The Spanish were an ideal society to produce explorers. Because of 700 years of war with the Moors, the society produced strong, brave and determined individuals used to hardship.
From 1539 to 1542 Hernando de Soto and a band of Spanish soldiers explored the Gulf of Mexico beginning on Florida's west coast, then to what is now Georgia, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and perhaps what is modern-day Louisiana. Imagine the Spanish soldiers in their armor fighting their way through thickets and marsh areas. They were truly explorers in the most basic meaning of the word.
De Soto and his men had discovered the Mississippi River in 1541. In 1542 de Soto died near the river and was weighted down and his body sunk in the river. The local Indians respected the leader/explorer, and those left living feared that the Indians would attack if they knew that their leader was dead.
There are three places considered to be the final resting place of de Soto. The state of Louisiana has placed a historical marker near Vidalia, Louisiana, where some believe de Soto died and was placed in the river. In northwest Mississippi, the town of Hernando in De Soto County claims this distinction. However, scholars believe the final resting place of Hernando de Soto is actually at the conflux of the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers in Arkansas.
As the first explorers in the region, the Spanish soldiers could have claimed the Mississippi valley for Spain. They did not do so because the area did not appear to be rich in gold or silver. So by default, the area was left for the English or French to claim.
The French came to be interested in Louisiana by way of Canada. The French had settled in the St. Lawrence River valley in the early 1600s, establishing relationships with the local Indians and a booming fur trade to meet the demand for fur in Europe. As they moved west to the Great Lakes, they heard from the Indians about a great river. Being curious about this river, an exploration team set out, led by Louis Joliet and Fr. Jacques Marquette. In 1672 they began down the Mississippi River and traveled as far as where the Arkansas River meets the Mississippi (de Soto's burial place.) There the local Indians said that to travel farther south would be dangerous because the lower Mississippi Indians were so warlike. The French followed their advice and turned back north to report their findings.
