Hernando de Soto - a savage quest in the Americas
by David Ewing Duncan

Crown Publishers | 1995 | Pdf | Eng | ISBN10 0517582228 | 570 p | 116 MB

For the first time, a book has been written telling the truth about Hernando de Soto's legendary expedition across the future United States—who he was, what he saw, and the destruction he wrought as he and his men hacked their way through ten future states, and four thousand miles, searching for an illusionary empire of gold.

A sweeping, epic biography about a man and his times, Hernando de Soto begins shortly after Columbus's first voyage to the Americas. Born around 1500, Soto left home at fourteen for Central America, where he rose through the ranks of the conquistadors to become a feared and effective captain, slave trader, and political operative. In 1531, he joined forces with Francisco Pizarro in the conquest of the Incas, leading the vanguard to Cuzco as Pizarro s second-in-command. Five years later, Soto returned to Spain with a thousand pounds of plundered treasure