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Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando de Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms
The 20th anniversary edition of the study that first revealed De Soto's path across the 16th century American South includes a forward by Robbie Ethridge
Between 1539 and 1542, the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto led a small army on an expedition of almost four thousand miles across Southeastern America. De Soto's path had been one of history's most intriguing mysteries until the publication of Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun . Using a new route reconstruction, anthropologist Charles Hudson maps the story of the de Soto expedition, tying the route to a number of specific archaeological sites.
De Soto's journey cut a bloody and indelible swath across both the landscape and native cultures in a quest for gold and glory. The desperate Spanish army followed the sunset from Florida to Texas before abandoning its mission. De Soto's one triumph was that he was the first European to explore the vast region that would be the American South. But in 1542, he died a broken man on the banks of the Mississippi River.
In this classic text, Hudson masterfully chronicles both De Soto's expedition and the native societies he visited. The narrative unfolds against the exotic backdrop of a now extinct social and geographic landscape. A blending of archaeology, history, and historical geography, this is a monumental study of the sixteenth-century Southeast.
Between 1539 and 1542, the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto led a small army on an expedition of almost four thousand miles across Southeastern America. De Soto's path had been one of history's most intriguing mysteries until the publication of Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun . Using a new route reconstruction, anthropologist Charles Hudson maps the story of the de Soto expedition, tying the route to a number of specific archaeological sites.
De Soto's journey cut a bloody and indelible swath across both the landscape and native cultures in a quest for gold and glory. The desperate Spanish army followed the sunset from Florida to Texas before abandoning its mission. De Soto's one triumph was that he was the first European to explore the vast region that would be the American South. But in 1542, he died a broken man on the banks of the Mississippi River.
In this classic text, Hudson masterfully chronicles both De Soto's expedition and the native societies he visited. The narrative unfolds against the exotic backdrop of a now extinct social and geographic landscape. A blending of archaeology, history, and historical geography, this is a monumental study of the sixteenth-century Southeast.
600 pages, Unknown Binding
First published July 1, 1997
About the author
Charles M. Hudson
20 books7 followersCharles Melvin Hudson, Jr. (1932–2013) was the Franklin Professor of Anthropology and History Emeritus at the University of Georgia, and a leading authority on the history and culture of Native Americans in the Southeastern United States.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...
Librarian note:
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...
Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 28, 2013
I knew that great Indian societies existed in the southeast US prior to Columbus's arrival and that they died out supposedly because of new old world diseases. This is a first-hand account of the Europeans first interactions with these Indian chiefdoms. Between 1539 and 1543 Hernando De Soto let a small army on a voyage of exploration from Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas and down the Mississippi to Mexico. He had been a Conquistador in Peru and was friends and partners with Ponce de Leon. The army he brought was sanctioned by the king of Spain but was made up of individuals bringing their own arms and horses many of them from the same region of Spain and many of them relatives. I believe three of DeSoto's brothers were on the trip. They were to be paid by the spoils of conquest or colonization.
The chiefdoms they encountered had been transformed by the cultivation of corn. Corn had allowed increases in population density and diversification of societal roles. (I have seen the type of corn grown at the time out in Arizona and the ears are about as big as your thumb or pinkie. Not very impressive compared to today's behemoths.) The tribes had paramount chiefs overseeing numerous sub-chiefs and in a hierarchical, hereditary structure. They had towns of thousands of people. Towns were surrounded by high palisades of wood plastered with mud with guard towers and shooting portals. They often had moats around them from a nearby lake or river. Some of these groups could amass armies of thousands or even 10,000s of warriors who could fight in organized battalions that resembled armies of Europe at the time.
The book is written with a combination of De Soto’s chroniclers and modern anthropologist’s data. So the author will describe what De Soto came upon and then surmise from modern Indian sites and digs where the route was and where the Indians encountered were. Sometimes this is very accurate and sometimes the author admits he's guessing.
The Spaniards military superiority over the Indians was metal armor (though many of the soldiers had leather or heavy cloth armor) and the horse. Customarily the Indians would shoot arrows at the Spaniards that would bounce off or stick in to their armor and then would turn and flee and the Spanish horsemen would ride forward and lance the fleeing warriors. In general the Indians that he encountered would either submit to De Soto's wishes or fight, be decimated, and then submit.
Basically what De Soto wanted was food and porters i.e. slaves for his army. He would either be given these things or take them forcefully.
