Editing Hernando de Soto (section)

== Early life ==
Hernando de Soto was born around the late 1490s or early 1500s in [[Extremadura]], Spain, to parents who were both ''[[Hidalgo (nobility)|hidalgos]]'', nobility of modest means. The region was poor and many people struggled to survive; young people looked for ways to seek their fortune elsewhere. He was born in the current province of Badajoz.<ref name=Leon /> Three towns—[[Badajoz]], [[Barcarrota]] and [[Jerez de los Caballeros]]—each claim to be his birthplace. Historian [[Ursula Lamb]] writes that the Barcarrota claim can be traced to [[Inca Garcilaso de la Vega]] and is probably incorrect, having been written down 45 years after De Soto's death. According to Lamb, his birthplace is most likely Jerez de los Caballeros.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Muñoz de San Pedro |first1=Miguel |last2=Lamb |first2=Ursula |title=Note about the Birthplace of Hernando de Soto |journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly |date=1965 |volume=44 |issue=1/2 |pages=45–50 |jstor=30147725 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30147725 |access-date=16 September 2023 |issn=0015-4113}}</ref> Although he spent time as a child at each place, De Soto stipulated in his will that his body be interred at Jerez de los Caballeros, where other members of his family were buried.<ref>Charles Hudson (1997). p. 39.</ref>

A few years before his birth, the Kingdoms of Castille and Aragon [[Reconquista|conquered]] the last Islamic kingdom of the [[Iberian Peninsula]]. Spain and [[Portugal]] were filled with young men seeking a chance for military fame after the defeat of the [[Moors]]. With [[Christopher Columbus]]'s discovery of new lands (which he thought to be [[East Asia]]) across the ocean to the west, young men were attracted to rumors of adventure, glory and wealth.