De Soto Didn’t Land At Tampa by Rolfe F. Schell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

‘De Soto Didn’t Land in Tampa’ is a hard book to review without balancing it with other accounts as to just where others think Hernando landed. Author Schell does an outstanding job making his point in under a hundred pages and it would seem he is correct. Punta Gorda sure feels he is with all their recognition of Hernando.

I’ll press on with my reading and have a few texts that have alternate ideas. I might come back and change my rating of the book and this review.

I’m giving this such a high rating because of how thorough Schell has accomplished his goal. The comparative chart of separate diaries of the explorers is very impressive. Schell’s knowledge of Spanish and his translation, further adds to his credibility.

I’m very familiar with the territory of the state that Schell lays out in his narrative as Hernando’s trail. Most all makes sense with the exception of the location of Ocali. Though, I think we may have spent too much time trying to interpret something that is not interpretable. We know names changed over the years and even Schell points out the trouble of multiple names for a single location.

Nevertheless, Schell’s effort in this book is impressive and I recommend it for those who wish to chase this ghost of a mystery.

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