De Soto's treatment of the Indians would now be cruel, deceitful and inhumane. He would butcher, torture, burn and mutilate Indians who opposed him. He would "throw them to the dogs” literally to his war dogs that would tear them apart and eat them.
On the other hand the Indians were very similar in their behavior. The high palisades indicated that there was constant warfare between these different Indian groups. When given the chance the Indians would torture, burn, behead, chop up and hang the trees with De Soto's man or their Indian opponents. As in the book I recently read “Warriors of the Summer Moon” about the Comanches the Indians of the southeastern United States were in a constant state of barbaric warfare.
Had De Soto not behave this way it is unlikely that any of his men would have survived the journey. As it were only 300 men and made it out and barely so at that.
As always I love little tidbits that I learn in reading these nonfiction books here are some:
De Soto ran across the limestone sinks in Florida where large caverns would be opened up by water underneath the surface. They were referred to by Coleridge in verse: "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree: were Alf, the sacred river, ran through caverns measureless to man down to a sunless sea.” Who would've guessed the origin of that well-known line?
The landscape of 15th-century Americus was very different from today. One type was the "Pine Barrens" a term that I've heard but never really understood. These were vast forests of longleaf pine where frequent fires left only grass underneath. The Spaniards described them as park-like though they were forbidding as they were vast, generally uninhabited and without much game and therefore difficult for the Spaniards to cross. The Pine Barrens, the hardwood forests of elms and the prairies De Soto passed are all but gone.
In the warrior society of Apalachee a warrior advance through their organization by taking scalps. (Like merit badges in Boy Scouts) Different levels of awarded for the number of scalps obtained the highest being 10 scalps, three of which had to be from Indians who themselves had obtained a certain number of scouts. Not the loving peaceful society that many present-day Indians and non-Indians would like us to think they had 600 years ago.
In preparing for battles with the Spaniards some of the Indian groups cleared the land outside their towns palisades of trees and houses to the distance of a crossbow shot just soldiers today would clear fields of fire.
I did not realize that there were expeditions before and after De Soto. We all know of De Soto and Ponce de Leon but there were many others. In fact De Soto came across evidence of previous expeditions e.g. pieces of metal and even a Spanish soldier who had been left behind in a previous expedition who acted as a translator for De Soto. In fact several of De Soto’s soldiers stayed behind either because the expedition is too hard or because they fell in love with an Indian woman.
My mother grew up in Columbus, Mississippi and I spent many summers there. Turns out De Soto stop on the Tombigbee River in Columbus Mississippi. My grandparents’ house was three blocks from the Tombigbee. Who would've guessed?
The oft used punishment by the Spaniards was to cut off the right hand and nose of an Indian and send them back to his chief in warning.
Occasionally the Indians would want to square off with the Spaniards one-on-one. In one case an Indian indicated that he wanted to challenge a crossbowman man to man. They both shot, the crossbow bolt hit Indian in the chest and the arrow hit the crossbowman in the ear and penetrated down to his neck. He could've been easily killed by the other Indians but they did not attack since this was a one-on-one contest.
Only one group of Indians, the Tula in Arkansas proved to have an effective defense against the Spaniards lances. They used lances to hunt buffaloes and they used these lances against De Soto's horsemen instead of running away. They killed a number of horses and horsemen. They also permanently deformed their faces and covered them with hideous tattoos to make them more fierce appear more fierce. De Soto decided to turn away from these prairie tribes.
The Tula and others groups had ritual weeping where they would come to a meeting with Soto with all the Indians crying with tremendous fervor to show submission or regret.
One tactic De Soto used to awe the Indians was to hold up mirror to his face while talking to them. Indians had never seen a mirror. He would say that the reflected image was his spirit double who lived up in the sky and was all-powerful.
De Soto would often get information from Indians by capturing several asking them for directions or whatever. If they did not cooperate one of the Indians would be tortured or throw to the dogs. Most often this inspired the others to cooperate. It seemed to work well for him. It gives one pause about modern-day objections to the effectiveness of water boarding. Maybe this should be a new police interrogation technique. It would certainly save on court expenses. I think the present NC legislature might consider this, though I doubt they read much so they probably haven’t heard of it.
De Soto died from a fever somewhere in Texas and soon the men decided to give up and return home. One of them said he was longing for a place where you could get a full night’s sleep free of Indians yelling at them in the darkness.
At the end of the 3 year journey many of the soldiers were shirtless and shoeless.
