But the communities they encountered become equally important.

Capachequi is not interesting merely because de Soto visited.

It is interesting because a Native community existed there and because its encounter with the Spanish can now be studied through physical evidence.

The sword is evidence of an invasion into an Indigenous world.

That is a very different interpretation from a heroic adventure.

THE LASTING MYSTERY

Even after the discovery, a mystery remains.

What exactly happened during those days?