Georgia Historical Society

Early European Encounters with Native Americans in the Georgia Area

The Spanish Conquistador

Spanish explorers and missionaries left some of the earliest, most thorough accounts of Native Americans in Georgia. Their writings sketch a picture of encounters that changed the native tribes forever and shaped the way in which natives dealt with succeeding Europeans. During the period 1539-1543, rumors of riches equal to those of the Aztecs spurred conquistadors to explore North America to satisfy their lust for glory and wealth. The most famous Spanish conquistador in Georgia's history is Hernando de Soto.
 
De Soto's trek through Georgia took his six hundred men from the southwest corner diagonally across the center of the state to a point on the Savannah River just below Augusta. Of course, de Soto and his men documented villages and towns by the names of the Indian societies and chiefdoms they encountered: Capachequi, Toa, Ichisi, Altamaha, Ocute, Patofa, and Cofitachequi. Reactions to the Spanish varied. Some tribes hid, others offered food and clothing, some attacked the strangers.

Map of Hernando de Soto's route through the North American Southeast. From Alan Taylor's American Colonies.

The exchange between the two cultures during the Spanish march was one-sided and destructive. De Soto's path through the Mississippian cultures of what is now the southeast United States spread disease among the local inhabitants, diminished native food supplies, and led to a reduction in native populations. Tribes offering resistance found themselves under vicious attack by the Spanish soldiers.
 
De Soto employed violent tactics to obtain food for his men, and the herd of pigs he brought with him further reduced villages' food sources as they raided crops such as corn and squash. De Soto's men carried iron collars and chains to enslave Indians, they used torture to extract information about gold and silver, and they ransacked villages and dug up graves in search of the nearly non-existent precious metals. Women were taken from their villages for pleasure and trade, and men and boys enslaved to carry baggage. Those who escaped found themselves hunted by men on horseback in what de Soto considered a sport.
 
The archaeological record confirms the one-sided exchange resulting from the march of de Soto through Georgia and much of the Southeast. Skeletal remains of Indians bear the scars of steel weapons, excavations show a rapid and drastic reduction in the number of natives in once highly populated areas, and the records of later European arrivals account for only a fraction of original Native American numbers. Not all of the Spanish who came to the land later called Georgia were so deliberately violent, however, but the Spanish crown continued to seek new ways to subdue the native population in the New World which proved equally destructive.
 
Teaching Tips

1.  Ask students to examine a map of Hernando de Soto's path through the Southeast and consider the amount of supplies it would take to sustain an army of six hundred men over the course of the journey.
2. Discuss how de Soto might have justified taking what he needed from the Native Americans.
3. Consider the many responses of the Indians and why some chose to give de Soto's men everything they asked for.

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