They built seven large boats to sail their 300 men and 40 horses down the Mississippi. The horses were pulled behind in canoes, front feet in one canoe and back feet in another. It was an extremely hazardous trip. The river was not wide open as it is today. It was full of submerged logs, overhanging banks and hard fast turns. At each new territory Indians would attack from shore and canoe to great effect. When they got to the golf Coast Pacifica they said that their sails were so covered with mosquitoes that they turned black. They did finally make it to Mexico.
In the ensuing years following De Soto's trip the various nations or tribes that he had encountered disintegrated. This is commonly thought to be due to the Old World diseases that he and others brought with them. It may also be due in part to the tremendous damage and disruption that he caused. He killed huge numbers of Indians in one case a entire tribe to every man, woman and child. They burned villages and stole large amount of food. They changed alliances and power structures between tribes. At various times he demanded many women to accompany his army and one could surmise that many Spanish-Indian children were left in his wake. Perhaps these progeny had a better chance of surviving the various European diseases because of their genetic makeup. It is probably that in present-day Indian tribes there are a great number of Spanish genes being carried forward.
These disintegrating tribes, the Tulas, Chicaza, Koasati, Timucuan, etc., re-coalesced into the tribes we know today, the Creeks, Choctaw, Chickasaws, Cherokees, etc. None of these tribes existed before but were derived from the dissolution and re-amalgamation of these older, greater nations. Occasionally in creation myths of one of the new tribes there is some reference to an ancient paramount chief but otherwise the new tribes have no memory of the previous social order of hierarchical societies with inherited authority.
After the Spaniards returned De Soto's wife was sued by Ponce de Leon and his family.
Basically the entire trip ended up in the disaster for everyone involved
The chiefdoms they encountered had been transformed by the cultivation of corn. Corn had allowed increases in population density and diversification of societal roles. (I have seen the type of corn grown at the time out in Arizona and the ears are about as big as your thumb or pinkie. Not very impressive compared to today's behemoths.) The tribes had paramount chiefs overseeing numerous sub-chiefs and in a hierarchical, hereditary structure. They had towns of thousands of people. Towns were surrounded by high palisades of wood plastered with mud with guard towers and shooting portals. They often had moats around them from a nearby lake or river. Some of these groups could amass armies of thousands or even 10,000s of warriors who could fight in organized battalions that resembled armies of Europe at the time.
The book is written with a combination of De Soto’s chroniclers and modern anthropologist’s data. So the author will describe what De Soto came upon and then surmise from modern Indian sites and digs where the route was and where the Indians encountered were. Sometimes this is very accurate and sometimes the author admits he's guessing.
The Spaniards military superiority over the Indians was metal armor (though many of the soldiers had leather or heavy cloth armor) and the horse. Customarily the Indians would shoot arrows at the Spaniards that would bounce off or stick in to their armor and then would turn and flee and the Spanish horsemen would ride forward and lance the fleeing warriors. In general the Indians that he encountered would either submit to De Soto's wishes or fight, be decimated, and then submit.
Basically what De Soto wanted was food and porters i.e. slaves for his army. He would either be given these things or take them forcefully.
De Soto's treatment of the Indians would now be cruel, deceitful and inhumane. He would butcher, torture, burn and mutilate Indians who opposed him. He would "throw them to the dogs” literally to his war dogs that would tear them apart and eat them.
On the other hand the Indians were very similar in their behavior. The high palisades indicated that there was constant warfare between these different Indian groups. When given the chance the Indians would torture, burn, behead, chop up and hang the trees with De Soto's man or their Indian opponents. As in the book I recently read “Warriors of the Summer Moon” about the Comanches the Indians of the southeastern United States were in a constant state of barbaric warfare.
Had De Soto not behave this way it is unlikely that any of his men would have survived the journey. As it were only 300 men and made it out and barely so at that.
As always I love little tidbits that I learn in reading these nonfiction books here are some:
De Soto ran across the limestone sinks in Florida where large caverns would be opened up by water underneath the surface. They were referred to by Coleridge in verse: "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree: were Alf, the sacred river, ran through caverns measureless to man down to a sunless sea.” Who would've guessed the origin of that well-known line?
The landscape of 15th-century Americus was very different from today. One type was the "Pine Barrens" a term that I've heard but never really understood. These were vast forests of longleaf pine where frequent fires left only grass underneath. The Spaniards described them as park-like though they were forbidding as they were vast, generally uninhabited and without much game and therefore difficult for the Spaniards to cross. The Pine Barrens, the hardwood forests of elms and the prairies De Soto passed are all but gone.
