DeSoto Camp Reenactment in Bradenton
This tableau represents camp life in the DeSoto expedition on its way through Florida. At center, three of the company are seen on their paso fino horses. These small, but sturdy, horses were brought to the new world by Spanish explorers. To the right is a reenactor representing Hernando DeSoto and other members of his company. The man with the bare legs near the cooking fire represents Juan Ortiz, a Spaniard who was separated from the earlier Narváez expedition, lived among the Native Americans for eleven years, and then attached himself to the DeSoto expedition as a translator.