Danger Approaches

Danger Approaches. Florida De Soto Trail. , Bountiful Waters , Early peoples living along the warm waters of this coast harvested the vast bounty of the Gulf of Mexico and surrounding lands. They built villages with intricate canals, lagoons, and mounds made of shell and earth. Early Spanish explorers noted these features as they mapped the coast., Warning Calls , In May of 1539, the native peoples, once again, spotted Spanish ships on the horizon. They had encountered conquistadors before and had been brutalized, tortured, and enslaved. When the vessels approached, calls were sent out and signal fires were lit to warn the surrounding villages., Fears Fueled , As the Spanish marched across the land, the Indians abandoned their villages and set fire to their own crops. They hoped to deter the army’s progress. This angered the conquistadors , their reprisals were swift and violent. Warriors sent to track the Spanish were often captured and forced into service as guides., A Nation Nearly Lost , Those that came in contact with the invaders were unknowingly exposed to European diseases., These illnesses spread quickly through the native populations. Without immunity to the new diseases, untold numbers died. Within 150 years of De Soto’s expedition, only a few isolated pockets of native peoples remained in the Southeast.