In the warrior society of Apalachee a warrior advance through their organization by taking scalps. (Like merit badges in Boy Scouts) Different levels of awarded for the number of scalps obtained the highest being 10 scalps, three of which had to be from Indians who themselves had obtained a certain number of scouts. Not the loving peaceful society that many present-day Indians and non-Indians would like us to think they had 600 years ago.
In preparing for battles with the Spaniards some of the Indian groups cleared the land outside their towns palisades of trees and houses to the distance of a crossbow shot just soldiers today would clear fields of fire.
I did not realize that there were expeditions before and after De Soto. We all know of De Soto and Ponce de Leon but there were many others. In fact De Soto came across evidence of previous expeditions e.g. pieces of metal and even a Spanish soldier who had been left behind in a previous expedition who acted as a translator for De Soto. In fact several of De Soto’s soldiers stayed behind either because the expedition is too hard or because they fell in love with an Indian woman.
My mother grew up in Columbus, Mississippi and I spent many summers there. Turns out De Soto stop on the Tombigbee River in Columbus Mississippi. My grandparents’ house was three blocks from the Tombigbee. Who would've guessed?
The oft used punishment by the Spaniards was to cut off the right hand and nose of an Indian and send them back to his chief in warning.
Occasionally the Indians would want to square off with the Spaniards one-on-one. In one case an Indian indicated that he wanted to challenge a crossbowman man to man. They both shot, the crossbow bolt hit Indian in the chest and the arrow hit the crossbowman in the ear and penetrated down to his neck. He could've been easily killed by the other Indians but they did not attack since this was a one-on-one contest.
Only one group of Indians, the Tula in Arkansas proved to have an effective defense against the Spaniards lances. They used lances to hunt buffaloes and they used these lances against De Soto's horsemen instead of running away. They killed a number of horses and horsemen. They also permanently deformed their faces and covered them with hideous tattoos to make them more fierce appear more fierce. De Soto decided to turn away from these prairie tribes.
The Tula and others groups had ritual weeping where they would come to a meeting with Soto with all the Indians crying with tremendous fervor to show submission or regret.
One tactic De Soto used to awe the Indians was to hold up mirror to his face while talking to them. Indians had never seen a mirror. He would say that the reflected image was his spirit double who lived up in the sky and was all-powerful.
De Soto would often get information from Indians by capturing several asking them for directions or whatever. If they did not cooperate one of the Indians would be tortured or throw to the dogs. Most often this inspired the others to cooperate. It seemed to work well for him. It gives one pause about modern-day objections to the effectiveness of water boarding. Maybe this should be a new police interrogation technique. It would certainly save on court expenses. I think the present NC legislature might consider this, though I doubt they read much so they probably haven’t heard of it.
De Soto died from a fever somewhere in Texas and soon the men decided to give up and return home. One of them said he was longing for a place where you could get a full night’s sleep free of Indians yelling at them in the darkness.
At the end of the 3 year journey many of the soldiers were shirtless and shoeless.
They built seven large boats to sail their 300 men and 40 horses down the Mississippi. The horses were pulled behind in canoes, front feet in one canoe and back feet in another. It was an extremely hazardous trip. The river was not wide open as it is today. It was full of submerged logs, overhanging banks and hard fast turns. At each new territory Indians would attack from shore and canoe to great effect. When they got to the golf Coast Pacifica they said that their sails were so covered with mosquitoes that they turned black. They did finally make it to Mexico.
In the ensuing years following De Soto's trip the various nations or tribes that he had encountered disintegrated. This is commonly thought to be due to the Old World diseases that he and others brought with them. It may also be due in part to the tremendous damage and disruption that he caused. He killed huge numbers of Indians in one case a entire tribe to every man, woman and child. They burned villages and stole large amount of food. They changed alliances and power structures between tribes. At various times he demanded many women to accompany his army and one could surmise that many Spanish-Indian children were left in his wake. Perhaps these progeny had a better chance of surviving the various European diseases because of their genetic makeup. It is probably that in present-day Indian tribes there are a great number of Spanish genes being carried forward.
These disintegrating tribes, the Tulas, Chicaza, Koasati, Timucuan, etc., re-coalesced into the tribes we know today, the Creeks, Choctaw, Chickasaws, Cherokees, etc. None of these tribes existed before but were derived from the dissolution and re-amalgamation of these older, greater nations. Occasionally in creation myths of one of the new tribes there is some reference to an ancient paramount chief but otherwise the new tribes have no memory of the previous social order of hierarchical societies with inherited authority.
