Hernando de Soto

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Cabeza de Vaca had reported a northern sea to DeSoto, who thought it was the Pacific Ocean, the sea Balboa discovered at Panama while DeSoto was there. When DeSoto was 21, Magellan had sailed that sea to the Orient, but lost his life on that long voyage.

Observing that a line drawn from Spain's trade port at Cuba to China runs thru America, DeSoto thought he could travel to China by crossing America and Vaca's Nothern Sea. His 3 year search for that sea, and enough gold to lure additional settlers to his new colony, was WELL RECORDED by his 640 man army between Florida and Lake Michigan, then on to Texas.

               by Donald E Sheppard
             www.FloridaHistory.com

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