Los Sobrevivientes de La Florida


the point of departure for the Indies was located, followed by the
Extremadurans and the Castilians.158 From 1519 to 1539, the
Andalucians had been displaced by Extremadurans and Castilians
who came from areas located more to the Spanish north. As for the
rest of the de Soto survivors, their places of origin do not appear to
indicate any meaningful trend.

 2. Ages of the Survivors

 Of the 257 documented survivors, the birth years of 57 are
known. The oldest was born in 1498 and the youngest in 1525,
while the only surviving woman, Ana Mendez, declared she was
born around 1530, a possible exaggeration of her youth. The
known ages of the survivors are noted in Appendix II, along with
other biographical information. Their birth dates were used to
determine their ages at the beginning of the Florida expedition in
1539, and the results obtained are shown in Table 4. Judging from
their average and mean ages, 24.6 and 24 respectively, it is clear
that in general, they were fairly mature young persons. None were
older than the Adelantado who was about 42, and, in general, the
older men were officials in the army or the administration.


 Table 4.

 Ages at the Beginning of the Florida Expedition in 1539


 9 to 14 year 2
 15 to 19 13
 20 to 24 15
 25 to 29 15
 30 to 34 7
 35 to 39 4
 40 to 44 1

 Survivors of known ages 57
 Total known survivors 257


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