The following article is part three in a series examining the history versus the myths of the region.

Alonso Alvarez de Pineda and Panfilo de Narvaez travelled into the Gulf of Mexico with the intent of mapping the region and seeking out the perceived wealth that lay, at least in the Spaniards imaginations, just beyond their grasp.  Neither achieved the success that they hoped for nor did they become wealthy from their exploits.  They did, however, blaze a trail for the explorers that came after them.  One such adventurer was Hernando de Soto who first tread on Alabama soil in 1540.

If we are to believe the Madoc legend then we must then make the assumption that de Soto would have possibly crossed the earlier path of the Welshman some 400 years after Madoc and followers moved northward through present-day Alabama.  While that is pure speculation we do know that de Soto arrived with over 500 soldiers along the west coast of the Florida peninsula in May 1539.  De Soto stepped ashore near Tampa Bay, which he named Espiritu Santo, with a compliment of priests, craftsmen and farmers all with the intent of establishing a foothold for the Spanish crown.  Once in the area the de Soto group encountered a fellow Spaniard Juan Ortiz who had survived the failed Narvaez expedition.  Ortiz had been living among the Uzita people but joined de Soto as an interpreter and guide.

The expedition wintered in the panhandle of Florida before following rumors of gold in present-day Georgia.  In hopes of finding riches the group traveled into the Carolinas and Tennessee before moving southward into Alabama.  In contrast, the Madoc legend places the Welsh explorer in DeKalb County Alabama in what have become referred to as the “Welsh Caves.”  The caves have revealed signs of past human habitation that myth supporters claim are evidence that Madoc settled there for a short time.  There is no historic or scientific evidence that supports this claim.  In Alabama the de Soto expedition travelled along the Alabama River into the territory of the Mabila Indians, where, the fate of the explorers and that of the native people changed forever.

In October 1540 a great battle broke out between the Indians at Mabila and the soldiers in de Soto’s service.  For reasons not definitively known the visiting Spanish and the Indians led by Chief Tascaluza engaged in a deadly battle that resulted in thousands of dead Indians, dozens of dead Spanish soldiers, and the complete destruction of Mabila.  This information, though not as detailed as modern historians would like, emanates from four primary Spanish chroniclers which, at times, contradict one another.  The location of Mabila, long a source of frustration has been placed, by researchers, anywhere from as far north in Hale County, Alabama to the Tensaw region in Baldwin County.  Unlike the Madoc story, however, there are written documents that follow the de Soto adventure.  They simply are not detailed enough for pinpointing the route of travel without questioning their validity.

Following the destruction of Mabila, de Soto and his men ventured into Mississippi and Arkansas.  The expedition faced more hardship through the winter of 1541 and then faced the death of their leader in May 1542.  De Soto’s body was quietly slipped into the waters of the Mississippi River while survivors of the band made their way back to Mexico through modern-day Texas.  De Soto was gone but his memory and legacy remained behind to cloud the relationships between Europeans and Indians for decades to come.  He left behind a legacy of mistrust for the Indians but cleared the way for future Spaniards that would make the region their home, if only for a brief period.

The Spanish influence in the region continued until the United States methodically absorbed the Spanish Florida’s beginning in 1810.  Even after that the culture lingered in the architectural styles and in the names and place-names of the region.  Although vagaries abound in the early accounts of exploration, the chroniclers that captured the life in colonial Florida provide a firm foundation upon which historians can draw conclusions.