After the Spaniards returned De Soto's wife was sued by Ponce de Leon and his family.
Basically the entire trip ended up in the disaster for everyone involved
February 27, 2013
This is a seminal work on the earliest history of Western man's invasion of the Southeast US. And goes a long way to explain the comparative dearth of indigenous peoples encountered by later explorers. Because, as Hudson traces De Soto's progress from Florida up through the Carolinas and over to the Mississippi, we see what a desperate and brutal swath he blazes through the New World, leaving a plague of diseases in his wake. Well-researched and well-written, this book should be mandatory reading for all those interested in the true beginnings of 'How the West Was Won'.
November 16, 2015
Excellent recounting of the De Soto expedition, as well as description of the documentary & archaeological evidence regarding the route & the peoples De Soto affected. Hudson strives to be both academic & readable, and though he doesn't always balance it well, he carries it off overall. There's a certain level of bitchiness in his description of scholarly disagreements, but that can be entertaining at times too.
June 1, 2021
De Soto
Wonderful story of the deSoto expedition through the SE (FL, GA, SC , NC, AL, AK, MS, , LA and TX). Hudsons command of the historic and archaeological literature clearly and convoncingly, shows deSotos route. His understanding of the literature, contribute greatly to our understanding of the various Indian chiefdoms in the the 1500s. A must read for historians and archaeologists.
Wonderful story of the deSoto expedition through the SE (FL, GA, SC , NC, AL, AK, MS, , LA and TX). Hudsons command of the historic and archaeological literature clearly and convoncingly, shows deSotos route. His understanding of the literature, contribute greatly to our understanding of the various Indian chiefdoms in the the 1500s. A must read for historians and archaeologists.
November 22, 2013
Quote
"In these precious remnants of this once vast southeastern forest of the sixteenth century, one can walk today and imagine knights from Spain on a doomed quest, pitted against the agile warriors of chiefdoms whose rulers were said to be descendants of the Sun."
-Charles Hudson, pg. 440
"In these precious remnants of this once vast southeastern forest of the sixteenth century, one can walk today and imagine knights from Spain on a doomed quest, pitted against the agile warriors of chiefdoms whose rulers were said to be descendants of the Sun."
-Charles Hudson, pg. 440
December 19, 2021
Though I vaguely associated De Soto with an exploration of Florida, I had very little idea of what he actually did. In search of non-existent riches, De Soto led some 600 Spanish explorers through a long and winding path across not just Florida but the whole southeastern quadrant of the now United States. Along the way, he encountered dozens of Native American villages, mostly from the Mississippian culture familiar to us St. Louisians because of Monk's Mound. Some of these were the centers of large chiefdoms, and the vast majority of what we can now know about these cultures comes from the combination of archeology and the chronicles of De Soto's people.
Hudson does a great job of explaining the lays of the land as it existed back in 1540, and the many different sorts of Native cultures which didn't last too much longer after encountering the military setbacks and especially European diseases brought to them by these Spaniards. He tells it all as a detailed narrative following as best as is possible where De Soto (who died a couple years into the trip) and company went. The book includes, for those who want, many pages of details of sources and arguments.
Absolutely fascinating stuff - I had no idea how different the Native Americans were in the 16th Century from what we more familiarly think of them in the 19th.
Hudson does a great job of explaining the lays of the land as it existed back in 1540, and the many different sorts of Native cultures which didn't last too much longer after encountering the military setbacks and especially European diseases brought to them by these Spaniards. He tells it all as a detailed narrative following as best as is possible where De Soto (who died a couple years into the trip) and company went. The book includes, for those who want, many pages of details of sources and arguments.
Absolutely fascinating stuff - I had no idea how different the Native Americans were in the 16th Century from what we more familiarly think of them in the 19th.
September 28, 2018
2013 – 01 - Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando de Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms. Charles Hudson. 1997. 561 pages.
Excellent book about little know actions and civilizations. The authors contention that it was not disease which eliminated Native Americans but a disturbance in the balance of power created by Spanish actions which changed the results of native conflict is well argued and interesting.
Excellent book about little know actions and civilizations. The authors contention that it was not disease which eliminated Native Americans but a disturbance in the balance of power created by Spanish actions which changed the results of native conflict is well argued and interesting.
