They were simply unfamiliar with the political geography already there.

THE WORLD DE SOTO ENTERED

The southeastern United States of the sixteenth century looked nothing like the landscape people see today.

There were no modern state borders.

There were no highways connecting Atlanta, Albany, Macon, Savannah, and other cities.

There were no American farms laid out according to later European property systems.

Instead, the region contained Native towns connected to larger political communities.

Many settlements were located near rivers because rivers were transportation routes, sources of fish and water, and boundaries between territories.