Men hiding beneath water-lily leaves. Horsemen riding into dark ponds. A standoff that lasts through the night.

In Episode 13, The Trap at Napituca, Hernando de Soto’s march through Florida erupts into violence. Drawing on the surviving accounts, we follow the fighting, the desperate attempts to escape, and the mass capture that follows.

Ahead lies Apalachee country, where the Spaniards will face a population determined to make them pay for every mile.

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Music: “Anamalie” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.

Hernando de Soto believes he has learned from the disaster that destroyed the Narváez expedition. He has more men, more horses, better supplies, and a carefully organized plan for conquering Florida.

But he has entered a land that remembers what the Spaniards did before.

As De Soto’s army begins its march inland, it encounters hostile leaders, dangerous terrain, and Juan Ortiz, a survivor of the Narváez expedition long believed dead. Ortiz can speak the languages of Florida, but even he cannot erase years of violence and distrust.

De Soto has built a better expedition. Now he must discover whether better preparation will save his army, or merely carry it farther down a bloodier road.

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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/⁠

Written, researched, narrated, and produced by Justin Day.

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/⁠