Original: Hernando de Soto ( c. 1496\/1497 -- 1542 ) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who , while leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States , was the first European documented to have crossed the Mississippi River .
Simplified: Brave leadership , unwavering loyalty , and clever schemes for the extortion of native villages for their captured chiefs , became De Sotos hallmark during the Conquest of Central America .