Date:

1544

Title:

Untitled

Cartographer:

de Soto, Hernando

Summary:

This manuscript map was supposedly based on information brought back by Luis de Moscoso, who was one of the survivors of the Hernando de Soto exploration of the southeast which began in 1539. De Soto died on May 21, 1542 after winding his way from Tampa Bay north to the foothills of Apalachia then west to the Mississippi River where he was buried in 1542. The survivors continued west to the Rio Grande River then into Mexico under the leadership of Moscoso and finally to Mexico City in 1543. The map may have been drawn by Alonso de Santa Cruz, the royal cartographer of Spain.

It is said that the Ortelius-Chavez map of Florida (1584) and the Wytfliet map of 1597 are based on the de Soto map because of the many similarities.

Note:

Image from Cumming (1998).

Coverage Time:

1500s