Editing Muscogee (section)

===Spanish expedition (1540–1543)===
[[Image:De Soto burns Mabila HRoe 2008.jpg|thumb|right|Hernando de Soto and his men burn Mabila, after a surprise attack by Chief Tuskaloosa and his people in 1540; painting by [[Herb Roe]], 2008]]

After [[Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca|Cabeza de Vaca]], a castaway who survived the ill-fated [[Narváez expedition]], returned to Spain in 1537, he told the Court that [[Hernando de Soto]] had said that America was the "richest country in the world". Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and [[conquistador]] who led the first expedition into the interior of the North American continent. De Soto, convinced of the "riches", wanted Cabeza de Vaca to go on the expedition, but Cabeza de Vaca declined his offer because of a payment dispute.<ref name=smith_desoto>
{{Cite book
 | last = Gentleman of Elva
 | title = Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto in the Conquest of Florida as told by a Knight of Elvas
 | year = 1557
 | publisher = Kallman Publishing Co. (1968), Translated by Buckingham Smith
 | chapter = Chapter II, How Cabeza de Vaca arrived at court
 |  asin= B000J4W27Q
}}
</ref> From 1540 to 1543, de Soto explored through present-day Florida and [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], and then westward into the [[Alabama]] and [[Mississippi]] area. The areas were inhabited by historic Muscogee [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]]. De Soto brought with him a well-equipped army. He attracted many recruits from a variety of backgrounds who joined his quest for riches in [[the Americas]]. As the de Soto expedition's brutalities became known to the indigenous peoples, they decided to defend their territory. Chief Tuskaloosa led his people in the [[Chief Tuskaloosa#Battle of Mabila|Battle of Mabila]], where the Native Americans were defeated. However, the victory came at great cost to the Spanish campaign in loss of supplies, casualties, and morale. The expedition never fully recovered.