Spanish exploration in America

<p><span class="deck"> One innovation profoundly changed—and prolonged—the culture of the Plains Indians</span> </p>

<p><span class="deck"><span class="typestyle">In Florida the great conquistador hoped to find a Golconda. Instead, he found a Golgotha. </span></span></p>

<p>As slaves, Cabeza de Vaca and his companions were forced to cope with native North America on its own terms, bridging two worlds that had remained apart for 12,000 years or more.</p>

<p><span class="deck">A hurricane sank a fleet in Pensacola Bay 450 years ago, dooming the first major European attempt to colonize North America, a story that archaeologists are just now fleshing out.</span></p>

<p><span class="deck"><span class="typestyle">Some men see the beginnings. The conquistador who first saw the Mississippi also took the Inca highway to fabulous Cuzco.</span> </span></p>

<p>Hernando de Soto marched across what is now eleven U.S. states, leaving a trail of destruction and disease.</p>