[1]Paul Horgan in _Great River_ identifies Rio de las Palmas with
today’s Rio Grande. Other historians favor Soto la Marina, about 30
miles north of Tampico, formerly Pánuco.
[2]Such is the conclusion of the U.S. De Soto Commission headed by John
R. Swanton (_Final Report_, Washington, D.C., 1939), which was
appointed by President Roosevelt to study the explorer’s route to
commemorate the 400th anniversary of the landing, an opinion
affirmed by two other scholars, Charles Hudson and Jerald T.
Milanich. For a contrary opinion that favors the Fort Myers area,
see R.F. Schell, _De Soto Didn’t Land at Tampa_, Fort Myers Beach,
1966. Jeffery P. Brain in a new edition of the report for the
Smithsonian Press (1985) concludes that the most we can now say is
that De Soto landed somewhere along the central Florida gulf coast,
“between the Caloosahatchie River to south and the vicinity of Tampa
Bay to the north.” It is conceivable that future archeological
studies will narrow down the landing site.
[3]Because Vásquez was the family name of the _conquistador_, the young
man should properly be called Vásquez. This account, however, will
follow established American custom and call him Coronado.
[4]Among the 30 riders was Juan de Zaldívar. As a consequence, Zaldívar
had to leave behind a captive Indian woman he had picked up in
Tiguex. Rather than return there she fled down a fork of the Brazos
River that rises in the Staked Plains. Somewhere near present Waco,
Texas, she perhaps met the survivors of De Soto’s party as they were
trying to reach Pánuco, Mexico, by land. See page 50 above. If true,
and it seems likely, it was the only contact between the two groups,
who at one point were within 300 to 400 miles of each other.
[5]Too few records have survived for anyone to say with certainty where
Cabrillo was born or grew up. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, a
Spanish chronicler, identified him in 1615 as Portuguese. Set
against this is the testimony of the explorer’s grandson in 1617
that “My paternal grandfather, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo came [to the
New World] from the Kingdoms of Spain....” The NPS has adopted the
view that Cabrillo was Portuguese. Many historians, including
Cabrillo’s most recent biographer Harry Kelsey, aver that he was
Spanish. David Lavender believes that the question is both elusive
and unimportant. What is certain, Lavender points out, is that like
many adventurers from other countries Cabrillo spent a good part of
his life in the service of Spain and opened new lands to Spanish
settlement. _Ed._
[6]Recent scholarship has shown that accounts which say Cabrillo
commanded two ships on his northern journey, as most accounts do,
were following mistakes made by the first Spanish historians of the
expedition. Unfortunately, Cabrillo’s own log has disappeared and is
known only through an often vague, chronologically mixed-up summary
attributed to a Juan Páez, of whom little is known. Better sources
are the testimony given by witnesses in legal actions brought by
Cabrillo’s heirs to recover property taken from his estate after his
death. For details see Harry Kelsey’s biography, _Juan Rodríguez
Cabrillo_ (1986). and the Cabrillo Historical Association’s 1982
publication, _The Cabrillo Era and His Voyage of Discovery_,
especially articles by Kelsey and James R. Moriarty, III.