HERNANDO DE SOTO
On a sweltering day in May and almost 500 years ago today, Hernando de Soto and his army of over 600 soldiers splashed ashore in Tampa Bay.
They had been ordered by King Charles V of Spain to sail to La Florida and "conquer, populate and pacify" the land.But this expedition would never yield the gold and treasure these men so desperately sought. Instead, they marched from one village to the next, taking food and enslaving the native peoples to use as guides and porters.