USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Turning back to the Mississippi, de Soto died of a fever on its banks on May 21, 1542. In order that local tribes would not learn of his death, and thus disprove de Soto’s claims of divinity, his men buried his body in the Mississippi River.

Detailed explanation-2: -This engraving depicts Hernando de Soto’s discovery of the Mississippi River at a point below Natchez on May 8, 1541. De Soto (1500–1542) was the first European to document the river. The image shows him and his men approaching the river and a group of Native Americans camped there.

Detailed explanation-3: -It was this week in 1581, in the far northwestern corner of our state, that Spanish soldiers under Hernando de Soto became the first Europeans to see the Mississippi River.

Detailed explanation-4: -Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur De LA Salle: Explorer of the Mississippi River (World’s Great Explorers)