Discovering Florida ─ First-Contact Narratives from Spanish Expeditions along the Lower Gulf Coast

“Gives voice to a period in U.S. history that remains virtually unknown, even to specialists in the field.”—J. Michael Francis, coauthor ofMurder and Martyrdom in Spanish Florida

“With these transcriptions and translations, Worth provides an important service to ethnohistorians, archaeologists, and others who share an interest in the Spanish colonial explorations of the greater Southeast.”—Mariah F. Wade, author ofMissions, Missionaries, and Native Americans

“A model for how to handle important primary sources. The historical introduction is a treasure in its own right.”—Amy Turner Bushnell, author ofSituado and Sabana: Spain’s Support System for the Presidio and Mission provinces of Florida


Florida’s lower gulf coast was a key region in the early European exploration of North America, with an extraordinary number of first-time interactions between Spaniards and Florida’s indigenous cultures.Discovering Florida compiles all the major writings of Spanish explorers in the area between 1513 and 1566.

Including transcriptions of the original Spanish documents as well as English translations, this volume presents—in their own words—the experiences and reactions of Spaniards who came to Florida with Juan Ponce de Leon, Panfilo de Narvaez, Hernando de Soto, and Pedro Menendez de Aviles. These accounts, which have never before appeared together in print, provide an astonishing glimpse into a world of indigenous cultures that did not survive colonization. With introductions to the primary sources, extensive notes, and a historical overview of Spanish exploration in the region, this book offers an unprecedented firsthand view of La Florida in the earliest stages of European conquest.

John E. Worth is associate professor of anthropology at the University of West Florida. He is the author ofThe Timucuan Chiefdoms of Spanish Florida, volumes I and II, and The Struggle for the Georgia Coast.