Fun with Maps ISSUE 2025-099 

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (June 3, 2025) – In today’s edition of Fun with Maps, we follow the Spaniard de Soto as he conquers lands throughout North America during the early 16th century.      

Spanish Florida

Hernando de Soto was a busy Spaniard conquering and pillaging in the New World.

First came Peru where he helped to repel the Incas allowing Spain to take control.

After a few years of home leave in Spain, he sailed to North America and landed in Tampa Bay, becoming the first European to set foot in Florida, on June 3, 1539.  He claimed the land for Spain.

He and his merry men, with 220 horses, then started a north-way land journey to today’s Georgia, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, then west to Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas.  He was reportedly the first European to see the Mississippi River.

De Soto died of fever, most likely in Arkansas on the banks of the Mississippi River.  He was about 41 years old.  A full life for a conquistador.

Johnson created this map of Florida in 1864.  Much of the central and southern portion of the state were unpopulated in those days.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.