March 19, 2024
Little known history of the Spanish colonists in SE United States
Fascinating accounts of Spanish expeditions to the southeastern United States, and their encounters with Indian tribes.
Who among us knew that Spanish explorers/conquistadors had marched on foot from Florida to Texas by way bof the entire southeast?
The writing reads like a thriller except when it gets bogged down in describing the flora and fauna and a dry academic narrative takes over
Fascinating accounts of Spanish expeditions to the southeastern United States, and their encounters with Indian tribes.
Who among us knew that Spanish explorers/conquistadors had marched on foot from Florida to Texas by way bof the entire southeast?
The writing reads like a thriller except when it gets bogged down in describing the flora and fauna and a dry academic narrative takes over
May 12, 2018
A very detailed account of Hernando DeSoto's exploration of the Southeast beginning in 1539.
April 3, 2022
Boring.
** not finish.
** not finish.
May 8, 2022
A detailed, scholarly work that nevertheless keeps your attention.
September 20, 2023
In every way superior to any other recounting of DeSoto's expedition.
September 23, 2014
When I was a student in the University of Georgia Anthropology department, Dr. Hudson was the eminence grise, the great elder spirit behind a department that, otherwise, could tie itself in knots; though the department was great for archaeology. I took two courses with Hudson: a Southeastern Indians class in which we used his seminal text, The Southeastern Indians (University of Tennessee Press); and Ethnohistory, in which he guided students in and around historical approaches to ethnicity, culture clashes, and the deep history of the French Annalistees, such as Marc Bloch and Fernand Braudel. I'm still only scratching the surface of those... But I just completed my reading of this work of summation into our own conquistador, Hernando de Soto, and the cultures and chiefdoms he met violently.
Archaeology field schools in the 1980s - like ours, in 1985, under Mark Williams and The Lamar Institute - were, in large part, inspired by Hudson's network of graduate students and archaeological researchers. It is amazing to read of a generation - or more - of archaeological research with references to projects, finds, and revelations in the nearby Southeast USA.
I bought, began, and misplaced a copy of this book upon publication. I read the Afterward last night, a month after finishing the historical narrative. The Afterward summarizes not only the primary sources but the history and dispute and contention over mapping the De Soto route. I am ready to read this book again and again in comparison with prime De Soto narratives and recent archaeological reports. Hudson ends that essay in historiography this way: "Thus, as the reconstructed routes of sixteenth-century Spanish explorers are situated successively closer to places they actually visited, more and more evidence of the sites where these Spaniards spent varying lengths of time may be expected to be forthcoming. I do not think it is at all far-fetched that in coming years we may expect to find one or more of the following: Mabila, Chicaza, Utiangue, and Aminoya. And of these, the site that will do the most in anchoring a very long stretch of the De Soto route will be the site of Mabila."
To learn about the Battle of Mabila, read this book. I heard Dr. Hudson lecture about Mabila, one afternoon in the 1980s, and it came back to me, here.
Dr. Hudson died last year, in retirement. We will be reading his work for many, many years to come. Read this great book.
My highest recommendation.
Archaeology field schools in the 1980s - like ours, in 1985, under Mark Williams and The Lamar Institute - were, in large part, inspired by Hudson's network of graduate students and archaeological researchers. It is amazing to read of a generation - or more - of archaeological research with references to projects, finds, and revelations in the nearby Southeast USA.
I bought, began, and misplaced a copy of this book upon publication. I read the Afterward last night, a month after finishing the historical narrative. The Afterward summarizes not only the primary sources but the history and dispute and contention over mapping the De Soto route. I am ready to read this book again and again in comparison with prime De Soto narratives and recent archaeological reports. Hudson ends that essay in historiography this way: "Thus, as the reconstructed routes of sixteenth-century Spanish explorers are situated successively closer to places they actually visited, more and more evidence of the sites where these Spaniards spent varying lengths of time may be expected to be forthcoming. I do not think it is at all far-fetched that in coming years we may expect to find one or more of the following: Mabila, Chicaza, Utiangue, and Aminoya. And of these, the site that will do the most in anchoring a very long stretch of the De Soto route will be the site of Mabila."
To learn about the Battle of Mabila, read this book. I heard Dr. Hudson lecture about Mabila, one afternoon in the 1980s, and it came back to me, here.
Dr. Hudson died last year, in retirement. We will be reading his work for many, many years to come. Read this great book.
My highest recommendation.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews