTS IT TO HIM The adelantado Hernando de Soto, former governor and captain-general of the provinces and seigniories of the great kingdom of La Florida, whose history this is, together with that of many other Spanish gentlemen and Indians-which we are attempting to write for the glory and honor of the Most Holy Trinity, God, our Lord, and with the desire of advancing His holy Catholic faith and the Crown of Spain-was present at the first conquest of El Peru, and at the imprisonment of Atahuallpa, the tyrant king. This king, being a bastard son, usurped that kingdom from the legitimate heir and was the last of the Incas that monarchy had. Through his tyrannies and cruelties, which were even greater when exercised against those of his own flesh and blood, the empire was lost; or at least the discord and division that his rebellion and tyranny occasioned among the natives facilitated the Spaniards' winning it with the ease with which they did (as we shall tell elsewhere, with Divine aid). From this conquest, as is well known, came that ransom so superb, vast and rich that it exceeds all belief that can be given to human histories, according to the report of an accountant of his Majesty's hacienda in El Peru, who stated the value of the fifth of it. Calculating the whole from the fifth and reducing it to the usual coinage of Castilian ducats, each worth 375 maravedis, it is known that it was equivalent to 3,293,000 ducats and some dineros, not including what was squandered without being counted for the fifths, which was another large sum. From this quantity and from the advantages that fell to him as such an important captain, and with what the Indians presented to him in Cuzco when he and Pedro del Barco went alone to see that city, and with the gifts this same King Atahuallpa gave him (because he took a fancy to him, he being the first Spaniard whom he had seen and spoken to), this gentleman had as his share more than 100,000 ducats. Hernando de Soto brought this sum of money when he, together with sixty other conquistadores, arrived in Spain with the shares and profits they had acquired in Cassamarca [CajamarcaJ. Although with this quantity of treasure (which then, because so much had not yet come from the Indies as has been brought here since, was of more value than at present) he could have purchased in his own country, which was Villanueva de Barcarota, much more property than could be bought at present, because then possessions were not held in the esteem and value that they have today, he did not desire to buy it. Rather, his ideas and his spirit elevated by the things that he had experienced in El Peru, not content with what he had already done and acquired, but desiring to undertake other similar or greater exploits, if greater there could be, he went to Valladolid, where the Emperor Charles V, king of Spain, had his court. He petitioned that he be granted the favor of the conquest of the kingdom of La Florida (so called because of its coast having been discovered on Easter Day), which he desired to make at his own cost and risk, expending therein his property and life to serve his Majesty and advance the Crown of Spain. This Hernando de Soto did, moved by generous envy and magnanimous jealousy of the deeds newly done in Mexico by the marques del Valle, Don Hernando Cortes, and in Peru by Marques Don Francisco Pizarro and Adelantado Don Diego de Almagro, which he saw and helped to perform. However , since his free and generous spirit could not tolerate being subject or inferior to those just named in valor and energy for war, or in prudence and discretion for peace, he left behind those exploits, thought so...