Before Hernando de Soto ever set foot in what would become the American South, he had already spent years fighting, conquering, and building a fortune in the Spanish Empire.

In this episode of The History of Texas, we follow De Soto from the campaigns of Central America to the conquest of Peru, where he rode into Cajamarca, met the Inca emperor Atahualpa, and emerged from the conquest as one of the wealthiest men in Spain.

But wealth wasn't enough.

Back home, De Soto married into a powerful family, received the prestigious habit of the Order of Santiago, and secured royal authority to lead an expedition into the vast territory Spain called La Florida.

Cabeza de Vaca had returned from North America with a warning. De Soto heard something else: opportunity.

And this time, Spain wouldn't be sending a few hundred desperate castaways.

A harder man was coming, with a much larger army.

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Music: "Anamalie" by Kevin MacLeod(incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License ⁠http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