The 1559 Luna expedition was the best-funded, best-supplied, and largest-ever endeavor launched to settle Spanish Florida.
On a hot August day, 1500 people arrived in 13 ships full of hope and eager to implement a grand plan of starting three settlements, building roads to connect them, and a new road to Mexico. The group included farm families with children; craftsmen skilled in carpentry, blacksmithing, and construction; religious leaders, plus a paid military unit, including some 200 Aztec warriors for protection.
But the plans did not include a disastrous hurricane five weeks after landing.
With their plan in shambles and all their food lost, the expedition immediately became desperate to survive. What did they eat? Where did they go in search of food and shelter?
While historians and archaeologists have found evidence that they ate local seafood and deer and went north seeking help from the Natives that helped Soto, we are continuing to piece together what happened to them.
