Editing Tryon, North Carolina (section)

===Spanish discovery===
{{multiple image
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 | header = De Soto's Exploration (1539–1540)
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 | image1 = Hernando de Soto.jpg
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 | caption1= [[Hernando de Soto]], Spanish explorer and conquistador
 | image2 = Chiaves-map-xuala-1584.jpg
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 | caption2 = Map of a portion of de Soto's route, including Cherokee village Xuala (now Tryon)
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Having landed near present-day [[Panama City, Florida]] on May 30, 1539,<ref>{{cite book | title=A Guide to Historic Henderson County, North Carolina |author1=Jones Helsley, A |author2=Jones, G | publisher=The History Press | location=Charleston, SC | year=2007 | page=17 | isbn=978-1-59629-275-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dFwsbCpyaH8C&pg=PA17 }}</ref> Spanish explorer [[Hernando de Soto]] reputedly traveled up to the area of present-day [[Spartanburg, South Carolina]] and then north into western North Carolina.<ref name=AshList/> Traveling on horses, de Soto and 1,000 men arrived in North Carolina in mid-May 1540.<ref>{{cite book | title=Voices from Colonial America: North Carolina 1524-1776| author1=Cannavale, M |author2=Griffin, P  | publisher=National Geographic Society | location=Washington, D.C. | year=2007 | page=21 | isbn=978-1-4263-0032-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=njkY3InHUqMC&pg=PA21 }}</ref> In search of gold, de Soto explored the area of Asheville area and met with the Cherokee in their village of Xuala, the area now known as Tryon. After a day or two, de Soto continued his journey with provisions provided by the Cherokee.<ref name=AshList>{{cite web | url=http://www.ashevillelist.com/Cherokee_Indians_history.htm |title=Cherokee Native American Indian History: 1500s  |year=2000–2011 |publisher=ashevillelist.com |postscript=" Reference: Ho, Cynthia, Sawin, Sheryl, Spellman, W.M., ''The Asheville Reader: The Medieval and Renaissance World,'' Pegasus Press, Asheville, NC, 1998. pgs.395 -396. |access-date=May 2, 2011}}</ref>

Luys Hernandez de Biedma, one of de Soto's officers, wrote of a group of Spanish men who made their way to Xuala on May 21, 1540:

<blockquote>The next day, they went to Xuala which is a town on a plain between some rivers; its chief was so well provisioned that he gave to the Christians however much they asked for: slaves, corn, little dogs [probably opossums]… and however much he had.<ref name=Cannavale>{{cite book | title=Voices from Colonial America: North Carolina 1524-1776| author1=Cannavale, M |author2=Griffin, P  | publisher=National Geographic Society | location=Washington, D.C. | year=2007 | pages=21–22 | isbn=978-1-4263-0032-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=njkY3InHUqMC&pg=PA21 }}</ref></blockquote>

From there, de Soto went to ''Gauxuile'' (since developed as Asheville), which in Cherokee meant "The place where they race," named for the walk around the perimeter of the village.<ref name=Cannavale/>