Hernando Desoto

"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are stopping by an exhibit 17 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi. It is called HERNANDO DESOTO.

"Desoto was the Spanish explorer who came through this region from 1539-1541. When he and his men visited Emerald mound just north of Natchez, they not only brought beads and trinkets to trade with the native Indians, they also brought disease to the Mississippian Indians who lived there, disease, that may have aided in the early demise of this highly advanced Indian culture.

"During the same expedition Desoto and his men crossed the Tombigbee River in December of 1540 and spent that winter with the Chickasaw Indians to the east of today's exhibit. It's along here that Desoto would have crossed this famous old Indian trail in 1541, and in June of that year, just south of what is now Memphis, Tennessee Desoto is given credit for being the first European to discover the Mississippi River.

"Join us next time when we'll visit Monroe Mission. I'm Frank Thomas, Your guide along the Natchez Trace, a road through the wilderness."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com