A Narrative of the expedition of Hernando de Soto into Florida published at Evora in 1557 (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. A Conquistador Chronicle of La Florida and the American SoutheastBy Knight of Elvas
Length5h 33m
About this audiobook
A Narrative of the Expedition of Hernando de Soto into Florida is one of the earliest and most consequential European accounts of the interior of North America. Published at Évora in 1557, it recounts De Soto's brutal and ambitious march through La Florida—an expansive term then encompassing much of the American Southeast—in search of wealth, dominion, and imperial glory. Its prose bears the marks of sixteenth-century conquest historiography: direct, episodic, providential, and attentive to marvels, hardship, violence, and encounter. As literature, it stands between eyewitness testimony, military report, and imperial romance. The "Knight of Elvas," almost certainly a Portuguese participant or close associate of the expedition, remains anonymous, yet his perspective is unmistakably shaped by Iberian chivalric culture and the expanding Atlantic world. His narrative reflects both admiration for martial endurance and unease before suffering, failed expectations, and Indigenous resistance. Writing after the collapse of the expedition, he helped preserve a memory of conquest that was already becoming cautionary as well as celebratory. This work is indispensable for readers of early American history, colonial literature, exploration narratives, and Indigenous-European contact. It should be read critically, but also attentively, as a foundational document of encounter, ambition, and historical imagination.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.8 (39)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing
GenreHistory
Length5 hrs 33 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateNov 29, 2023
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
2A Narrative of the expedition of Hernando de Soto into Florida published at Evora in 1557 (pt. 1)
3A Narrative of the expedition of Hernando de Soto into Florida published at Evora in 1557 (pt. 2)
4A Narrative of the expedition of Hernando de Soto into Florida published at Evora in 1557 (pt. 3)
5Memorable Quotes
More from Knight of Elvas
The Redeemer’s ReturnArthur W. Pink13h 18m4.7 (589)$20
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)Howard Irving Chapelle, Tappan Adney13h 9m4.8 (150)$1.99 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m4.6 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h4.6 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
Saving My EnemyBob Welch9h 11m4.6 (2.3K)$20
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
The Red Record (Annotated)Ida B. Wells-Barnett5h 19m4.8 (102)$1.99 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m4.6 (159.1K)$15
EnduranceAlfred Lansing6h 1m4.6 (40.8K)$20
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m4.6 (678)$29 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m4.6 (809)$28 · $0.00
You may also like
The Indian War of 1864Eugene Fitch Ware16h 29m4.2 (774)$2 · $0.00
On the Border with CrookJohn Gregory Bourke20h 33m4.3 (1.1K)$30
Fur, Fortune, and EmpireEric Jay Dolin11h 58m4.0 (1.7K)$23
Astoria; Or, Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky MountainsWashington Irving19h 10m4.0 (1.8K)$1 · $0.00
Narrative of a five years' Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam Guiana on the Wild Coast of South America From the Year 1772 to 1777 Vol. 1John Gabriel Stedman11h 49m4.1 (381)$2.30
The Prairie Traveller, a Hand-book for Overland Expeditions (Annotated)Randolph Barnes Marcy, Richard Francis Burton6h 22m4.0 (394)$2 · $0.00
On the Border with Crook (Summarized Edition)John Gregory Bourke5h4.3 (849)$2
Men to Match My MountainsIrving Stone22h 45m4.3 (2.5K)$30
FreedomSebastian Junger3h 7m4.0 (7.9K)$24 · $0.00
The Old Santa Fe TrailHenry Inman14h 49m4.2 (303)$1 · $0.00
The Apache Expedition in the Sierra Madre (Annotated)John Gregory Bourke3h 10m4.4 (23)$2 · $0.00
Captain Cuellar's Adventures in Connaught & Ulster A.D. 1588Hugh Allingham, Francisco de active 16th century Cuellar2h 24m3.8 (14)$1 · $0.00
Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 1Thomas Mitchell14h$1 · $0.00
THE CALL OF THE WILD WEST - Ultimate Western Collection: 175+ Novels & Short Stories in One VolumeZane Grey, Max Brand, Owen Wister, James Fenimore Cooper, B. M. Bower, J. Allan Dunn, William MacLeod Raine, Robert E. Howard, Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Jack London, O. Henry, James Oliver Curwood, Emerson Hough, Clarence E. Mulford, Willa Cather, Andy Adams, Charles Alden Seltzer, Jackson Gregory, Washington Irving, R.M. Ballantyne, Frank H. Spearman, Charles Siringo, William Patterson White, James B. Hendryx, Stephen Crane, Grace Livingston Hill, Robert W. Chambers, Frederic Remington, Frederic Homer Balch, Will Lillibridge, Rex Beach, Dane Coolidge, Francis William Sullivan, Marah Ellis Ryan, Forrestine C. Hooker, Charles King, Ann S. Stephens, Isabel E. Ostrander, Frederic Logan Paxson1014h 53m$2 · $0.00
A Brief History of South Dakota (Annotated)Doane Robinson6h 1m$1.99 · $0.00
Campaigning in Kaffirland; Or, Scenes and Adventures in the Kaffir War of 1851-52William Ross King10h 24m$2 · $0.00
Los GringosH. A. Wise13h 32m4.3 (10)$1 · $0.00
The Lives of Celebrated Travellers (Vol. 1-3) (Annotated)James Augustus St. John36h 36m$2 · $0.00
Twenty-Five Years in a Waggon in South Africa: Sport and Travel in South AfricaAndrew A. Anderson14h 13m$2 · $0.00
Captain Cuellar's Adventures in Connaught & Ulster A.D. 1588Hugh Allingham, Francisco de active 16th century Cuellar3h 6m3.7 (15)$2 · $0.00