Editing Hernando de Soto (section)

==In the New World==
De Soto sailed to the [[New World]] with [[Pedro Arias Dávila]], appointed as the first Governor of [[Panama]]. In 1520 he participated in [[Gaspar de Espinosa]]'s expedition to [[Veragua]], and in 1524, he participated in the conquest of [[Nicaragua]] under [[Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (founder of Nicaragua)|Francisco Hernández de Córdoba]]. There he acquired an ''[[encomienda]]'' and a public office in [[León, Nicaragua]].<ref name=Leon />{{rp|135}}
Brave leadership, unwavering loyalty, and ruthless schemes for the extortion of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|native villages]] for their captured chiefs became de Soto's hallmarks during the [[History of Panama|conquest of Central America]]. He gained fame as an excellent horseman, fighter, and tactician. During that time, de Soto was influenced by the achievements of Iberian explorers: [[Juan Ponce de León]], the first European to reach [[Florida]]; [[Vasco Núñez de Balboa]], the first European to reach the [[Pacific Ocean]] coast of the Americas (he called it the "South Sea" on the south coast of [[Panama]]); and [[Ferdinand Magellan]], who first sailed that ocean to [[East Asia]].
In 1530, de Soto became a ''[[regidor]]'' of [[León, Nicaragua]]. He led an expedition up the coast of the [[Yucatán Peninsula]] searching for a passage between the [[Atlantic Ocean]] and the [[Pacific Ocean]] to enable trade with the Orient, the richest market in the world. Failing that, and without means to explore further, de Soto, upon [[Pedro Arias Dávila]]'s death, left his estates in Nicaragua. Bringing his own men on ships which he hired, de Soto joined [[Francisco Pizarro]] at his first base of [[Tumbes, Peru|Tumbes]] shortly before departure for the interior of present-day [[Peru]].<ref name=Prescott>Prescott, W.H., (2011) ''The History of the Conquest of Peru,'' Digireads.com Publishing, {{ISBN|978-1420941142}}</ref>{{rp|143}}
{{Spanish colonization of the Americas}}<!--NAVBOX: floats--> Pizarro quickly made de Soto one of his captains.<ref name=Leon />{{rp|171}}