Abstract
The expedition of Hernando de Soto has been touted as one of the primary factors of the demise of the native societies in the Southeast. European steel and infectious disease were the reputed agents of their destruction. While the de Soto entrada battled many of the native polities it encountered, recent studies suggest that the consequences were less disruptive in some places than previously thought. Indeed, changes were already in progress when the Europeans arrived. Evidence from the excavation of the Governor Martin site in northern Florida indicates that the Apalachee who received Franciscan missionaries in the 17th century were little different from those encountered by de Soto in 1540. The impact of European diseases on the native cultures was clearly significant; however, it would be imprudent to invoke monocausal explanations without exploring other factors that could have contributed to the social and demographic changes experienced by these societies.
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Ewen, C.R. Continuity and change: De Soto and the Apalachee. Hist Arch 30, 41–53 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03373587
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03373587