The History of Texas

On October 18, 1540, Hernando de Soto marched into the fortified town of Mabila, despite warnings that warriors were gathering inside.

What followed was one of the bloodiest battles of the entire expedition.

In this episode of The History of Texas, we follow De Soto's army through the powerful chiefdom of Coosa and into the territory of Tascalusa, a Native ruler who refused to surrender his people's freedom. A confrontation at Mabila erupts into hours of desperate fighting, leaving the town in flames, thousands reportedly dead, and the Spanish expedition devastated.

With winter approaching, wounded soldiers, and much of his equipment destroyed, De Soto faces a decision that will determine the fate of his expedition.

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Hosted by Justin Day.

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

Hernando de Soto’s expedition pushes deeper into the Southeast in search of wealth, food, and the powerful province of Cofitachequi.

There, the Spaniards encounter one of the most memorable figures of the entire expedition: the Lady of Cofitachequi. She arrives in ceremony, welcomes the newcomers, and presents them with pearls. But what begins as hospitality quickly turns into something far darker.

As De Soto searches the province for treasure and supplies, the Lady finds herself traveling with an army she never asked to join. Her story becomes one of diplomacy, exploitation, captivity, and an extraordinary attempt to escape.

In Episode 16 of The History of Texas, we follow De Soto into the Carolinas, examine the wealth and power of Cofitachequi, and meet the woman whose encounter with the expedition became one of the defining episodes of the journey.

Subscribe for more episodes as we continue following the De Soto expedition toward Texas.

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HistoryOfTexasPodcast.com 

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

#TexasHistory #HernandoDeSoto #Cofitachequi #NativeAmericanHistory #HistoryPodcast

In the winter of 1539, Hernando de Soto’s expedition made a discovery on the Florida coast that connected his journey directly to the disaster that had come before him.

South of Anhaica, Spanish scouts found cut timber, feeding troughs, and the skulls of horses. They had reached the place where, eleven years earlier, the survivors of Pánfilo de Narváez’s expedition had slaughtered their horses and built the crude boats that carried them into the Gulf of Mexico.

It was the beginning of the journey that eventually brought Cabeza de Vaca to Texas.

But De Soto did not see the remains of Narváez’s failure as a warning. Instead, new stories of a wealthy country ruled by a woman drew him farther inland.

In Episode 15 of The History of Texas, we follow De Soto through the winter in Apalachee, uncover the story behind the Bay of Horses, and begin the expedition’s march northeast toward Georgia and the mysterious Lady of Cofitachequi.

🎙️ The History of Texas tells the story of Texas chronologically, from the people and expeditions that shaped its earliest recorded history to the creation of the Lone Star State.

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

De Soto’s army has survived Napituca, but the road ahead only gets harder.

In Episode 14, the expedition pushes deeper into northern Florida, crossing the Suwannee and moving through Uçachile toward Apalachee country. The Spaniards encounter abandoned settlements, burned towns, difficult river crossings, and resistance from people determined to make every mile costly.

By the time De Soto reaches Anhaica, near modern Tallahassee, he has found a place to spend the winter. But occupying Apalachee territory is very different from controlling it.

And although Texas still lies far to the west, the expedition we are following will eventually carry the consequences of this campaign all the way there.

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

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/⁠

The Narváez expedition entered North America with an army and lost almost everyone. Four survivors eventually crossed the continent using Native food, knowledge, diplomacy, healing, trade, and adaptation.

That was the warning their journey offered. But it was not the lesson Spain chose. In Episode 10, “The Warning Spain Ignored,” we follow Cabeza de Vaca after his return to Spain. We examine his failed partnership with Hernando de Soto, his controversial governorship in Río de la Plata, his trial before the Council of the Indies, and the conclusions Spain drew from the survivors’ extraordinary journey.

Instead of questioning the dream of conquest, Spain prepared larger expeditions to pursue it. Hernando de Soto believed he understood what Narváez had done wrong. The question was whether that would save his men, or merely prolong their demise.

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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/⁠

Primary source: Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, La Relación, translated by David Carson, TexasCounties.net: https://www.texascounties.net/articles/discovery-of-texas/theaccount-cabezadevaca.htm

Before we leave Cabeza de Vaca behind, this first intermission pauses the main narrative to answer some of the biggest lingering questions from the Narvaez expedition.

In this episode, we examine how historians reconstruct the survivors’ route, the differences between the 1536 Joint Report and Cabeza de Vaca’s later La Relacion, when he returned to Mexico City, and why parts of his journey remain disputed nearly five centuries later.

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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/⁠

Primary source: Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, La Relación, translated by David Carson, TexasCounties.net: https://www.texascounties.net/articles/discovery-of-texas/theaccount-cabezadevaca.htm

After nearly eight years of shipwreck, hunger, enslavement, captivity, healing, and wandering, Cabeza de Vaca and his three surviving companions finally return to the Spanish world.

But rescue does not mean safety for everyone.

As the four survivors encounter Spanish soldiers, they find Native communities fleeing into the mountains, abandoned fields, and people threatened with chains. The authority they earned as healers now collides with the machinery of conquest.

In Episode 9, the survivors complete their journey to Mexico City. The men who return are not the same men who entered Florida seeking treasure and glory, and the consequences of their survival are only beginning.

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Music: “Anamalie” by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Primary source: Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, La Relación, translated by David Carson, TexasCounties.net: https://www.texascounties.net/articles/discovery-of-texas/theaccount-cabezadevaca.htm